Presentation Transcript

1. Chapter Two

   Social Research Methods
2. Sociological Headlines Man gets four years in N.J. human trafficking case (nj.com 6/28/2010) N.J. medical marijuana law could be delayed three months (nj.com 6/28/2010) N.J. budget 2011: State psychiatric and treatment centers threatened (nj.com 6/28/2010) N.J. budget 2011: Adult medical day care fee idea scrapped (nj.com 6/28/2010) This week on tv: Jersey Shore Law & Order: Special Victims Unit The Good Wife Keeping Up with the Kardashians 20/20 Dateline NBC Desperate Housewives Criminal Minds Dr. Oz Show The Bachelorette on ABC Oprah Winfrey
3. Scientific Approach Vigorous, systematic method of observation and examination of the universe For sociologists - the universe covers all forms of human behavior in different societies and under different social conditions. Scientific inquiry is empirical – the unit under investigation must be observable, measurable, and testable.
4. The Ultimate Goal Science can only be applied to observable phenomena Scientists are interested in identifying and explaining behavioral patterns and social trends. The ultimate goal of any scientific activity is the betterment of the human condition.
5. Scientists are interested in…. Description: describing the units under investigation. (What is being studied?) Exploration: examine and work on new areas of research (uncharted territories) Explanation: interested in explaining the phenomena under investigation. (What is taking place?) Prediction: Make meaningful and reasonable predictions Control: Determine the causes (proving a theory)
6. Challenges Ethical Considerations - ie.. Suicide or homicide The observed subjects respond to and interact with the observer. - unobtrusive techniques 3. Social scientists are humans who study humans. Subject to biases, attachments, and values
7. Elements of Science Developing a common language - concepts (identifies an object) - variable (Can be measured and take on different values) - measurement (Assigning # to objects) - relationship between variables – (correlation) the essence of any scientific endeavor relationships between variables - hypothesis & theory
8. Measurement Social Sciences: sociology, anthropology, economics, social science, psychology, political science, education Nominal Scale (more common in social sciences) ___ Married ____ Single ___Divorced Etc…. Ordinal Scale (more common in social sciences) Hotel rating: 5 star, 4 star,…….1 star. Natural Sciences: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geology & other physical sciences Interval Scale (more common in natural sciences) (distance betwn. Points is equal / absence of absolute zero – thermometer) Ratio Scales (more common in natural sciences) (True zero point: weight)
9. Important components of Measurement Validity – Researcher measurements what he/she intended to measure Reliability – Consistent / Able to be replicated
10. Correlation Independent variable – causes the change Dependent variable – affected by the change *The dependent variable is DEPENDENT upon the INDEPENDENT variable.* (# of days since last hair cut and length of hair) ... @ 27 sec. Correlation – the relationship between 2 variables. Correlation is not causality.
11. Positive Correlation 1. As you increase your food intake… your weight goes up. Amount of food Your weight
12. Negative Correlation “Inverse” relationship The more of one – the less of the other…. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Education 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Prejudice
13. Causality Cause and Effect (X causes Y) Suggests that a relationship between 2 variable that is much stronger than a correlation.
14. Scientific Method
15. Hypothesis A statement of prediction… ???? A tentative assumption… that needs to be tested.
16. Theory Is one of the most important components in science. Another word for an explanation. A good theory: 1. Can be tested and best fits the evidence 2. Has logical soundness, with consistent and rational relationships. 3. Has the ability to make sense of the universe 4. Brings new information, new direction, new ideas or new approaches to research 5. Is popular and worthy of discussion among scientists and non- scientists.
17. Research Process Select and define the topic. Review the literature. Clarify concepts and measurement. Establish an appropriate data collection method. Clarify the purpose, value, and ethics. Design the research instruments and operationalize the concepts. Define the population of interest and select a sample of subjects. Collect the data. Process the data. Analyze the data. Share the results.
18. Research Methods Ways to receive information Quantitative (numbers) Qualitative (description) Population Sampling (CRITICAL stage of research) Sample Size Sample (Random / Non-Random)
19. Research Methods 1. Case Study (archival / secondary analysis) 2. Field (Ethnography) or Observational Research 3. Experiment Experimental group Control group 4. Survey / Questionnaire Hawthorne Effect
20. Class Activity Break up into small groups (3 to 4 students) Take your paper and create a chart: Along the side: Create a list and give of sociological research questions Along the top: List the major research methods covered in Chapter Two. Identify how each sociological question can be studied. What research method would work best? Why is that the best research method to use? Share Responses!!!!
21. Statistical Tools Statistics: mathematical system use toclassify numerical data. Descriptive statistics: (describes the average) Inferential statistics: (determine whether differences are significant to make inferences to larger population & measures strength of relationship) Statistical significance: (difference between groups that is likely to occur not by chance but regularly) Central tendency: mean (average), median (middle), mode (most common)
22. Activity Identify key terms on index cards Classify terms in groups. Give each group a “Title” and provide a rationale for the group’s description. Now…. Re-arrange your groups and re-categorize your vocabulary terms. How many groups do you have now? What are the titles of these categories?
23. Introduce APA REMEMBER TO CITE YOUR REFERENCES!!!! Easybib.com
24. The Quiet Rage The Stanford Prison Experiment Obedience: The film of the MilgramExperiment shows research subjects going through the experiment and presents the basic findings and importance of the study, but it also reviews how the experiment was conducted, how participants were debriefed afterwards, and how results differed when Milgram used variations on the basic experimental setting and context. While viewing…think about the findings, techniques, and ethical issues presented by this experiment.
25. HomeworkRead Chapters 4 - 7 Remember your article!!! Remember to blog!!!