Sociology 310 SELU Chernoff midterm (test 1)

Populaiton is represented by what letter ?

N

Example: student populaiton (N=12,500)

What does generalizable mean

The extent to which results or conclusions based on one population can be applied to others

What is census sampling?

Sampling where all respondents in the population are selected

What is the criteria for census sampling?

-extremely expensive when it comes to time and money

-might not be able to reach certain populations (homeless/ drug dealers etc)

Describe sampling

The process of selecting observational unites (analytical units/respondents) to observe, when you cannot analyze everything or everyone

Sampling is usually a what?

A subgroup used to talk about the overall population

What is the goal of a sampling group ?

To locate patterns and trends in a small group to make an overall conclusion about a Populaiton

A sample group is represented by what letter?

n

Ex: sample students (n=50)

When is a sample representative?

When the respondents in a sample do not underrepresent or overrepresent certain groups in the population (represents everything equally)

What did literary digest do ?

Correctly predicted the presidential election in the 20s and 32'

Like the weekly magazine

What did the literary digest predict in 36'? Vs what actually happened

Predicted Alf Landon would beat franklin Roosevelt

Reality: Roosevelt won 61% to 39%, 523 to 8 electoral votes

What caused the Literary digest to finally predict wrongly?

The effects of the Great Depression from 1929 to 1939

Lotus of citizens supported Roosevelt new deal but literary digest sample was drawn from people who had telephones and cars (the WEALTHY)

What was the lesson learned from the literary digest incident?

Make sure the sample includes all of the population not just focusing on certain groups

What are the non probability sampling methods?

Convenience sampling

Quota sampling

Describe convenience sampling

Respondents selected based on who is available and willing to participate in the study

Stopping people on a street corner

What are the pros of convenience sampling ?

It is very easy to conduct

What are the cons of convenience sampling?

No guarantee that sample represents the population of interest

May not have a good group to represent EVERYBODY (is the group representative of all groups?)

Do not know if there are biased in your representing group

Describe quota sampling

Respondents selected based on known proportions of people in the population

An improvement but still not the best

What are the types of probability sampling?

Random selection

Systematic random sampling

Describe random selection

Each element (analytical unit/ respondent) has an equal chance of selection independent of any other element in the selection process

Need some other device doing the selection of people for you

Chosen at random!!!!!!!

What is the random selection process

Flipping a coin/ table of random numbers/ iPhone Siri app

Describe systematic random sampling

(Using the idea of studying cars on campus)

Go to a location

Have Siri pick a number between 1-10

Or select the 7th car parked and systematically select every 10th following car

Describe probability sampling

The GOLD standard

What does random sampling guarantee?

A sample that represents Populaiton

When would you use random sampling probability

When you want to know quantitative information

Numbers/categories

What are the cons of random sampling

It's not great when people want to know qualitative information

Peoples stories/ opinions/ beliefs

What is the goal when it comes to interviewing people?

The goal of Generalization

What can you learn from Generalizing people?

The wealth of the human experience

Learning peoples thoughts, reasons, beliefs, memories

Learning not only about one person but a lot of people

What are the types of sampling when it comes to selecting participants?

Convenience sampling

Judgement/purposive sampling

Snowball sampling

How are people selected in a convenience sample?

Selected based on who is available at that moment

How are people selected in a judgement/purposive sample?

Selected based on goals or objectives wanting to learn about

Wanna know how to get rich..? Interview wealthy people

How are people selected in a snowball sample?

People get referred to by another participant

One criminal refers you to another criminal to interview for research

Downside: can fall into a feedback loop

When do we know when to stop interviewing on certain topics?

When saturation occurs

Describe saturation in connection to interviewing people

Identified the major talking points

Go to interview new people but continue to hear the same ideas or opinions

Some people are going to say the same thing that another person may have said.

Interviewing people over and over and not retrieving new insight

What kind of questions should interviewers be asking the person?

Open ended questions!!!! -> WHY HOW WHAT

Ex: which types of crimes do you worry about (leaving the person with a lot of room to build)

Do not know the answer the person will give us (not a yes or no situation)

Allows the person to speak freely and in their own words, while also allowing the interviewer to be able to ask follow up questions (probe)

What type of questions should be avoided in an interview?

