ResearchMethodsMidTerm

lit review

books, surveys, scholarly articles, any other sources relavent to the topic. Provide a critical evaluation of these works in relation to the current research problem being investigated.

lit gap

researchers use lit review to find “holes” in existing or prior research.

exploratory

type of research

a)     Investigate problems that aren’t clearly defined

b)    Not expected to make conclusions

c)     Departure point for future research

a.     TikTok and creating culture

descriptive

type of research

a)     Used to describe characteristics of a population/individual/ phenomenon

b)    Does not answer why/when/how the characteristics occurred

a.     Who are school shooters?

explanatory

type of research

a)     Exploring new or poorly understood phenomenon in detail

a.     Why do pedestrians not use crosswalks?

b.     Why are divorce rates continuing to increase?

transformational

type of research

a)     Research that shifts or breaks the existing scientific paradigms

a.     Feminist criminology and theorization

ontology

the study, theory, or science of being. Concerned with what is or the nature of reality

objective ontology

social entities exist externally to the social actors who are concerned with their existence

Reality exists by itself- things are what they are

subjective ontology

\- social pheonomena are created from perceptions and actions of social actors who are concerned with their existence

You can only experience reality through yourself (chair is only a chair when you label it a chair)

Reality cant exist by itself

            Ie) a falling tree- does it fall if theres no one to hear it?

\-sociology typically this

epistemology

\- rather than dealing with the questions about what is, epistemology deals with questions of how we know what is

positivist

research paradigm

(most commonly used); objective, bias free science (used in natural sciences)

\-the world is knowable if studied empirically (using senses) (tree)

\- uses deductive logic

are you human?- : humans are bipedal primates (live births, mammals, opposable thumbs,)

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interpretivist

research paradigm

* focus on understanding differences of humans as social actors
\-focus on people over objects
\-interpret social roles in relationship
\-ie) what makes a good bf/gf?
* interpretivist have an ideal (what a good bf is), uses socialization to understand it, the use our understanding and apply it to others
\-give Info and use it to evaluate others in a similar role (good bf imo applied to other ppls bf)

are you human?- what is playing the role of a human mean. Base our definition on other ppls definition

social constructionism

research paradigm

\- no objective truth (varying, socially constructed, and ever changing- ie) shape of earth/nutrition

\-we can’t seek our reality because ppl CREATE it

Social context and interactions frame our realities (sexism question in 1880- our understanding of sexism different based on time/place)

\-can’t seek out definitive Truth, just analyze how things are currently constructed/ how they are understood

are you human?- : how has qualities of a human has changed over time and culture

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critical

research paradigm

focus on power and inequality

\-SS can never be truly objective or value free

Goal of science is social change

\-       All knowledge production is from higher class= prevents ppl from understanding real world

are you human?- those in power created conceptions of what humanity is

postmodern

research paradigm

no objective/ knowable truth

\-       can never really know such truth because we always put our own truth into science

are you human? -who’s truth? who am I asking

inductive research

data to theory (gather data- specific level of focus> look for patterns-analysis> develop theory> general level of focus)

* benefit= the data influences the theory (don’t go in with pre thought biases)
* con= might put data together incorrectly
* very hard to be purely this

deductive research

theory to data- make a theory- specific level of focus>, analysis of data> hypothesis supported or not-specific level of focus)

Benefit:

Con: data=more bias- look for data to fit your theory

nuremburg code

\- structure for modern research

\-voluntary consent

\-Duty/responsibility to retain consent

\-Should yield research for the good of society

\-avoid mental/physical suffering

\-costs/benefit analysis

\-scientifically qualified

Milgram

Key experiment

(misguided participants- can you lie to people), (participants were led to believe they were seriously harming students but the shocks were fake)

\-fake electric shock machine (30-450 volts- increments of 15)

\-labeled slight shock>moderate>danger> severe shock> XXXX

\-teacher (participant) delivers shocks to “student” (actor) when they give the wrong answer, teacher hear student in pain but told to continue

\-65% went XXXX

Humphrey tearoom trade

key experiment

(ethics of nonconsent/ participating in experiment and non-telling you’re an experimenter),

\-offered to be “watch queen”- kept watch for police- didn’t tell people they were a researcher

\-wrote down license plate numbers and obtained names/addresses

\-disguised as public health researcher, visited participants in their home and interviewed them about their lives/health

