Download Asking and answering sociological questions

Chapter 2
Asking & Answering
Sociological Questions
1
Scientific Method
(p. 36)
• Sociology is a science because it requires a systematic
method of investigation
• The scientific method is organized around a series of
steps that ensures maximum objectivity and consistency
when researching a problem
•Empirical Evidence
• A scientific orientation often challenges what we accept
as “common sense”
• If most of you are not going into Sociology or research,
why should you even care?
2
2
Defining the Research problem
(p. 37)
• All research starts with a research problem
• You need to pose a question for research purposes
that help you bridge the gap in your understanding of a
social phenomena
• Operational definition: Explanation of an abstract
concept that is specific enough to allow a researcher
to measure the concept
• Stating exactly what is being measured
• Crime and gang membership
3
3
Literature Review
• Go to the library and search for keywords
• Check sociological database
• Scholar.google.com but NOT google nor wikipedia
• Want to check if somebody has already done the
research
• If so, can you replicate it?
• Same outcome?
• If nothing has been done
• Your study is even more justified
4
4
Formulating the Hypothesis
(p. 37)
• Hypothesis
• Speculative statement regarding the relationship
between two or more variables
• A statement of how two or more variables are related
• An educated guess about how variables are linked – usually an
if-then statement
• Variable
• Measurable trait subject to change under certain
conditions
• A concept which changes from case to case
• Independent variable
• Dependent variable
5
5
Exploring relationships
(pp. 39-42)
•Evidence needed to reject or accept the hypothesis
occurs in four steps:
• State which variable is the independent variable and which is the
dependent variable
• Measure the initial value of the dependent variable
• Expose the dependent variable to the independent variable
• Measure the dependent variable again to see what change, if
any, took place
• Causation
• One event happens before another. But does one causes the
other?
• Correlation
• Change in one variable coincides with change in another
6
6
Causality vs. Correlation
(pp. 39-40)
7
7
Sampling
(p. 45)
• Often the groups sociologists want to study are so large
or so dispersed that research on the whole group is
impossible
• To construct a picture of the entire group, they take
data from a subset of the population
• A sample is any subset of a population
• A population is a relatively large collection of people that a
researcher studies and about which generalizations are
made
8
8
Data Collection & Analysis
• Since you cannot ask everybody, you need to get a
sample
• Representative
• Randomly selected
• Reliability
• Consistency in measurement
• For measurement to be reliable, the process must yield the
same results when repeated
• Validity
• Actually measuring exactly what you intend to measure
9
9
Conclusion
•Should be an end to this research but the
beginning of the next research project
•Can point out a need for a control variable
• Factor which is held constant to test the impact of the
independent variable
• Example: if social class is held constant (or identical)
does race or gender affect the independent variable?)
10
10
The Steps in the Scientific Method
11
11
Interpretive Sociology
• Humans engage in meaningful action every moment of the
day
• Interpretive sociology
• The study of sociology that focuses on the meanings people attach
to their social world
• Scientific sociology favors quantitative data
• Interpretive sociology favors qualitative data
• Interpretive orientation is better suited in a natural
setting
• Investigators interact with people
12
12
Types of Research Designs
• Research design
• Detailed plan for collecting data scientifically
•Quantitative research
• Data is collected in numerical form
• Typically through the use of surveys
•Qualitative research
• It relies on field notes
• Open-ended questions
13
13
Surveys
(pp. 44-45)
• Advantages
• Survey must have a specific plan for asking questions
and recording answers
• Most common is a questionnaire
•
Series of written statements or questions
• Cheap and easy to administer
• More anonymous
• Good for sensitive topic
• Disadvantages
•Cannot probe details
•Cannot clarify answers
•People can throw them away or rejects requests
14
14
Interviews
• Advantages
• Researcher personally asks subjects a series of questions
• Gives participants freedom to respond as they wish
• Can clarify details; ask follow-up questions
• High response rate because people won’t turn down a
person asking for help
• Disadvantages
• More expensive
• Person might not tell the truth
• Bias based on age, race or gender of interviewer
15
15
Ethnography
(pp. 43-44)
• Collection of data through direct participation and/or
observation of group
• Research method in which investigators systematically observe
people while joining them in their routine activities
•
Called “Fieldwork”
• Fieldwork makes most participant observation exploratory
and descriptive
• Researcher joins group under study
• Challenges
•
•
•
Acceptance into group
Sociologists need to understand what they observe
Can’t allow friendships to influence the results
16
16
Qualitative & Quantitative
Research
Qualitative
Quantitative
Does not use statistical
methods
Uses statistical
methods
More interpretive,
shows more nuance
Provides data to
calculate averages and