Closed ended questions .... How often ? Yes/no?

Allows for only specific responses . Constraining the responses and interview

Ex: how many times have you used the food pantry on campus

Have you ever smoked weed

(The response and topic will die fast)

What are the three types of interviewing?

Structured

Semi structured

Unstructured

Describe structured interviewing

Like a survey format-> each question on the paper will be the same when given out to everyone participating

Categories/ numbers

Participants answer questions on their own

Describe the interview schedule for a structured interview

Questions prepared ahead of time and answers prepared ahead of time

Does not deviate from questions or order they are asked

Describe a semi structured interview schedule

A list of question prepared ahead of time

Include probe -> (follow up questions)

Can ask additional questions

Can ask questions out of order or even go off track during interview

Describe an unstructured interview schedule

List of general topics to discuss

Who, what, where, when, why

Might not ask the same questions twice

May change topic during a current one if a new topic would arise randomly

What's the downside of an instructed interview

Might be hard to compare interviews if each person is being asked different questions or the convoluted shifts differently

What type of interview do journalist typically do ?

Unstructured interviewing

How do you conduct an interview?

Find someone to interview and have a conversation with them

Want them to open up during it so you must be mindful

Youve got your questions

Interviews have a what?

Beginning middle and end

Interviewing is like a what?

A Job

What goes into having your questions for an interview?

The ways to ask the questions

It is not a natural process to conduct an interview (must read the room to know how to structure or form trust)

Figure out how to say things to get someone to open up or trust

What are the steps in conducting interviews

Introduce the study

Guidepost/turn signals

Describe introducing the study when it comes to the interviewing step

Explain what the study is about

Give a general description of the flow/organization of the interview questions

Mentioned topics that will be covered during interview and the steps in the process of the interview

Describe Guidepost/turn signals when it comes to the interviewing step

Phrases to let respondent know where you're at or when done with one topic and moving onto another

"Now I have some questions about your neighborhood"

Describe rapport in relation to conducting an interview?

Actions taken by the researcher to make participants trust the researcher and get them to share their truths

"I dont work for FBI"

Describe what redirection is in relation to conducting an interview

Bringing respondents back to a topic after they have gone off on a tangent

Why should we steer people back on topic?

Cost interview time

Time to transcribe

Info you dont need or aren't looking for

What are some tricks to get people to talk

Start with warm up questions

Play dumb

Invent/share opinions and ask them to respond

Devils advocate

Call them out respectfully

What is the "devils advocate"?

You: how do you cheat on your taxes?

Them: I never cheat

You: everyone cheats on their taxes, maybe you just dont remember

How do you conduct interviews by recording interviews?

Use an audio recording device

Ask for permission to record

Technical difficulties

Spot check audio files soon after interview

Describe important information when it comes to using an audio recording device?

Concentrate on having good conversation and not taking notes

Word for word quotes

Describe important information when it comes to asking permission to record during an interview

Turn off recorder if they ask you too

Recreate details in notes

Describe technical difficulties that can occur during recording interviews

Batteries die

Poor recordings (background noise)

Corrupted audio file

Describe when to spot check audio files after an interview

Beginning middle and end

How do you transcribe interviews?

Transcribe interviews word for word

Reduce speed

Rewind

1 hour interview= 5-6 hour transcription

(Ok to drop filler words "um, uh, like")

Pros to transcribing interviews from speech to text

Transcribe fast

Cons to transcribing interviews from speech to text

Don't get to relive interviews

Miss out on new thoughts

Accent difficulties

Paywall

Reliability is not necessarily about being what?

Not necessarily about being correct

Reliability is about what?

It's about being stable and predictable

How consistently the same operation yields the same results

When would a high reliability be present

When the relevant measure or method reveals similar information no matter how many times it is applied to collect or code data, as long as the basic conditions are the same

Validity is about what?

About being correct

What is validity not about?

Not about be stable or predictable

A high validity measure is about what?

About getting to the heart of the concept being measured

Is the operation accurately capturing something in the real world?