\-found that more than 50% were married to women and did not identify as gay

Zimbardo

key experiment

(1971) (when do you stop an experiment- ethics)

\-participants assigned role of guard or prisoner

\- researcher put themself in experiment posing as warden

\-Understand ethical concern/ what happened in experiment itself

IRB

Institutional review boards- try to ensure rights/welfare of humans &animal participants will be protected at institutions (edu, hospitals, nonprofits, orgs w/fed funding)

\-often clash with SOC/CRM

\-asks detailed questions about who will be observed, what questions askedm what predictions about what will happen (hard for soc.crm)

exempt

type of review

minimum risk, exempt from some requirements (written informed consent)

expedited

type of review

\- full protection of regulations but faster review (focus groups)

full board

type of review

\- annual reviews and no changes without approval (deception, potential for emotional damage)

null hypothesis

\- no difference or relationship exists between two sets of data or variables being analyzed. Any experimentally observed difference is due to chance alone and there is no underlying causal relationship

Want to reject null (says there is some relationship between variables)

\-denoted as H0 (your first hypothesis is H1)

quantitative

a)     favors observable causes and effects and is therefore outcome oriented

b)    aggregate data used to see patterns and “truth” about phenomena under study

c)     true understanding determined by the ability to predict phenomena

qualitative

a)     considered phenomenologists (human centered research)

b)    research must account for humanness (they have thoughts, feelings, and experience that they interpret of the participants)

c)     true understanding not prediction but understanding action and its interpretive meaning

mixed methods

a)     combines both quantitative and qualitative for multi-level perspective

b)    rigorous quant research assessing magnitude and frequency of constructs, and rigorous qualitative research exploring the meaning and understanding of the constructs

Reliability

in measurement is about consistency. If a measure is reliable, it means that if the same measure is applied consistently to the same person, the result will be the same each time

Ie) have you ever had a problem with alcohol in your life? (Not reliable bc change in relationship with alcohol over life)

\-if measures are unreliable, they cannot be trusted to detect patterns and relationships

\-  common issue: memory

Ie) how many wine, beer, and liquor drinks have you consumed each day for the last 3 months? (quantitative)- not gonna remember exacts

\-observation data issues= may miss some parts of interaction you observe, observations vary based on things like time and are not very reliable

validity

\- validity is shared understanding

Ie) have you ever had a problem with alcohol?- peoples thoughts on what is a problem with alcohol varies based on opinion

external validity

\-not required- the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other settings (ecological validity), other people (population validity) and over time (historical validity)

            Ie) can survey at assumption be generalized for students at another school?

internal validity

\- required- how much confidence you have in research results (can we trace our data to the things we are trying to prove- are we measuring the right/wrong things?

\-issue of confounding variables, higher IV=more confidence in research, IV is the degree to which you can establish the cause and effect association between A and B

nominal

type of variable

a)     exhaustive (no other categories)

b)    mutually exclusive (can’t be in more than one)

c)     cannot be quantified mathematically

a.     ie) relationship status (single, married, divorced, widowed- these are nomial)

ordinal

type of variable

a)     can be rank ordered

b)    can’t calculate a mathematical distance between those attributes

c)     exhaustive

d)    mutually exclusive

a.     ie) social class  (upper mddle lower), TV show ratings, prejudice?

interval

type of variable

a)     ordinal distance between attributes is known to be EQUAL (ranking is equal)

a.     ie) IQ and temperatures (100-98; we know the distance between those are the same- cant to this with upper middle and lower classes)

b)    not used in social science

ratio

type of variable

a)     attributes are mutually exclusice

b)    exhaustive

c)     can be rank ordered

d)    the distance between attributes is equal

e)     attributes have a true zero point

a.     we know the ratio of one attribute compared to another

b.     ie_ age and years of education (a 12 year old is twice as old as a 6 year old)

independent variable

IV- (X) the variable that an experimenter changes or controls so they can observe the effects on the dependent variable (ie how many time the phone is checked)

dependent variable

 DV- (Y) the variable being measured in an experiment that is “dependent” on the IV (ie relationship satisfaction)

extraneous variables

(confounding) (C) variable that may compete with the IV in explaining the outcome  (ie how often the couple see’s eachother)

minimize extraneous

1. Standardize procedures (ie ask the same questions at the same time, offer rewards for participation)
2. Random assignment: reduce the likelihood that characteristics specific to some participants have influenced the IV (means that every person chosen for an experiment has an equal chance of being assigned either the test group or the control group