Exam 1 Research Methods

Chapter 1

  • Why is it important to conduct research

Describe the scope of the problem /policy responses to the problem

  • define experiential and agreement reality

Exper – things we know first-hand, agree – things we are told

  • characteristics of human inquiry

everyday personal inquiry – importance of prediction in everyday life; causal and probabilistic reasoning

  • different types of errors in human inquiry

Inaccurate observations, over generalization, selective observation, illogical reasoning, ideology/politics

  • basics of social science inquiry

Conscious decisions regarding how & what to observe, careful abt mistakes, not exempt from errror

  • different purposes of research

Exploration, explanation, description, application

  • Identify the purpose of research in different types of studies

Exploration – don’t know something abt a topic, description – describe scope of a problem, explanation – understand why things occur, application – need for specific facts & findings w direct policy implications

  • different stages of research

Idea > conceptualization > research method > operationalization > sampling > observations > analysis > application

  • best practices when reading scholarly research

Read abstract, evaluate relevance, go to conclusion, skim through, read, skim again

Chapter 3

  • what are the two pillars

Logic & observation

  • the three aspects of scientific enterprise

theory, data collection, data analysis

  • what is a theory

Systematic explanation for observed facts & laws that relate to particular aspect of life

  • how are theories built

idea > theoretical understanding > hypothesis

  • different steps of research that go from an idea to a test of hypothesis

idea/interest, theoretical understanding, hypothesis, operationalization, hypothesis testing

  • Understand that scientific research is about

regularities and Social regularities represent probabilistic patterns: general patterns are not 100%

  • science is about uncovering

social regularities in a probabilistic manner and focused on aggregates as opposed to individuals

  • science deals with relationships among _____

variables

  • difference between variables and attributes

Variables: logical groupings of attributes; attributes: characteristics/qualities

  • role of variables, attributes, and their relationships for evaluation and explanatory research

Theories describe relationships among variables and involves the notion of causation

  • the difference between an independent and a dependent variable

dependent variable depends on independent variable

  • Identify the three distinctions that underlie variations in research

Idiographic & nomothetic explanation, inductive & deductive reasoning, qualitative & quantitative data

  • difference between nomothetic and idiographic explanations

Idio – attempts to explain single situation, nomo – explain class of situations and settles for partial explanation

  • difference between deductive and inductive reasoning

ded – examine matter logically (starts w hypothesis) induc – begin with observations

  • Understand the differences between qualitative and quantitative data

Qualitative: characteristics Quantitative: numerical

-       and the advantages and disadvantages of each

quantitative: more superficial, qual: provides more detail and greater richness of meaning

  • Have an idea of the importance of causation and the different criteria used for establishing causality

1 cause must precede effect, 2. 2 variables must be empirically correlated, 3. Observed correlation cannot be explained by another variable

  • how does scientific realism bridge nomothetic and idiographic explanations

it explains how causal mechanisms operate in specific contexts

  • units of analysis

what you are studying in order to answer a research question

  • individual

person defined by their role

  • group

many individuals being studied as one

  • social organization

formal groups w leaders and rules

  • social artifact

products of social behaviors and interactions

  • ecological fallacy

drawing conclusions from one unit based on a different type of unit

  • time dimensions (2)

longitudinal (over time) and cross sectional (single part in time)

  • different types of longitudinal designs

prospective (in the future) retrospective (in the past)

Chapter 4

  • role of conceptualization in research

it is the process by which we specify what we mean when we use particular terms

  • relationship between concepts, dimensions, and indicators

dimensions are the specifiable aspects of a concept, and indicators denote the presence or absence of the concept

  • conceptual definition

working definition specifically assigned to a term

  • operational definitions

spells out how the concept will be measured

  • different steps of conceptualization

conceptualization > conceptual definition > operational definition > measurements in real world

  • definition of operationalization

the process of developing operational definitions

  • definition of measurement

assigning numbers or labels to units of analysis in order to represent the conceptual properties

  • different properties of measurement

exhaustive and mutually exclusive attributes

  • different levels of measurement

nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio

  • nominal measures

names and labels

  • ordinal measurers

attributes that can be logically ranked

  • interval measures

distance separating attributes has meaning

  • ratio measures

attributes based on true zero point

  • different ways to assess measurement quality

reliability and validity

  • validity

are you measuring what you say you’re measuring

  • reliability

does it repeatedly produce the same product

  • ways to assess validity

face validity, criterion-related validity and construct validity

  • face validity

makes logical sense

  • criterion based validity

matches comparable variables tests

  • construct validity

logical relationships among variables

  • ways to assess reliability

test-retest method