Research Methods

Nonreactive Research

Studying social behavior without affecting it.

Secondary Analysis

Re-analysis of existing data sets.

Meta-analysis

Combining data from various related analyses.

Manifest Coding

Visible, on-the-surface observations, usually counted.

Latent Coding

Underlying meanings and overall conceptual assessments.

Analytic Induction

Qualitative analysis generating ideas by searching for patterns in observations.

Stimulus-Response Theory (Surveys)

Assumes questionnaire items mean the same thing to every respondent.

Open-Ended Questions

Respondents provide their own answers, yielding high depth and lower consistency.

Closed-Ended Questions

Respondents select from provided lists, yielding low depth and high consistency.

Contingency Questions

Questions intended only for some respondents, managed via clear skipping instructions.

Precoding

Including numerical codes in questionnaires to assist data entry and reduce error.

Paradata

Information about the data collection process, like completion time and attempts.

Random-Digit Dialing (RDD)

Using an area code followed by random digits to include all potential numbers.

Self-Attribution Bias

Tendency for respondents to portray themselves in a positive light.

coding

Transforming actions into a symbolic language

discourse analysis

The study of how stretches of language (spoken or written) achieve both cohesion and coherence.

visual sociology

the use of photographs, film, and video to study society

big data

a broad term for datasets so large or complex that traditional data processing applications are inadequate.

Teleological Argument

argument that we are moving in a particular direction

Cyclical Argument

we move in circles

Policy Arguments

if it works there, it'll work here

history of ideas

Field of research in history that deals with the expression, preservation, and change of human ideas over time.

Hawthorne effect

A change in a subject's behavior caused simply by the awareness of being studied

internal invalidity

the presence of contamination that prevents the experimenter from concluding that a study's experimental variable is responsible for the observed effects

external invalidity

the possibility that conclusions drawn from experimental results may not be generalizable to the "real" world

multiple treatment interference

If a subject receives more than one treatment, it is often tough to discern which modality caused the improvements.

Solomon four-group design

experimental design in which the experimental and control groups are studied with and without a pretest

Sampling

process by which participants are selected

nonprobability sampling

the probability of any particular member of the population being chosen is unknown

sample of convenience

a collection of individuals that are easily available to the researcher

Purposive Sampling

a biased sampling technique in which only certain kinds of people are included in a sample

Snowball Sampling

participants are asked to recommend a few acquaintances for the study

Quota Sampling

A nonprobability sampling technique in which researchers divide the population into groups and then arbitrarily choose participants from each group

Gallup Poll

assessment of public opinion by the questioning of a statistically representative sample

systematic sampling

select some starting point and then select every kth element in the population

stratified sampling

a variation of random sampling; the population is divided into subgroups and weighted based on demographic characteristics of the national population

multistage cluster sampling

divide population into clusters and then randomly select clusters to sample

nominal

characterstics that are mutually exclusive. Ex. Hair colour, eye colour

ordinal

characteristics that can be ranked or scaled. Ex. social class

Interval

characteristics with equal and measurable distance. Ex. Temperature

Ratio

characteristics with a "true zero" Ex. Age, income

Precision

detail of a measurement

Accuracy

correctness of a measurement

Reliability

Ability of a test to yield very similar scores for the same individual over repeated testings

Validity

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to