percents
17
17
Comparison of Research
Techniques
Tool
Pros
Cons
Survey
Large number of
variables
Difficult to focus on
a few variables
Ethnography
Studies behavior in
home setting
Time-consuming
18
18
Experiments
(pp. 45-46)
• Attempt to test an hypothesis
• Cause and effect relationships
• One event happens before another
• Classic Experiment
• Experimental group and control group
•Example: Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment (unethical)
•Example: The Zimbardo Prison Experiment (unethical)
19
19
Historical Analysis
(pp. 48-49)
•Sociologically, it is crucial to have a time
perspective because the past will explain the
present
•Examines sociological themes over time
•Use of oral history
• Interviews of people about past historical events
•Researchers might rely on written documents
and records
20
20
Comparison of Research
Techniques
Tool
Qualitative or Quantitative
Survey
Usually quantitative
Ethnography
Usually qualitative
Experiment
Usually quantitative
Historical analysis
Usually qualitative
21
21
Comparative Research
(p. 48)
• Making comparison is central to sociology
because it allows to clarify many aspects of a
particular research
• Example: Comparing the infant mortality rate
(number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1,000 live
births) of the U.S. with other countries will answer
questions about the quality of life and health care in
both places
• U.S. (2009): 6.26/1,000
• Sweden (2009): 2.75/1,000
• Kenya (2009): 54.7/1,000
22
22
Prediction and Probability
• Sociology analyzes, explains, and predicts human
social behavior in terms of trends and probabilities
•Example:
•If you are a Black male, 16 to 29, you are 6 times more
likely to be arrested for a given offense than a White
male of the same age, from the same neighborhood
and the same socioeconomic background, for the same
offense, and with the same prior arrest record
23
23
Misuse of Statistics
• Interpreting probability as certainty
•Example:
• Finding that women are more likely than men to
favor strict gun control only means that women
have a higher probability of favoring strict gun
control than men
• It does not mean that all women favor strict gun
control and all men do not favor it
24
24
Statistics in Sociology
•Percentage is the same as parts per hundred
•If 22% of U.S. children are poor, for every 100
children randomly selected from the population,
approximately 22 will be poor
• Rate is the same as parts per some number, such as
per 10,000 or 100,000
• The homicide rate in 2003 was 5.7 killed per 100,000
• For every 100,000 in the population, 5.7 were
murdered
25
25
Misuse of Statistics
• Citing a correlation as a cause
• A correlation reveals an association between things they
do not necessarily indicate that one thing causes the
other
• Overgeneralizing
• Example:
Studying only men, and then generalizing
conclusions to both men and women
•
Building in bias
•Bias can be built into a questionnaire by little more than
careless wording
26
26
Putting It All Together:
Ten Steps in Sociological Research
• 1.
What is your topic? Research question?
• 2.
What have others already learned?
• 3.
What, exactly, are your hypotheses?
• 4.
What will you need to carry out research?
• 5.
Might the research cause harm?
• 6.
What method will you use?
• 7.
How will you record the data?
• 8.
What do the data tell you?
• 9.
What are your conclusions?
• 10. How can you share what you have learned?
27
27
Ethics
•American Sociological Association Code of Ethics
• 1. Maintain objectivity
• 2. Respect subjects’ rights to privacy and dignity
• 3. Protect subjects from harm
• 4. Preserve confidentiality
• 5. Get informed consent from research participants
• 6. Acknowledge research collaboration and
assistance
• 7. Disclosure all sources of financial support
28
28
Ethics
• Whenever you do research, you rely to some
extent on other people’s ideas.
• You must always acknowledge when you have used
others’ ideas, whether you quote from another's
work directly, or paraphrase words, or simply
take someone's ideas and advice into
consideration
•To do otherwise constitutes plagiarism
• To avoid these problems, always cite your sources
29
29
How to Quote
• In general, quote as little as possible
• One key term is better than a phrase and a short phrase is
better than an entire sentence
• Long quotations simply show that you cannot synthesize
• If you do need to use a short quote, use the format indicated in
the APA style sheet
• If you use a quote longer than three typed lines (something
you rarely need to do, especially in a short paper), then use
single-spacing, with no quotation marks, and indent the quote five
spaces on the left side of the page (to indicate that you are
quoting)
•The author’s name, the year of publication, and page numbers
(all in parentheses) will follow the quote after the final period
30
30
Polling Question
• If a university asks you to complete an anonymous,
written survey asking questions about your sexual
attitudes, experiences, and behaviors, how likely is
it you will agree to complete the survey?
A.) Very likely
B.) Somewhat likely
C.) Unsure
D.) Somewhat unlikely
E.) Very unlikely
31
31
Polling Question
• A university asks you to participate in an interview
asking questions about your cheating attitudes,
experiences, and behaviors. The researchers assure
your confidentiality. How likely is it you will agree
to the interview?
A.) Very likely
B.) Somewhat likely
C.) Unsure
D.) Somewhat unlikely
E.) Very unlikely
32
32