SOCIOLOGY

1. SOCIOLOGY • Research Methods

2. TRUE OR FALSE? • Social factors have no effect on suicide. • Since there was a steady increase in the number of births in the United States between 1976 and 1982, the number of college students preparing to be teachers has increased in anticipation of a teacher shortage in the 1990s. • Men engaging in occasional homosexual acts in the bathroom of a public park belong to a highly visible homosexual subculture. • When a number of people observe an emergency, they are more likely to go to the aid of the victim than when only one person is a witness (the "safety in numbers" principle). • Stress leads to higher IQ scores in children, since it stimulates them to live by their wits. • Religious beliefs are less important to Americans than they are to Europeans. (Everyone knows Europeans are more traditional than Americans.)

3. Although some people complain that research is simply an expensive way of finding out what everyone already knew, the results sometimes contradict commonsense expectations. Consider the previous statements of the "obvious." • ALL these commonsense statements have been contradicted by careful research studies: • (1) Durkheim (1897) presented evidence that social integration strongly affects the rate of suicide among different social groups. • (2) In 1970, 19 percent of first-year college students planned a career in elementary or secondary school teaching. By 1985, this figure had plunged to just 6 percent (Astin et al., 1985). The career attitudes of college students were still being shaped by memories of the teacher glut of the 1970s. • (3) A study conducted by Laud Humphreys (1970) found that many of the men he observed engaging in homosexual acts in the bathroom of a public park were married, had children, and were model citizens in their communities, very few of them belonged to a homosexual subculture. • (4) When witnessing an emergency, a single individual has been found more likely than several people together to help the victim, perhaps because he or she is the only one who can do so (Latane and Darley, 1970). • (5) Stress leads to lower IQ scores among children (Brown, 1983). • (6) Americans are actually much more likely than Europeans to say that their religious beliefs are "very important" to them. In 1975-1976, 56 percent of Americans felt that religion is very important, compared to 36 percent of Italians and 17 percent of Scandinavians (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1980, p. 523). The existence of research findings that run counter to what we might expect suggests that we should pause before we say "everyone knows that...." Instead, we should ask: "What evidence do we have for believing that to be true?" Social research is concerned with how evidence is gathered and evaluated.

4. RESEARCH METHODS • Quantitative v. Qualitative Methods • Causation v. Correlation • Variables • Hypothesis Testing • Validity, Reliability, and Generalizability • Role of the Researcher • Creating and Testing Theory • Data Collection • The Ethics of Sociological Research • The Role of the Public Intellectual

5. The ultimate goal of research in any scientific study is to determine CAUSALITY...or the idea that a change in one factor results in a corresponding change in another. • A + B = C becauseof A

6. RESEARCH METHODS • the approaches social scientists use for investigating the answers to the question, “What causes what to happen?” • the tools used by social scientists to describe, explore, and explain various social phenomena • a set of rules used to answer questions being studied • two categories of social science research methods: • QUANTITATIVE METHODS • QUALITATIVE METHODS

7. Quantitative v. Qualitative Research Methods • QUANTITATIVE • seeks info that can be converted into numbers • analyzes stats to explain social world • attempts to use scientific method (by using treatment group and control/placebo group) • to determine impact of one factor on a social outcome • ATTEMPTS to factor out other influences on social phenomena being studied • data usually collected through surveys • QUALITATIVE • seeks data that cannot easily be converted into numbers • used to document the meaning in social phenomena • used to describe how social processes work • data collected in various ways--observing and recording what people say/do, conducting open-ended interviews, and reviewing archival studies

8. Deductive v. Inductive Approach to Research

9. CAUSATION v. CORRELATION • Remember, the ultimate goal of research is to determine CAUSALITY. • However, what is more like to be discovered is a CORRELATION...an ASSOCIATION in which two variables simply change together. • e.g., Depression causes people to buy/adopt pets more frequently. • Do people who own pets suffer more from depression? • Or are depressed people more likely to own pets? • Does one factor influence the other OR do depression and pet ownership simply occur together? • What other factor(s) might be studied to determine a causal relationship? (age, gender, race, educational level, other health issues, etc...) • In other words...why do people own pets? OR what causes people to be depressed?