When looking at a bullseye (goal is get as close as possible to the innermost part of the overall circle) 3 arrows & 5 circles :

Person one- hits 1 arrow on the innermost circle (1), hits 2nd arrow in the 2nd circle, hits 3rd arrow in the 2nd circle

This represents what?

Validity (valid)

All hit right next to the intended destination but in different locations (so it lacks reliability)

When looking at a bullseye (goal is to get as close as possible to the innermost part of the overall circle) given 3 arrows & 5 circles:

Person 2: 1st arrow lands on the 4th circle, 2nd arrow lands right next to the 1st arrow in the 4th circle, 3rd arrow lands right next to both 2nd &1st arrow in the 4th circle

This represents what?

Reliability (reliable)

All hit in the same location but not in the intended destination (so it lacks validity)

When looking at a bullseye (goal is to get as close as possible to the innermost part of the overall circle) given 3 arrows & 5 circles:

Person 3: 1st arrow hits innermost (1), 2nd arrow hits next to 1st arrow in the innermost circle (1), 3rd arrow hits next to both 1st & 2nd arrow in the innermost circle (1)

This is a good representation of what?

Validity AND Reliability

Both valid and reliable

All hit the intended destination

Reliability and validity are what?

Are independently important standards for evaluating

Do not affect eachother -> look at them separately in a situation

Reliability and validity are much more common in what type of data?

Quantitative data

Using greater number of participants in a study may lead to what in terms of reliability and validity?

Higher validity and lower reliability

What are two major ideas to keep in mind while interviewing?

Validity and reliability

Describe what validity is

The State of being true, how much can you depend on the answer that is given, to be an accurate measurement of what you are trying to capture

Describe reliability

Predictable/ can de depend on getting the same response again in the future (consistent)

Ability to get the same response from that person or another person if you asked them a 2nd time.

Is this persons answer going to be similar to the public's answer to the same question?? If so it would have high reliability

We can rely on getting the same information from everyone else

Are you guaranteed to have both reliability and validity?

No

Describe the types of validity and reliability relationships that can occur

Higher validity -> lower reliability

Higher validity-> higher reliability

Lower validity-> lower reliability

Lower validity-> higher reliability

What is our goal in an interview when it comes to validity and reliability

Gain reliable and validitable information to use for research purposes

How to improve/assess reliability and validity

What were the questions asked

How the interview itself was conducted

What are the common mistakes when it comes to asking questions that lead away from gaining reliability and validity

Avoid jargon

Avoid double barreled questions

Avoid double negative questions

Avoid leading questions

describe the jargon

Specialized language/words

No "social stratification" or "deterrence"

How can Jaron affect reliability

Some people may be able to understand it and others may not

How can jargon affect validity

By a power dynamic affront how they may respond

What is a double barreled question

Asking two questions at once

Questions that require responding to multiple parts

How can double barreled questions affect reliability

May answer one question more than the other

How can double barreled questions affect validity

Sacrifice depth to answer one of the other (or both)

What are double negative questions

Questions / statements with two negatively phrased words or ideas

"What shouldn't UPD not do to improve safety on campus"

How can double negative questions affect reliability

May answer positive or negative version of question

How can double negative questions affect validity

Power dynamic

What are leading questions

Questions that lead respondent to give a certain answer

"People working at acme corporation love their jobs. How do you feel about your job here?"

How can leading questions affect reliability

People say what they think they should say

How can leading questions affect validity

People won't say what they actually think

Describe social desirability

How much do you love your family?

How remorseful are you of your crime?

What is your economic status-> people are going to say they are middle class when in reality everyone cant be middle class

What society expects people to mutually agree on or feel about certain things

How do you fix social desirability

Rapport-> prove to participant that you wont judge their honest response and that you can be trusted

What were the questions asked: probe question

Follow up questions to original questions

Why

How do you know that is true

Can you give me an example

What are the pros to debating interview validity

Real human connection

Can probe- ask follow up questions

Truthfulness

Body language, eye contact, tone of voice

Answer in vague or evading

What are the cons to debating interview validity

Surface level comments