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Chapter 2 Sociological Research Methods

Chapter 2 Sociological Research Methods. Key Terms. hypothesis Statement of the relationship between two or more concepts. independent variable Presumed to cause or determine a dependent variable.

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Chapter 2 Sociological Research Methods

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  1. Chapter 2Sociological Research Methods Key Terms

  2. hypothesisStatement of the relationship between two or more concepts. • independent variablePresumed to cause or determine a dependent variable.

  3. qualitative researchInterpretive descriptions rather than statistics are used to analyze underlying meanings and patterns of social relationships. • quantitative researchGoal is scientific objectivity and the focus is on data that can be measured numerically.

  4. random samplingEvery member of an entire population being studied has the same chance of being selected. • probability samplingParticipants are deliberately chosen because they have specific characteristics.

  5. validityThe extent to which a study or research instrument accurately measures what it is supposed to measure. • reliabilityThe extent to which a study or research instrument yields consistent results.

  6. research methodsStrategies or techniques for conducting research. • surveyPoll in which the researcher gathers facts or attempts to determine the relationships among facts.

  7. respondentsPersons who provide data for analysis through interviews or questionnaires. • questionnairePrinted research instrument containing a series of items to which subjects respond.

  8. interviewData collection encounter in which an interviewer asks the respondent questions and records the answers. • secondary analysisResearchers use existing material and analyze data originally collected by others.

  9. content analysisExamination of cultural artifacts or various forms of communication to extract thematic data and draw conclusions about social life. • field researchStudy of social life in its natural setting: observing and interviewing people where they live, work and play.

  10. participant observationCollecting systematic observations while being part of the activities of the group that the researcher is studying. • ethnographyA detailed study of the life and activities of a group of people by researchers who may live with that group over a period of years.

  11. unstructured interviewAn extended, open-ended interaction between an interviewer and an interviewee. • experimentA carefully designed situation in which the researcher studies the impact of certain variables on subjects’ attitudes or behavior.

  12. experimental groupSubjects who are exposed to an independent variable. • control groupSubjects who are not exposed to the independent variable.

  13. correlationExists when two variables are associated more frequently than could be expected by chance. • Hawthorne effectChanges in subject’s behavior caused by researcher’s presence or by the subjects awareness of being studied.

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