Research Methods (How to do Sociology)

Epistimology

The branch of philosophy focused on the nature, origin and limits of human knowledge

How do we know our world? (5)

1. Personal Experience

2. tradition

3. expertise (authority) - ie, relying on news/media sources

4. Religion

5. Science

Theory

A set of claims about what exists in our social world and the interconnections amongst phenomena

Ideology

A set of beliefs and the inter-connections that one holds despite evidence to the contrary

What is the difference between a theory and an ideology?

For ideology, an individual persists in their belief despite evidence to the contrary

Inductive Research

Observations > Generalizations > Theory

• Qualitative

• Theory creating

• exploits scientific uncertainty

Deductive Research

Theories > Hypotheses > Observations

• quantitative

• theory testing

Requisites of Causality

1. Correlation

2. Temporal Sequence - does A cause B or does B cause A

3. Non-Spurious relationships - YOU WANT A NON SPURIOUS RELATIONSHIP

4. Use of theory

Correlation

The property of being connected

• in order to meet the demands of causality, two variables must be connected

• just because two factors are associated, it does not mean they cause each other

Temporal Sequence

Refers to the proper order of things

• in order to say one thing causes another, it must occur before the other

• can be explained by time series analysis: observe an event over time and see what sequence of events unfolds

Non-Spurious relationships

Relationships must be non-spurious in order to meet the demands of causality

• when an unrecognized variable is the cause of a relationship of interest, it is deemed spurious

• a relationship between variables that is genuine, valid, and not caused by an external third factor

Theory

The culmination of knowledge that should be tested

• used properly, theories open up questions that need to be answered

How do we learn about the world?

1. The classical experiment

2. survey research

3. field research (observation studies)

Variables

A variable is a construct (an event or attribute) to which we can assign a value (usually numerical)

Independent variable

An independent variable (i.e. age) causes a change in the dependent variable (i.e. happiness)

The classic experiment

a research design testing the effect of an independent variable (stimulus) on a dependent variable by comparing an experimental group to a control group, using pretesting and posttesting to measure change

• The researcher randomly assigns subjects to either an experimental group that experiences the experimental effect or a control group that does not.

Survey research

Commonly used in sociology because relatively few people can be asked questions about their experiences, thoughts and beliefs and then the results generalized to a larger population.

• Often accurate but will always face questions of validity and reliability.

Reliability = ….

Consistency

• when conducting surveys, you want to make sure that you results will be the same no matter how many times the experiment is performed

Validity = …

Accuracy

Operationalization

Take a broad concept and create rules for how to understand it

Tearoom trade

• ex of field research

• A field researcher who studied truckers who engaged in same-sex intercourse at gas stops

• unethical because he used a pseudonym and truckers did not know they were being researched

Hawthorne effect

the tendency of people to modify their behavior, typically increasing productivity or improving performance, simply because they are aware of being observed or receiving special attention