10. CAUSATION • To establish causation, three (3) factors are required: • CORRELATION (see previous slide...) • TIME ORDER (the chronology or sequence of events) • Did pet ownership increase before cases of depression increased? Or did depression increase prior to the rise in pet ownership? • ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS RULED OUT (plausible stories that could explain data but do fit with original hypothesis) • Do gender, race, educational, or other health-related issues contribute to higher rates of pet ownership? • Let’s say cancer among college-educated women precede the onset of depression and pet ownership (in that order), making the relationship between college-educated women with cancer and pet ownership more of a “true” causal relationship. depression pet ownership college-educated women with cancer

11. VARIABLES • In research, you should always have one dependent variable and one or more independent variables to test your hypothesis. • dependent variable the outcome you are trying to explain (e.g., pet ownership) • independent variable the measured factors you believe have a causal impact on the dependent variable (e.g., cancer among college-educated women, onset of depression) • hypothesisthe proposed relationship between two variables, usually with a stated direction--positive or negative • (positive) Cancer among college-educated women is positively associated and pet ownership. • (negative) There is a negative relationship between college-educated women with cancer and pet ownership. • To establish causality, you should know time order (which variable is causing change in the other). • Establishing time order also allows you to identify the dependent variable and the independent variable(s).

12. HYPOTHESIS TESTING • In any sociological study, you need to operationalizethe concepts being studied. • operationalizationthe process of specifically defining the terms being studied • e.g., definition of depression • Does a depressive episode (short-term) count as depression? Or must it be defined as major depression according to the DSM-IV-R? • e.g., college-educated women with cancer • Does race matter? What about age groups? • What level of college-education? Completion of any college (non-degreed), 2 or 4 year associate or baccalaureate degree, or post-graduate degree? • What type of cancer is included? All forms or just a specific type? • e.g., pet ownership • Cats? Dogs? Goldfish? Snakes? Any combination thereof? and how many pets constitute “pet ownership”?)

13. VALIDITY, RELIABILITY, & GENERALIZABILITY • 3 simple yet very important concepts in ANY study... • validity the degree to which the study measures what it is intended to measure • Does the study measure the relationship between gender-education-cancer and pet ownership (valid)? Of does it measure the relationship between cancer and depression (invalid)? • reliability the likelihood of obtaining the same or similar results using the same measure the next time • Does the study yield similar results regardless of the time of year or is the relationship found to be stronger during the winter months as opposed to the summer? • generalizability the extent to which a study’s findings can inform us about a group larger than the one being studied • Are the study’s findings applicable to the larger population (a sample of all women across the United States) or are the findings unique to the sample being studied (women in Bowling Green)?

14. ROLE OF THE RESEARCHER • PROXIMITY OF THE RESEARCHER TO SUBJECT • the white coat effect in social research--positive or negative? • reflexivity--researchers taking a critical look at the role and impact of their involvement with subjects being studied • objectivity v.subjectivity--does maintaining distance sacrifice depth/detail? • POWER RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RESEARCHER AND SUBJECT • traditionally, research in most sciences has been male-dominated • value judgments influence objectivity in terms of what to study as well as how to interpret findings • feminist methodology • intent is to remove male bias in research • treat women’s (and all other non-white male subjects’) issues seriously and and with the same legitimacy as male-dominate issues

15. CREATING & TESTING THEORY • The question/research problem you are studying should influence: • the theoretical approach you take • whether you use a quantitative or a qualitative method • Your question/research problem should make this clear. • Are you looking at WHAT social factors are at work? (quantitative) • Or are you wanting to examine WHY your subjects behave the way they do and HOW they attach meaning to these behaviors? (qualitative) • If your research question can be approached in several ways, it’s too broad and needs to be refined. SEE CHART

16. CHOICE OF RESEARCH METHOD experiments survey research field research existing data research comparative research POPULATION & SAMPLING About whom do you want to draw conclusions? Who will be observed for that purpose? CONCEPTUALIZATION & OPERATIONALIZATION defining concepts and variables then determining how each will be measured OBSERVATIONS collecting data for analysis and interpretation DESIGNING A SOCIOLOGY STUDY SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH DATA PROCESSING transforming collected data into a form that can be manipulated and analyzed What do you want to find out? • FIRST decide on your research question/problem. • THEN follow the steps on this slide to conduct and analyze your study. ANALYSIS analyzing data and drawing conclusions APPLICATION reporting results and assessing their implications

