Chapter 2

1. Chapter 2 Social Research

2. Chapter Outline • Sources of Knowledge • A Model for Doing Research • Causation and the Logic of Science • Quantitative Research Methods • Qualitative Research Methods • Ethics in Social Research • A Final Note

3. How Do We Know What We Know? • Four major nonscientific sources of knowledge • Intuition – quick and ready insight not based on rational thought • Common sense – refers to opinions widely held because they seem obvious • Authority – someone who supposedly has special knowledge that not everyone has • Tradition – knowledge because that is what those older than us state as fact

4. Questioning What We Know • Nonscientific knowledge often provides false or misleading information, therefore we need to question what we think we know. • We need to seek an understanding of where and how the information was gathered. • Application of the scientific method when doing and accepting research is very helpful.

5. A Model for Doing Research: The Scientific Method • Identifying the problem. • Reviewing the literature. • Formulating hypotheses. • Developing a research design. • Collecting data. • Analyzing data. • Stating findings and conclusions.

6. Identifying the Problem • Questions addressed here in the development of stating the problem include: • What is the topic for investigation? • In what is the researcher interested in learning more information? • How will society and research be enriched from the information to be gathered?

7. Reviewing the Literature and Formulating Hypotheses • Examine the existing literature for relevant theories and previous research methods and findings. • After examination of the literature, the sociologist states tentative but testable statements about the relationships he/she anticipates to find between variables. • Operational definitions are provided at this point as well. Therefore, abstract concepts are defined in simpler, observable procedures.

8. Developing a Research Design • Description of the procedures and/or process that will be used to collect and analyze the data. • Many refer to this as selection of a research method. • For instance, will a survey method or participant observation method be used? • Identification of the population and sample is important at this stage.

9. What is a Population? • Population – all the people within the group/category of which the researcher is seeking knowledge about. • Sample – limited number of people from the population. • It is important to select a random and stratified sample in order for the researcher to make sound generalizations from the data (see slide 33).

10. Collecting Data • Three basic ways (yet not limited to only three) of gathering data in sociological research: • Asking people questions – Survey • Observing behavior – Participant Observation • Analyzing existing materials and records – Secondary Analysis and Document Analysis

11. Analyzing Data • Before analyzing the data and after it is collected, it must also be classified or coded. • When looking over the data collected, the researcher is looking to see whether or not the identified hypotheses are supported.

12. Stating Findings and Conclusions • Regardless of whether the sample was of a large size or the hypotheses were supported, the findings of the research should be written up and reported. • The researcher will reflect on whether the methods used were adequate, were there limitations in the study, and in what ways were the hypotheses accepted, rejected, or modified. • By making the information public, it makes it possible for others to duplicate the research, conduct a slightly different study, or proceed in a very different direction.

13. Using the Research Model • Although most sociologists follow the model, they do not do so mechanically. • They may also conduct exploratory studies prior to stating hypotheses or before developing research designs. • They may also alter their hypotheses and research designs as their investigation is in process.

14. Questions for Consideration • What were the findings of this research? • What methods were employed in this research? • How can you apply any or all of the three sociological theoretical approaches to the data found in this study?

15. Science as a Source of Knowledge • Science is based on principles of objectivity and verifiability. • Objectivity – scientists are expected to prevent their personal biases from influencing the interpretation of their results (Weber’s concept verstehen). Data is to be interpreted on the basis of merit. • Verifiability – a study can be repeated by others. This exposes one work to critical analysis, retesting, and revision by colleagues.

16. Causation and Scientific Logic • Causation – events occur in predictable, nonrandom ways, and one event leads to another. • Political scientist Leo Rosten wrote “If an explanation relies on a single cause, it is surely wrong.” Therefore scientists are guided by multiple causation. • Multiple Causation – an event occurs as a result of several factors operating in combination.

17. Causation and Variables • Variable - a characteristic that is subject to change (e.g., age, education, social class). • Quantitative Variable – a variable that can be measured and given numerical value (e.g., individuals, groups, objects). • Qualitative Variable – variation in kind versus in numerical degree (e.g., sex, marital status).

19. Questions for Consideration • Since answers to these questions could be used to classify people into one of two categories, which category would you be in? • People who place a high value on education • People who place a low value on education • Can you identify other categories that could be qualified from these questions?

20. Other Types of Variables • Independent Variables – variables that cause something to occur. • Dependent Variables – variables which a change (or effect) can be observed or you expect to observe. • Independent variables usually when introduced cause the dependent variable to change. • Intervening Variables – influences the relationship between an independent variable and dependent variable.

21. Correlational Relationships • Correlation – when one variable changes another or several other variable changes (either negatively or positively). • Positive Correlation – when both the independent and dependent variable(s) change in the same direction. • Negative Correlation – independent and dependent variable(s) change in opposite directions (when one goes up the other goes down).

22. Positive and Negative Correlations

23. Criteria For a Cause-and-Effect Relationship • Two variables must be correlated. • All possible contaminating factors must be taken into account. • A change in the independent variable must occur before a change in the dependent variable can occur.

24. Application of the Causal Relationship Criteria • Refer to “Using the Sociological Imagination” from the beginning of the chapter. • Two variables must be correlated – Some researchers found that juvenile delinquency increases as church attendance declines.

25. Application of the Causal Relationship Criteria – Cont. • All possible contaminating factors must be taken into account – the negative relationship between church attendance and delinquency occurs because age is related to both church attendance and delinquency. We need to take all variables relevant to the relationship. The age variable reveals that the relationship between church attendance and delinquency is not a causal one. Church attendance is the contaminating factor here.

