Chapter 2: Studying Social Life: Sociological Research Methods

1. Chapter 2: Studying Social Life: Sociological Research Methods

2. Overview of Research Methods • Quantitative research: translates the social world into numbers that can be studied mathematically • Qualitative research: uses nonnumerical data like texts, interviews, photos, and recordings to help understand social life

3. The Scientific Approach • The scientific method—a procedure for acquiring knowledge that emphasizes collecting data through observation and experiment.

5. The Scientific Method • Literature review • Hypothesis • Variables • Operational definitions • Helps determine:

6. The Scientific Method (con’t.) • Correlation: a relationship between two variables • Causation: a relationship where one variable causes another variable to change • Spurious correlation: a relationship that seems to appear between two variables, but is actually caused by some external, or intervening, variable.

7. Paradigm Shifts • Research can lead to what Thomas Kuhn called a paradigm shift, or a change in the way we think about some aspect of life.

8. Methods: How Do We Gather Data? • There are different ways to collect information about a topic, but each method has benefits and limitations. • When beginning a research project, it is important to consider which method will work best.

9. Ethnographic Methods • One way to collect to data is through ethnography—studying people in their own environments in order to understand the meanings they give to their activities.

10. Ethnographic Methods (con’t.) • Ethnography usually happens in two steps: • The researcher participates in and observes a setting. • Then the researcher makes a written account (field notes) of what goes on there.

11. Ethnographic Methods (con’t.) • In participantobservation the researcher both observes and becomes a member in a social setting.

12. Interviews • Interviews involve direct, face-to-face contact with respondents. • Can generate large amounts of qualitative data • Researcher identifies the targetpopulation of interest, then selects a sample of people to be interviewed from that population

13. Interviews (con’t.) • Interviews can use open-ended questions or closed-ended questions. • Open-ended questions let respondents talk as much as they’d like about the question you asked, whereas closed-ended questions give respondents a choice of answers.

14. Surveys • Surveys are questionnaires that are administered to a sample of respondents selected from a target population. Survey research tends to look at large-scale social patterns and employs statistics and other mathematical means of analysis.

15. Existing Sources • Existingsources refer to any data that has already been collected by earlier researchers and is available for future research.

16. Experimental Methods • Experiments are formal tests of specific variables and effects that are performed in a setting where all aspects of the situation can be controlled.

17. Experimental Methods (con’t.) • Many experiments involve: • An experimentalgroup—participants that receive the experimental treatment • A controlgroup—participants that continue without intervention so they can be compared with the experimental group

18. Sociological Research Methods • The research methods described in this chapter are often applied outside the field of sociology.

19. The Scientific Approach • Most sociologists believe that they should not allow their personal beliefs to influence their research. • MaxWeber coined the phrase value-freesociology, stating that researchers should identify facts without allowing their own personal beliefs or biases to interfere.

20. Conducting Sociological Research • The American Sociological Association has developed its own codeofethics to help researchers avoid bias and adhere to professional standards and to protect respondents from harm.

21. Conducting Sociological Research (con’t.) • Most universities where research is conducted also have an institutionalreviewboard, a group of scholars within a university who meet regularly to review and approve the research proposals of their colleagues and make recommendations for how to protect human subjects.

22. Sociological Research Methods— Concept Quiz • If researchers wanted to do a study that required them to analyze income per household and average age of people living in the house, they would likely do what kind of research? • quantitative • qualitative • interviews • participant observation • ethnography

23. Sociological Research Methods— Concept Quiz • If researchers wanted to do a study that required them to determine the quality of life in a residential campus dorm, they would likely do what kind of research? • quantitative • qualitative

24. Sociological Research Methods— Concept Quiz • You’re doing interview research and you ask the following question: “So, will you tell me about your childhood?” What kind of question did you ask? • closed-ended question • open-ended question

25. Sociological Research Methods— Concept Quiz • You’re doing interview research and you ask the following question: “So, what year did you get your first car?” What kind of question did you ask? • closed-ended question • open-ended question

26. This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint presentation for Chapter 2 Visit the StudySpace at: http://wwnorton.com/studyspace For more learning resources, please visit the StudySpace site for The Real World, 3e.