SOC RESEARCH FINAL

Unobtrusive research

methods of studying social behavior without affecting it

Content analysis

the study of recorded human communications

How to know if a topic is appropriate for content analysis

Who says what, to whom, why, how, and with what effect?

Units of analysis (content analysis)

The individual units that we make descriptive and explanatory statements about

Which two characteristics of science are used to handle the problem of validity in analysis of existing statistics?

Logical reasoning and replication

What is being tested when looking at if a report accurately reports what they claim to report?

Reliability

Comparative and historical research

Involves the use of historical methods by social scientists over time and in comparison with one another

Economic determinsim

Marx; economic factors determined the nature of all other aspects of society

3 major types of unobtrusive research

1. Content Analysis 2. Analysis of Existing Stats 3. Comparative and Historical Analysis

Strengths of Content Analysis

Economy of time and money, allowing for the correction of errors, permits the study of processes occurring over time, research has little effect on subjects, reliability

Weaknesses of Content Analysis

Limited to recorded communications, validity

Sources of existing statistics

Statistical abstract of the United States, census, UN

Strengths of using existing statistics

data is already collected for you

Weaknesses of using existing statistics

You are reliant on the protocols/measuring done by other people, causal claims, generalizability

Strengths of comparative and historical work

Lots of history/cases to access, the fun of going through documents/archives/materials to put together a story

Weaknesses of comparative and historical work

Careful about selecting cases, be aware of biases in the data, causal claims, generalizability

Evaluation Research

Research undertaken for the purpose of determining the impact of some social intervention, such as a program aimed at solving a social problem

Ethical issues of evaluation research

Social interventions being evaluated may raise ethical issues, evaluation research may be a mask for unethical behavior

What type of designs do evaluation researchers do?

Experimental or quasi-experimental designs; possible qualitative methods

Coding units

looking for concepts

Coding as a physical act

imagine file folder with scraps for each instance

Open coding

the initial classification and labeling of concepts in qualitative data analysis; developing categories

Axial coding

a reanalysis of the results of open coding, aimed at identifying the important, general concepts

Selective coding

builds on the result of open coding and axial coding to define the central concept

Grounded Theory Method (GTM)

an inductive approach to research in which theories are generated solely from an examination of data rather than being derived deductively

Constant comparative method

a component of GTM in which observations are compared with one another and with the evolving inductive theory

4 stages of constant comparative method

1. comparing incident application to each category 2. integrating categories and their properties 3. delimiting the theory 4. writing theory

Quantification Analysis

the numerical representation and manipulation of observations for the purpose of describing and explaining the phenomena that those observations reflect

Strengths of quantification of data

finding relationships between variables, isolating effects of certain factors; ranges from relatively simple to complex statistical tests; widely viewed as strong evidence

Weaknesses of quantification of data

social relationships are often very complex, idea of “p-hacking”, statistical tests rely on good data, should not be seen as proof

Steps of data analysis

1. develop your hypothesis 2. examine your variables of interest 3. start looking for bivariate relationships

Univariate analysis

the analysis of a single variable, for purposes of description

Reasons data is missing

Incorrect coding, person/case is missing lots of data, should be coded as missing data but isn’t

Bivariate analysis

the analysis of two variables simultaneously, for the purpose of determining the empirical relationship between them

Elaboration

a process designed to further explore a bivariate relationship; involves the introduction of control variables

Babbie’s 3 types of elaboration

1. explanation 2. intervening 3. conditional

3 goals of elaboration

1. allows us to test for non-spuriousness 2. clarifies the causal sequence of bivariate relationships by introducing variables hypothesizes to intervene between the IV and DV 3. specifies the different conditions under which the original bivariate relationship might hold

Partial tables

bivariate tables that display the relationship between the IV and DV while controlling for a third variable

Partial relationship

the relationship between the IV and DV shown in a partial tables

Process of elaboration

1. divide observations into subgroups on the basis of the control variable 2. re-examine the relationship between the original two variables separately for the control variable subgroups 3. compare the partial relationships with the original bivariate relationship for the total group

Intervening variable

a control variable that follows an independent variable but precedes the dependent variable in a causal sequence

Intervening relationship

a relationship in which the control variable intervenes between the independent and dependent variables

Conditional relationship

a relationship in which the control variable’s effect on the dependent variable is conditional on its interaction with the independent variable

Distorter variable

reverses true relationships between variables

Zero-order relationship

the observed relationship between two variables without a third variable being held constant or controlled

Supressor variable

conceals the relationship between two other variables

Possible outcomes of elaboration analysis

replication, explanation, interpretation, specification

Replication

a set of partial relationships is essentially the same as the corresponding zero-order relationship

Explanation

a set of partial relationships is reduced essentially to zero when an antecedent variable is held constant

Interpretation

a set of partial relationships is reduced essentially to zero when an intervening variable is held constant

Specification

one partial relationship is reduced, ideally to zero, and the other remains about the same as the original relationship or is stronger

Inferential statistics

make inferences about the larger population from which the sample observations were drawn

Babbie’s reservations about significance

1. actual samples rarely meet assumptions 2. significant results may just be result of large sample size

T-test

compare means of two groups

Measures of association

descriptive statistics summarizing the relationships between variables

What does chi-square measure?

observed vs. expected values; whether there is a relationship between the two variables

Proportionate Reduction of Error (PRE)

A logical model for assessing the strength of a relationship by asking how much knowing values on one variable would reduce our errors in guessing values on the other

Gamma is based on _________.

guessing the ordinal arrangement of values

Lambda is based on _________.

guessing exact values

Multiple regression analysis

A form of statistical analysis that seeks the equation representing the impact of two or more independent variables on a single dependent variable