SOC 302 INTRO TO THE STUDY OF SOCIETY Lecture Methods 09 17 15 Empirical Aesthetic I Types of Questions to Ask 1 2 3 Moral 4 Interpretive II Sociologists Line of Questioning Factual What happened Comparative Did this happen everywhere Developmental Has this happened over time Theoretical What underlies this comparison III Kinds of Data 1 2 3 4 1 2 Qualitative primarily concerned with practice and process rather than outcomes Data that can t be easily converted in numeric form A Survey Pros i ii Cons a b a b Relatively cost effective instead of one on one interview Collect data from very large samples Too generalized questions Some questions can be too confusing B Content Analysis researchers study the communications the people produce as a way of creating a picture of their way Researchers quantify and analyze the presences meanings and relationships of words and concepts within the cultural artifacts they re studying then make inference about the messages within the artifacts and culture they re studying i Example How African Americans are depicted in televisions shows Quantitative involves the collection and analysis of data that is quantifiable which able to be counted or mathematically calculated Data that is or can be easily converted to numeric form IV Deductive v Inductive 1 2 Deductive Inductive SOC 302 INTRO TO THE STUDY OF SOCIETY Lecture Methods 09 17 15 3 Wheel of Science V Correlation and Causation 1 Correlation does not imply causation is a phrase used in statistics to emphasize that a correlation between two variables does not necessarily imply that one causes the other Many statistical tests calculate correlation between variables Example Excerpt of an article in which the study shows correlation between eating breakfast and activity The excerpt implies that breakfast eaters are more active i What does the title already tell you alone ii What does the rest of the except say 2 Spurious Correlation Describes a situation in which two variables have no direct connection but it is incorrectly assumed they are connected as a result of either coincidence or the presence of a third hidden factor There is a relationship but the association is not direct There is three variables A B and C e g a student works as a nurse at a local hospital He noticed that the patients who reviewed radiation therapy were also those most likely to die A and B Why Cancer C leads to both radiation and death A A B C 3 Causality Casual Interpretation Time order cause and effect Correlation Rule out the alternatives A B C VI Advantages of systematic research 1 Valid and reliable knowledge about the social world A Validity the extent to which an instrument measures what it is supposed to measure SOC 302 INTRO TO THE STUDY OF SOCIETY Lecture Methods 09 17 15 B Reliability the extent to which a measurement instrument or procedure yields the same results on repeated trials 2 We can control personal biases 3 Moving beyond personal experience and casual observation 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 A Re search 4 We can evaluate others findings VII Where does our knowledge come from Logical deduction A B Have we reasoned correctly How do we know our premises are correct Hand me down from others A Where did their knowledge come from B How can we be sure it is correct Personal experience or observation A B C Are we claiming to know more than our personal experience can warrant Is it possible that we have observed only what we want to believe is true Have our observations been limited in some crucial way VIII Ethical Considerations Professional standards No harm physical emotional psychological Informed consent and voluntary participation Confidentiality A Experiments with Questionable Ethics i Milgram s authority studies ii iii iv Humphrey s Tearoom Trade Tuskegee syphilis study Zimbardo s prison experiment B Experiments are now reviewed by an Institutional Review Board IRB