1 / 11

Sociological Methods: Science and Ethics

Sociological Methods: Science and Ethics. Sociology 111 Fall 2008. A system of discovering knowledge An Old French word derived from the Latin, scientia “ knowledge”. A process of inquiry Can be thought of as a “dialogue” because it is subject to revision and rejection as well as acceptance.

fhanna
Download Presentation

Sociological Methods: Science and Ethics

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Sociological Methods:Science and Ethics Sociology 111 Fall 2008

  2. A system of discovering knowledge An Old French word derived from the Latin, scientia “knowledge” A process of inquiry Can be thought of as a “dialogue” because it is subject to revision and rejection as well as acceptance Science is…

  3. One of several ways • Traditional authority • Parents, religion, previous researchers • Experience • Personal observations and sense perceptions • Intuition/Insight • Immediate cognition w/o apparent reasoning • Reason • Rational process of thinking

  4. Surveys Interviews Ethnography Observation Grounded theory Qualitative Comparative methods NVIVO modeling Thematic analysis Quantitative Regression analysis Factor analysis Statistical modeling Collection & Analysis

  5. Validity Are your measures actually measuring what you intend? Reliability If other researchers use your methods, will they find the same results? Validity and Reliability

  6. Following the scientific method • Also minimizes bias and subjectivity and promotes ethical research

  7. Value-free science • Weber argued science must be “value-free” • Personal interests can guide topic selection, but should NEVER influence how we conduct our research

  8. What is ethical research? • Ethical research • Adheres to a set of well-defined, stringent methods of investigation • Gives credit to the proper sources • Eliminates conflicts of interest • Often not possible in the social sciences, so researchers MUST minimize and disclose

  9. IRB • Internal Review Boards • Established at all research institutions • All projects must be approved by IRB BEFORE any research can begin • Objective is to protect research participants • Participation must be voluntary • No undue stress or harm

  10. Controversial experiments • Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments • 1932-1972 • US Public Health Service in collaboration with Tuskegee Institute and two local hospitals • Milgram obedience experiments • Experimenter and learner both actors • Learner only real study participant

  11. Aren’t infallible and are constantly evolving Sometimes “correct” methods generate incorrect results Internet surveys replacing telephone surveys Keeps researchers honest Allows other researchers to see exactly how the research was performed Full disclosure Ensures that research isn’t designed to result in desired conclusions Methods

More Related