Sociology 004- Midterm 1 review sheet

Scientific approach

5 steps that sociologists use to look at data.

1. Selective observation

2. Inaccurate observation

3. Overgeneralization

4. illogical reasoning

5. resistance to change

Science

a set of logical, systematic, documented methods for investigating nature and natural processes.

Selective observation

looking only at things that are in line with preferences and beliefs

Inaccurate observation

Observation based on faulty perceptions

Overgeneralization

what is true for some cases is true for all cases

illogical reasoning

drawing conclusions about causality without sufficient data

resistance to change

reluctance to reevaluate our ideas in light of new information

What are the four norms of science?

Universalism, communalism, disinterestedness, organized skepticism

Universalism

acceptance or rejection of scientific claims should not depend on personal or social characteristics of those making them

Communalism

scientific findings should be the collective property of the entire scientific community.

Disinterestedness

pursuit of scientific truth should proceed without personal bias or motivation.

Organized Skepticism

claims to truth should be approached from a position of doubt.

What are the seven steps in the scientific process?

1.  Review the literature

  2.  Identify research question

  3.  Derive hypothesis from theory (for deductive research)

  4.  Collect data (e.g., experiment, survey, in-depth interview, observation, content analysis) or use secondary data

  5.  Analyze data

  6.  Draw conclusions

  7.  Share results 

Theory

a logically interrelated set of propositions about empirical reality

Variables

a characteristic or property that can vary (i.e., take on different values or attributes)

Attributes

characteristics of people or things

Independent variable

a variable that is hypothesized to cause a dependent variable.

Dependent variable

the outcome variable; the variable that is hypothesized to depend on or be caused by the IV.

Positive relationship

variables move in the same direction

negative relationship

variables move in the opposite direction

deductive research

a hypothesis is derived from a theory and then tested.

hypothesis

a tentative statement about empirical reality involving a relationship between two or more variables.

inductive research

after data are collected, a researcher develops (induces) a general explanation (a theory) to account for the data.

What are the ethical guidelines for research?

1. Achievement of valid results

2. ethics of data collection, analysis, and reporting

3. ethical treatment of human subjects

Guidelines for ethical treatment of human subjects

1.  Avoid harming participants

2.  Obtain informed consent

3.  Avoid deception, except in limited circumstances

4.   Maintain privacy

IRB (Institutional review board)

reviews ethical issues all proposed on subjects before the research begins.

Conceptualization

process of specifying what we mean by a term. concept —→ definition

Concept

a mental image that summarizes a set of similar observations, feelings, or ideas, indicators, and overlapping dimensions.

Operationalization

Specifying the measures that will indicate the value of cases on a variable. Definition—→ operational indicators

Exhaustive

considering all elements of different variables/ attributes. Ie: including other

Mutually exclusive

•0-20

•21-40

•41-60

•61-80

•81 and above

composite measure

measures multiple items. example: economic development

What are the different levels of measurement?

Nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio, dichotomies

Nominal

Variable whose attributes only exhaustiveness & mutually exclusive.  Aka categorical variables.

Ordinal

Variable whose attributes can be rank-ordered along some dimension

Interval

Variable whose attributes are rank-ordered and have equal distances between adjacent attributes

ratio

Variable whose attributes are rank-ordered, with equal distances between adjacent attributes, and have a “true zero”

Dichotomies “dummy variables”

variable having only two values, coded as 0 and 1

Measurement validity

congruence between the concept and measure, degree to which measure accurately reflects the concept it is intended to measure.

measurement reliability

consistency of measure, degree to which the same data would have been collected each time in repeated observations of the same phenomenon.

Face validity

inspection of items used to measure a concept suggests that they are appropriate

content validity

 inspection of items used to measure a concept suggests that they cover the full range of the concepts meaning

construct validity

scores on a measure are correlated with other variables in a theoretically expected manner.

convergent validity

measure is related to different measures of the SAME concept