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Scientific approach
5 steps that sociologists use to look at data.
Selective observation
Inaccurate observation
Overgeneralization
illogical reasoning
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?
Achievement of valid results
ethics of data collection, analysis, and reporting
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