18. DATA COLLECTION • PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION a qualitative research method that seeks to observe social actions in practice • involves both “hanging out” and documenting people’s practices in a given setting to uncover meanings people give to their actions by interacting with them • INTERVIEWS a form of gathering qualitative data • may be unstructured and open-ended incorporating probe (pushing a research subject past his/her intial “comfortable” answers to somewhat delicate, controversial issues) • may also be more structured with a specific set of topics to be covered in a relatively fixed sequence or order

19. DATA COLLECTION • SURVEY RESEARCH a powerful quantitative method of data collection in which an ordered series of questions are intended to elicit information from respondents • may be completed anonymously and distributed widely to reach a much larger sample than in interviews • factor that complicates statistical analysis of survey data is response rate (the proportion of distributed surveys that were completed and returned) • repeated cross-sectional survey a survey that samples a new, representative group each survey wave (General Social Survey, or GSS, given each year to a sample of 2,000 nationally-represented Americans since 1972 to track changes in American attitudes about a range of important issues) • panel survey (also known as a longitudinal study) a survey that tracks the same respondents over time (Panel Study of Income Dynamics, or PSID, followed 5,000 families since 1968 to study how families transition in and out of poverty, what predicts if marriages will last, and how economic mobility exists in the U.S. across generations)

20. DATA COLLECTION • HISTORICAL METHODS research that collects data from written reports, newspaper articles, journals, diaries, artwork, and other artifacts that date to prior time period under study (e.g., race in American history) • COMPARATIVE RESEARCHmethodology by which two or more entities (such as countries), which are similar in many dimensions but differ on one in question, are compared to learn about the dimension that differs between them (e.g., ideas about citizenship and nationhood in France and Germany) • EXPERIMENTAL METHODSin sociology, methods that seek to intentionally alter the social landscape in a very specific way for a given sample of individuals (the experimental group) and then track what results from that change; often involves comparison to a control group that did not experience such an intervention • CONTENT ANALYSIS a systematic analysis of the content rather than the structure of a communication, such as a written work, speech, film (e.g., examining magazine ads and counting the number of blonde women); involves manifest content (what we can observe) and latent content (what is implied but not outright stated)

21. ETHICS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH • The Three and a Half Golden Rules of Sociological Research • “DO NO HARM” research subjects should not encounter any more harm than he/she would likely face in everyday life • INFORMED CONSENT research subjects have the right to know they are participating in a study and what that study will consist of; mild deception is sometimes necessary, and subjects must be debriefed after the study/experiment has ended • VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION subjects decide for themselves if they want to be involved in the study and reserve the right to stop participating at any time without consequence • Some groups require special approval from state, local, or federal agencies to study. These PROTECTED POPULATIONS include (but are not limited to): prisoners and other institutionalized individuals, minors, pregnant women and their unborn fetuses, and the disabled.

22. SOCIAL SCIENCE & PUBLIC POLICY • So what is the use of sociological research? • not just to fill journals, books, and libraries for other sociologists • intended to reach the general population and effect public policy issues • attract media attention and influence policy maker debates on wide-ranging social issues such as: • racism • class disparity • unemployment • poverty • gay families • bullying • suicide substance abuse marriage & divorce school violence crime job-related stress childcare literacy

23. YOUR SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT • With a partner (or two), come up with a narrowly-defined research question/problem. • Follow the steps on the accompanying handout to design, carry out, and write up your research project.

24. CHOICE OF RESEARCH METHOD experiments survey research field research existing data research comparative research POPULATION & SAMPLING About whom do you want to draw conclusions? Who will be observed for that purpose? CONCEPTUALIZATION & OPERATIONALIZATION defining concepts and variables then determining how each will be measured OBSERVATIONS collecting data for analysis and interpretation DESIGNING A SOCIOLOGY STUDY SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH DATA PROCESSING transforming collected data into a form that can be manipulated and analyzed What do you want to find out? • FIRST decide on your research question/problem. • THEN follow the steps on this slide to conduct and analyze your study. ANALYSIS analyzing data and drawing conclusions APPLICATION reporting results and assessing their implications