Basic Concepts in Social Science Research

1. Basic Concepts in Social Science Research A goal of sociological research is to discover the similarities, differences, patterns, and trends of a given population.

2. Vocabulary • Subjects • Respondents • Sample • Generalize • Random Sample • Reliability • Validity

3. Quantitative vs Qualitative • Quantitative Research • information collected from respondents is converted into numbers (hint: quantity) • Qualitative Research • information collected from respondents take the form of verbal descriptions or direct observations of events.

4. Conducting Research • Form a Research question • Pick a behavior • Form a Hypothesis • Educated guess • Test the Hypothesis • Methodology • Analyze Results • Draw Conclusions • New Questions (conclusion)

5. Survey, Samples and Populations • Survey Methods • Populations and Samples • Selecting Samples • Generalizing results • Volunteer bias

6. Populations and Samples • Populations • Target • Sampling Methods • Random • Stratified • Cluster

7. Survey Methods • Questionaire (Surveys) • List of questions with choice of responses • By telephone or in person • (Quanitiative) • Interviews • More in-depth questioning • (Quallitative) • Problems: • May get inaccurate info

8. Disadvantages of survey research • Volunteer bias occurs when a sample of volunteers is not representative of the general population. Subjects who are willing to talk about certain topics may answer surveys differently than those who are not willing to talk. • Interviewer biasoccurs when an interviewer's expectations or insignificant gestures (for example, frowning or smiling) inadvertently influence a subject's responses one way or the other. • Distortion occurs when a subject does not respond to questions honestly.

9. Generalizing results • Hard to generalize to larger population • Look for patterns • Look for ‘general’ trends in behavior • BEWARE STEREOTYPING!!! • A stereotype is a popular belief about specific types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups based on some prior assumptions.

10. Observational research has limitations, however. • Subject bias is common, because volunteer subjects may not be representative of the general public. • Individuals who agree to observation and monitoring may function differently than those who do not. • They may also function differently in a laboratory setting than they do in other settings.

11. Analyzing Observations • Positive and Negative correlations • A correlation is a relationship between two variables (or “factors that change”) on. • These factors can be characteristics, attitudes, behaviors, or events. • Correlational research attempts to determine if a relationship exists between the two variables, and the degree of that relationship. • Limits or correlation • Don’t confuse correlation with causation • Correlational data do not indicate cause-and-effect relationships. When a correlation exists, changes in the value of one variable reflect changes in the value of the other • The correlation does not imply that one variable causes the other, only that both variables somehow relate to one another.

12. Ethical Issues • Research with people • Confidentiality • Informed consent • Deception • Research with Animals • Ethics in Using Data