Chapter 8: Research with Nonreactive Measures

Vocabulary flashcards covering key nonreactive research methodologies, coding techniques, existing statistics, and secondary data analysis concepts.

Nonreactive Research

Social research techniques in which participants are unaware that they are being studied, allowing researchers to collect passive data without causing people to alter their behavior.

Reactive Research

Research methods, such as surveys and experiments, in which participants are aware that they are part of a study and may modify their actions because of that awareness.

Physical Evidence Analysis

A nonreactive quantitative research technique that creates measures of variables by systematically observing and counting discarded objects or physical traces left by human activity.

Content Analysis

A nonreactive research technique used to examine direct or indirect messages—including words, pictures, symbols, and themes—in communication media through objective and systematic coding.

Existing Statistics Analysis

A nonreactive research method in which a researcher locates previously collected public quantitative data from official sources and statistically analyzes it to address new research questions.

Secondary Data Analysis

A quantitative research approach where a researcher re-analyzes survey or social dataset files previously gathered by other researchers or organizations.

Coding System

A written set of rules and categories in content analysis that specifies how to classify and code observations from text to ensure measurement reliability and replication.

Manifest Coding

A content analysis coding method that involves counting visible, explicit surface elements in a text, such as specific words, phrases, or physical objects.

Latent Coding

A content analysis coding method where researchers look at text or visual communication as a whole to identify implicit, underlying themes, moods, or social meanings.

Intercoder Reliability

A statistical coefficient ranging from $0$ to $1.0$ that measures the level of agreement and consistency among independent coders evaluating the same text.

Direction (in Content Analysis)

A characteristic measured in content analysis that records whether a message in a text expresses a positive (supportive) or negative (opposing) orientation toward an issue or trait.

Frequency (in Content Analysis)

A measurement characteristic in content analysis that tracks whether a specific element occurs in text and counts the total number of times it appears.

Intensity (in Content Analysis)

A characteristic in content analysis that measures the strength, magnitude, or severity of a variable present within a communication text.

Space (in Content Analysis)

A content analysis measure that quantifies the physical size, volume, word count, column inches, or time duration allocated to media content.

Prominence (in Content Analysis)

A measurement characteristic in content analysis assessing the visual or temporal positioning of text or media to determine how much attention it receives.

Social Indicators

Quantitative measures or statistical indexes designed to assess broad social conditions, quality of life, and public well-being within a society.

Walkability

A social indicator score ranging from $0$ to $100$ that measures how conducive the physical layout and built environment of a location are to walking.

Statistical Abstract of the United States

An annual statistical reference publication produced by the U.S. government from 1878 to 2012 featuring over 1,400 summary charts, tables, and lists.

Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness

The error of presenting existing statistical figures in excessive decimal detail to give an unmerited impression of scientific accuracy and precision.

Ecological Fallacy

A logical error occurring when a researcher draws conclusions about individual behavior using aggregated data collected from higher or larger units of analysis.

Standardization

The statistical procedure of dividing a raw measure by a specific base (such as population size) to construct comparable rates across different groups or sizes.

General Social Survey (GSS)

A major U.S. national survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) almost annually since 1972, providing publicly accessible data for secondary analysis.

International Social Survey Program (ISSP)

A comparative cross-national organization formed in 1984 that coordinates annual survey topics across 53 member nations for secondary data analysis.

Reduction Hypothesis

A theoretical proposition stating that increased immigration and ethnic diversity lead native-born citizens to support cuts to public welfare programs due to reduced social homogeneity.

Compensation Hypothesis

A theoretical proposition suggesting that increased immigration leads the public to support stronger social welfare programs to cushion native-born citizens against economic insecurity.

Chauvinism Hypothesis

A theoretical proposition predicting that higher immigration reduces public support specifically for social policies that directly benefit immigrants while maintaining support for other social benefits.

Officially Unemployed

Nonworking individuals who lack a paid job outside the home, are actively searching for employment, and are available to begin working immediately.

Involuntary Employed

Employed individuals who work irregularly or significantly fewer hours than desired, or who work part-time while desiring full-time employment.

Discouraged Workers

Individuals who are capable of working and previously searched for employment but stopped looking after failing to find a job.

Underemployed People

Individuals working temporary full-time jobs for which they are overqualified while actively seeking permanent positions that match their skills.

Transitional Workers

Self-employed individuals who are not working full-time because they are launching a new enterprise or undergoing bankruptcy from a failed business.