intro to sociology ch 2

Outline and explain the steps of the sociological research process

select a topic- define the problem- review the literature- formulate a hypothesis- choose a research method- collect data- analyze data- share results- reflect and possibly replicate

Explain what a research population and research sample are, and why random sampling is desirable.

A research population is a group of people from a certain social group. A research sample is a subset of the population of people in whom the researcher is interested. Random sampling is desirable because it allows us to generalize the results of the sample to the population from which the sample comes. This means that we can be fairly sure of the attitudes of the whole U.S. population by knowing the attitudes of just 400 people randomly chosen from that population.

Distinguish between correlation and causality.

A correlation between variables simply means that there is a relationship between variables (or between the behaviors that we are attributing to the variables). Causality refers to the idea that one event, behavior, or belief will result in the occurrence of another, subsequent event, behavior, or belief. In other words, it is about cause and effect.

Compare and contrast the methods of sociological research, including survey, observation, secondary data analysis and experimental research.

Summary:

• Survey = broad & fast

• Observation = deep & real

• Secondary = efficient reuse

• Experiment = control & cause