soci 3400 exam #1

necessary cause

condition that must be present for effect to follow

sufficient cause

condition guarantees effect in question

induction

generalization from specific observation

deduction

derivation of hypotheses and theory

ontology

study of being (what things are)

epistemology

science of knowing (the way we know things)

methodology

science of finding out

qualitative research

relies on data obtained by researcher from first-hand observation

quantitative research

relies on numerical data and measuring figures

descriptive analysis

shows one variable, done for describing state of social affairs. careful empirical descriptions.

explanative analysis

compares relationship between two variables

population

entire group you want to draw conclusions about (U.S. college students)

sample

specific group you collect data from (college students from U.H.)

exploratory analysis

provides reasons for phenomena in form of causal relationship

variable

logical grouping of attributes (upper level)

theory

systematic explanation for observations that relate to particular aspect of life

concepts

abstract elements representing classes of phenomena within field of study

correlation

similarity

relationship

cause and effect

spurious correlation

similar but no causal relationship (high correlation, no causal)

conceptualization

mental process whereby fuzzy and imprecise notions (concepts) are made more specific and precise

operalization

specifies how a variable or concept will be measured in a study

nominal

exhaustive, mutually exclusive (gender, race)

ordinal

ordered categories, ranked. (satisfaction lvl, movie ratings)

interval

numerical scale with equal distance (temperature, SAT score)

ratio

absolute zero (mph, population)