Introduction to Social Science Research (ibcom BA year I, term I) | Quizlet

agreement reality

Those things we know because we share them with people around us in our culture. It's like knowing that the sky is blue.

replication

Doing an experiment again to find mistakes or make sure the first result was right.

variable

Something that can change and be measured. For example, the variable 'sex' can be 'male' or 'female'.

idiographic

Trying to find all the special reasons why something happened in one specific case.

tolerance of ambiguity

Being okay with having different ideas in your head at the same time without getting upset or saying one is wrong.

hypothesis

A testable idea or guess about what will happen based on a bigger idea or theory.

operationalization

Figuring out how to measure something exactly. It's more specific than just thinking about the idea.

operational definition

A clear way to define something by explaining how you will measure and categorize it.

null hypothesis

The idea that there is no connection between the things you are studying. You try to prove this idea wrong to show that there is a connection.

paradigm

A way of seeing and understanding the world that affects what we notice and how we understand it.

macrotheory

A theory that looks at big groups like whole societies and how they interact.

epistemology

The study of how we know things and different ways of understanding knowledge.

methodology

The study of how to find things out; the methods we use for science.

theory

A way to explain things that happen, like why there are political revolutions.

attribute

A quality or feature that belongs to a person or thing.

independent variable

A thing that causes something else to happen. Its value is not changed by anything in the study.

dependent variable

A thing that is affected by something else. It changes because of the independent variable.

nomothetic

Trying to find a few important reasons that affect many things in a general way.

induction

Starting with specific observations and then coming up with general rules.

deduction

Starting with general rules and then making specific guesses about what will happen.

microtheory

A theory that looks at small groups like individuals and their interactions.

interest convergence

The idea that people in charge will only help others if it also helps them.

critical realism

The idea that things are real if they have effects on other things.

correlation

A connection between two things where when one changes, the other also changes.

spurious relationship

When two things seem connected but are really caused by something else.

units of analysis

The things or people you are studying. Usually in social science, this means individual people.

Social Artifact

Anything made by people or their actions. This can be studied.

ecological fallacy

Making conclusions about individuals based only on what you see in groups. This is a mistake.

reductionism

Only thinking about a few ideas and ignoring other important things.

Sociobiology

The idea that our actions are only because of our genes.

cross-sectional study

A study that looks at things at just one point in time.

longitudinal study

A study that collects information at different times.

trend study

A type of study that watches how something changes in a group of people over time.

cohort study

A study that looks at a specific group of people over time, but it might not be the same people each time.

panel study

A study that collects information from the same people at different times.

panel mortality

When people in a study stop participating.

concept

A general idea or thought about something.

conceptualization

Making fuzzy ideas more clear and specific.

indicator

Something we can see or measure that shows us something about the thing we want to study.

dimension

A specific part of a bigger idea.

cognitive interviewing

Asking people questions to see how they understand them.

nominal measure

A way to measure things where the options are just different categories.

ordinal measure

A way to measure things where you can put the options in order.

interval measure

A way to measure things where the distances between the options are equal.

ratio measure

A way to measure things that has all the features of other measurements, plus a real zero point.

reliability

When a measurement gives you the same result every time you use it.

validity

When a measurement really measures what it's supposed to.

face validity

When a measurement seems like it's a good way to measure something.

criterion-related validity

When a measurement is related to something else it should be related to.

construct validity

When a measurement is related to other things in the way that a theory says it should be.

content validity

When a measurement covers all the different parts of the thing you are measuring.

respondent

A person who answers questions in a survey.

questionnaire

A set of questions used to get information from people.

open-ended questions

Questions that let people answer in their own words.

closed-ended questions

Questions that give people a list of answers to choose from.

bias

When a measurement is wrong in a certain direction.

contigency questions

A question that only some people get asked, depending on how they answered another question.

response rate

How many people take part in a survey compared to how many were asked.

interview

When someone asks another person questions to get information.

probe

A way to get someone to give you more information in an interview.

secondary analysis

When someone uses data that another person already collected.

nonprobability sampling

Ways of choosing people for a study that are not based on chance.

purposive sampling

Choosing people for a study because you think they will be the most useful.

snowball sampling

Asking people you interview to suggest other people to interview.

quota sampling

Choosing people for a study so that the group has the same features as the bigger group you are studying.

informant

Someone who knows a lot about the thing you are studying and will tell you about it.

probability sampling

Ways of choosing people for a study that are based on chance.

representativeness

When the group you choose for a study is similar to the bigger group you are studying.

EPSEM (equal probability of selection method)

When everyone in a group has the same chance of being chosen for a study.

element

One person or thing that is chosen for a study.

population

The whole group of people you are interested in studying.

study population

The group of people you actually choose from for a study.

random selection

Choosing people for a study in a way that everyone has an equal chance.

sampling unit

The person or thing that is chosen at each step of choosing people for a study.

sampling frame

A list of all the people you could choose from for a study.

simple random sampling

Choosing people for a study by giving everyone a number and then picking numbers randomly.

systematic sampling

Choosing people for a study by picking every 'x'th person on a list.

sampling interval

The distance between the people you choose on a list when using systematic sampling.

sampling ratio

The fraction of people in the bigger group that you choose for a study.

stratification

Putting people into groups before choosing them for a study.

cluster sampling

Choosing groups of people first, and then choosing people from within those groups.

PPS (probability proportionate to size)

Choosing groups of people based on how big they are.

weighting

Giving more importance to some people in a study than others.

Reactivity

When people change how they act because they know they are being watched.

naturalism

Studying people in a natural way and reporting what you see accurately.

Ethnography

A report that describes social life in detail.

ethnomethodolgy

Studying how people make sense of the world and the unspoken rules they follow.

grounded theory

Coming up with a theory by constantly comparing what you see happening.

case study

Looking closely at one example of something.

extended case method

Using case studies to find problems with existing theories and make them better.

Institutional Ethnography

Using people's experiences to show how power works in organizations.

Participatory Action Research (PAR)

Letting the people being studied control the study.

emancipatory research

Doing research to help people who are not treated well.

rapport

Having a friendly and trusting relationship with the people you are studying.

qualitative interview

Talking to people in depth about certain topics instead of asking them standard questions.

focus group

Interviewing a group of people together to get them to discuss things.

pretesting

Measuring something before you do an experiment.

posttesting

Measuring something after you do an experiment.

experimental group

The group of people in an experiment who get the thing you are testing.

control group

The group of people in an experiment who do not get the thing you are testing.