26. Application of the Causal Relationship Criteria – Cont. • A change in the independent variable must occur before a change in the dependent variable can occur – cause must occur before effect. In this case, it cannot be determined which occurred first: church attendance or delinquency. Causality between these two variables cannot be established.

27. The Experiment as a Model • Experiments illustrate causation. • Experiment – takes place in a laboratory in an attempt to eliminate all possible contaminating influences. This allows the researcher to determine the effects of an independent variable on a dependent variable. • Basic ingredients = pretest, posttest, an experimental variable, an experimental group, and a control group.

28. Experiment as a Model – Cont. • Conventional method for controlling the influence of contaminating variables is to select a control group as well as an experimental group. • Experimental Group – group exposed to the experimental variable. • Control Group – group not exposed to the experimental variable.

29. Experiment as a Model – Cont. • Matching is done to make the groups comparable – participants are matched in pairs. • Randomization (preferable to matching) – subjects are assigned to the experimental or control group on a random (chance) basis.

30. Quantitative Research Methods • Quantitative research uses numerical data. • Such methods include survey research and precollected data (secondary research). • About 90% of the research published in major sociological journals is based on surveys.

31. Surveys • People are asked to respond to a series of questions by mail, email, face-to-face, and/or by telephone. • Questionnaires are written and interviews are questions asked by an interviewer. • Ideal for studying large numbers of people. • Representative samples are selected. • Include many variables. • Relatively precise. • Permit the comparison of responses.

32. Surveys – Cont. • Random sample – a sample of the population where every member of the population has equal opportunity of being selected for inclusion in the sample. • Stratified random sample – population is divided into categories such as sex, age, race; subjects are then selected randomly from each category. This is to ensure the proportion of persons in a given category reflects the population at large.

33. Survey Questions • Close-ended Questions – limited, predetermined set of answers are provided (i.e., multiple choice). May fail to elicit the participants underlying attitudes and opinions. • Open-ended Questions – asks the respondent to answer in his or her own words. Not always easy to quantify. • Double-barreled Questions – posing more than one question, therefore confusing the data and/or the respondent.

34. Precollected data • Known a secondary analysis. • Permits high quality research. • Low cost. • Reveals changes in variables over an extended period of time. • Sources include government reports, company records, voting records, prison records, and reports from research done by others.

35. Precollected Data: Advantages & Disadvantages • Advantages • Permit the study of issue over time. • Researcher cannot influence the answers. • Disadvantages • Existing information may not exactly suit current researcher’s needs. • People who originally collected the data may have been biased. • May be too old to be valid.

36. Qualitative Research Methods • Qualitative research methods include field research and the subjective approach. • Qualitative research relies heavily on descriptive data.

37. Qualitative Research Methods – Cont. • Field research – investigates aspects of social life that cannot be measured quantitatively and that are best understood within a natural setting. Assumes findings in one case can be generalized to similar situations. • Case study – thorough investigation of a single group, incident, or community. Accomplished primarily through intensive observation, information obtained from informants, and informal interviews.

38. Qualitative Research Methods – Cont. • Participant observation – researcher becomes a member of the group being studied (as in the video about the homeless in NY). • Classic participant observation studies: • Elliott Liebow – Street Corner Society • John Howard Griffin – Black Like Me

39. Advantages of Field Studies • Field studies can produce a depth and breadth of understanding unattainable with quantitative methods. • Can reveal insights from the people involved. • Valuable where survey research methods would be either impossible or biased.

40. Disadvantages of Field Studies • Findings from one case may not be generalizable to similar situations. • Possibility of bias of field researcher; researcher often has to rely on personal judgment and interpretation. • Lack of objectivity and standardized research procedures makes it difficult for other researchers to replicate.

41. Subjective Approach • Subjective approach studies an aspect of human social behavior by ascertaining the interpretations of the participants themselves. • A prominent example of this approach is ethnomethodology, which attempts to uncover the taken-for-granted social routines.

42. Ethnomethodology • …the study of the processes people develop and use in understanding the routine behaviors expected of themselves and others in everyday life. • Ethnomethodologists assume that people share the meanings that underlie much of their everyday behavior.

43. Ethnomethodology – Cont. • Harold Garfinkel is a prominent advocate of ethnomethodology. • Garfinkel believes the best way to understand people’s construction of social reality is to deprive them momentarily of their mental maps of daily routines – upsetting the apple cart. • Ethnomethodologists can learn by observing the process of reconstruction.

45. Focus on Theoretical Perspectives

46. Ethics and Sociological Research • Sociologists are committed to: • Objectivity • Highest technical research standards • Accurate reporting of methods and findings • Protection of the rights, privacy, integrity, dignity, and autonomy of the subjects of their research.

47. Ethics in Sociological Research – Cont. • The code is concerned with maximizing the benefits of sociology to society and minimizing the harm that sociological work might create. • Several eminent social scientists have been criticized for conducting research that many scientists consider unethical. Subjects were placed in stressful situations without being informed of the true nature of the experiment: Milgram 1963, 1965, 1974 & Zimbardo et al 1981

48. ASA Code of Ethics • Link to the American Sociological Association Code of Ethics http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/Code%20of%20Ethics.pdf

49. Sociology & You • As a consumer of information, there are some easy steps you can follow that will make you a savvy consumer of information: • Be Skeptical – be suspicious of what you read or hear • Consider the Information Source • Do Not Mistake Correlations for Causation

50. A Final Note • To help ensure one’s study produces knowledge that is superior to that yielded by intuition, common sense, authority, or tradition, a researcher must pay careful attention to the quality of measurement.