Sociology - Chapter 2

Basic Research

To describe some aspect of society and advance our understanding of it

Typically published in journals and books addressed to a scholarly audience

Applied Research

To directly address some problem or need

Takes place outside of academia, and the results are distributed within organizations that commission the studies

Public Sociology

The efforts to reach beyond an academic audience to make the results of sociological research, both basic and applied, known to the broader public

Limits of Everyday Thinking

Unquestioned trust in authorities

Unquestioned acceptance of “common sense”

Unquestioned acceptance of traditional beliefs

Generalizations based on personal experience

Reliance on selective observation

Blind observation and interpretation

Patterns in Social Life

Social science focuses on identifiable, repeating patterns in human thought and action

Social life is not merely a chaotic series of random events

Social science research largely consists of identifying and understanding these patterns in social life

Social scientists use a variety of techniques to describe and measure the patterns in social life

Empirical Evidence

Evidence that can be observed or documented using the human senses

Can be categorized as either quantitative data or qualitative data

Quantitative data

Evidence that can be summarized numerically

Presented in the form of variables

Variables

Measures that can change (or vary) and thus have different values

To assign values, researches must operationalize

Can be categorized as independent or dependent

Operationalize

Defining the variables clearly so that they can be measured

Independent Variables

Associated with and/or cause change in the value of the dependent variable

Dependent Variables

Change in response to the independent variable

Correlation

A relationship in which change in one variable is connected to change in another

Qualitative Data

Any kind of evidence that is not numerical in nature, including evidence gathered from interviews, direct observation, and written or visual documents

Focuses on describing social processes, and organizes evidence around central themes that have emerged

Transparency

The requirement that researchers explain how they collected and analyzed their evidence and how they reached their conclusions

Allows others to see how the research was done by reading a description of the process that was used

Provisional Knowledge

Truth claims that are tentative and open to revision in the face of new evidence

Cannot be 100% certain about your understanding of social phenomena

Goal = reach tentative conclusions that researchers can act on

Hawthorne Effect

The tendency of humans to react differently than they otherwise would when they know they are in a study

Arnold van Gennep’s Theory

The function of some rituals was to mark a change of social status; “Rites of Passage”

Types of Research Methods

1. Surveys

2. Interviews and focus groups

3. Field research

4. Analysis of existing sources

5. Experiments

Survey

Data collection technique that involves asking someone a series of questions

Sample

A part of the populations that represents the whole

Random Sample

Every element of the population has an equal chance of being chosen

Generalize

Describe patterns of behavior of a larger population, based on findings from a sample

Intensive Interview

A data-gathering technique that uses open-ended questions during somewhat lengthy face-to-face

Interviews are semi-structured

Field Research

A data collection technique in which the researcher systemically observes some aspect of social life in its natural setting

Secondary Data Analysis

A type of research using data previously collected by other researchers

Content Analysis

A variety of techniques that enable researchers to systemically that enable researchers to systemically summarize and analyze the content of various forms of communication — written, spoken, or pictorial

Experiment

A data-gathering technique in which the researcher manipulates an independent variable under controlled conditions to determine if change in an independent variable produces change in a dependent variable, thereby establishing a cause-and-effect relationship

Compares two groups: A contrl group, and a group exposed to a “treatment” or “stimulus“

Research Ethics

1. Researchers must protect subject’s privacy

2. Studies using anonymity must keep subjects nameless

3. Studies using confidentiality must keep subject’s identities private

Informed Consent

Subjects in any study must know about the nature of the research project, any potential benefits or risks they may face, and that they have the right to stop participating at any time for any reason

Positivist Social Science

An approach that assumes that the social world, like the natural world, is characterized by laws that can be identified through research and used to predict and control human affairs

Value-Neutrality

The removal of any personal views from the research process

Interpretive Social Science

An approach that focuses on understanding the meaning that people ascribe to their social world

Uses qualitative data

Focus on people’s values, beliefs, and opinions

Critical Social Science

Research carried out explicitly to create knowledge that can be used to bring about social change

Interested in understanding society to improve it in some way

Peer-Review Process

Scholars evaluate research manuscripts before they are published to ensure their quality