Sociology

SociologyUnit 1: Theory and MethodsKey Terms with explanationBiasA tendency (either known or unknown) to prefer one thing over another that preventsobjectivity.Examples:Judging agroupnegatively because of theirethnicityor not accounting for students withdisabilitieswhen designing a test.Framing a question on survey to ensure a desired response2Case StudyResearch performed in detail on a singleindividual,group, incident or community, as opposed to, for instance, a sample of the wholepopulation OrIn-depth analysis of a single event, situation, or individual.Example:Business related case studies.

CausationThe act or process of causing something to happen or existThe relationship between an event or situation and a possible reason or cause.Example:If a house burned due to a furnace explosion, that is the causation.

Comparative studyComparing one thing with another of similar positionExample:To compare the social policies and ways of working with those of other countries

Study by comparison has its own drawbacks. Circumstances may not be similar. Objects may not be similar.

Conflict TheoryA theory that looks at society as a competition for limited resources.Examples:Conflict theory sees society as being made up of individuals who must compete forsocial, political, and material resources such as political power, leisure time, money, housing, andentertainment.

ConsensusUnderconsensustheory the absence of conflict is seen as the equilibrium state of society and that there is a general or widespread agreement among all members of a particular society about norms, values, rules and regulations.Example:

Content AnalysisStudying a form of communication to understand underlying intent and meaning in a sociological context.Example:Watching various TV shows from different eras to determine how minorities are depicted.8CorrelationCorrelation is a term that refers to the strength of a relationship between two variables. A strong, or high, correlation means that two or more variables have a strong relationship with each other while a weak, or low, correlation means that the variables are hardly related. There are many statistical tests that are used to determine correlation, such as regression or a correlation matrix.

Ethical IssuesA set of guidelines that the American Sociological Association has established to foster ethical research and professionally responsible scholarship in sociology Field ExperimentsGathering data from a natural environment without doing a lab experiment or a survey.

Focus GroupFocus groupsare a form ofqualitative researchthat is used most often in product marketing andmarketing research. During a focus group, a group of individuals usually 6-12 people is brought together in a room to engage in a guided discussion of some topic.GeneralizationThe amount that information from a specific example can be generalized to apply to the overallpopulation13Group InterviewThe meeting where one or more questioners ask information from two or more respondents in an experimental or real-life situation. This method encourages the people to interact with one other in responding to the questions

Hawthorne/Observer effectwhen study subjects behave in a certain manner due to their awareness of being observed by a researcherHypothesisan educated guess with predicted outcomes about the relationship between two or more variables. OrA proposed and testable explanation between two or more variables that predicts an outcome or explains a phenomenonIdentityFour identity theories typically employed by contemporary social psychologists: personal identity, role identity, social identity, and collective identity. Personal identity.IndividualismIndividualism is a social psychological term that refers to the ways in which people identify themselves and focus their goals. Individualism, which is the opposite of collectivism, gives priority to personal goals (as opposed to the goals of a group or society). In addition, individualists tend to define their own identities according to their own personal behaviors and attributes. America is a more individualistic country (we do value individualism) whereas many Asian countries place a greater value on collectivism.

18InterpretivismSociologicalresearch approach that seeks in-depth understanding of a topic or subject through observation or interaction; this approach is not based onhypothesistestingInterviewer biasA partiality towards a preconceivedresponsebased on thestructure, phrasing, ortenorof questionsaskedin the interviewingprocess. Questions laced with interviewer bias caninfluencerespondentsin such a way that it distorts the outcome of theinterview.

Interviewer effectInterview effect refers to the impact that the artificial situation of the interview has on the information respondents are prepared to provide, theirattitudesand opinions.Example:an aggressive interviewer may intimidate a respondent into giving answers that dont really reflect the respondents beliefs. Laboratory experimentsAtestundercontrolledconditionsthatismadetodemonstrateaknowntruth,examinethevalidityofahypothesis,ordeterminetheefficacyofsomethingpreviouslyuntried.Longitudinal surveyA longitudinal survey is one that collects data from the same sample elements on multiple occasions over time. ORA study of a group of subjects that follows them through time.

Macro/micro approachesMacro Approaches:Large-scalesociologicalanalysisof long-term social processes such asinstitutions, social structures, social systems, and wholesocieties.

Micro Approaches:Small-scale sociologicalanalysisthatstudiesthebehaviorofpeoplein face-to-face social interactions and smallgroupsto understand what they do, say, and think.

24Non-participant observationNonparticipant observation is a data collection method used extensively in case study research in which the researcher enters a social system to observe events, activities, and interactions with the aim of gaining a direct understanding of a phenomenon in its natural context. As a nonparticipant, the observer does not participate directly in the activities being observed.ObjectivityJudgments based on facts and undistorted by emotions, personalbias, orprejudice.

Official statisticsOfficial statistics are a source of secondary data and are easily available to sociologists as they already exist. These statistics could be present, the recent past or distant past.Official statistics are the statistics produced and published by the government and its agencies and are collected through government surveys, registration and record-keeping.

Open/closed/pre-coded questionsClosed questionnaires are very structured with the participant having a few set answers to choose from.Open-ended questionnaires are less structured than closed questionnaires. There will normally be a set number of questions, but there is no pre-set choice of answers, so the participant can say whatever they want. This method will often involve an interview rather than written question. Postal or self-complete questionnaires are when the participant picks up or is sent a questionnaire which they fill out themselves and return by post or via the interneOvert participant observationOvert Participant Observation, as the name suggests, involves the researcher beingopenwith the group they are going to study. In other words, before joining a group the researcheris likely to inform the group's members (either personally or through the agency of asponsor)about such things as thepurposeof the research, it'sscope, howlongthe research will last and so forth.Pilot studyApilot study,pilotproject orpilotexperiment is a small scale preliminarystudyconducted in order to evaluate feasibility, time, cost, adverse events, and effect size (statistical variability) in an attempt to predict an appropriate sample size and improve upon thestudydesign prior to performance of a full-scale experiment.

PositivismThe doctrine that society is ordered and can be empirically understood and measured; that empirical knowledge gained through science is the best method to understand the world and all metaphysical explanations should be dismissed.Primary DataPrimary datais information that you collect specifically for the purpose of your research project. An advantage ofprimary datais that it is specifically tailored to your research needs.Qualitative data/researchA set of research techniques in which data is obtained from a relatively small group of respondents and not analyzed with statistical techniquesQuantitative data/researchThe systematic scientific investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships, using statistical methodsQuestionnairesA set of printed or written questions with a choice of answers, devised for the purposes of a survey or statistical study.35ReliabilityA measure of astudysconsistency that considers how likely results are to be replicated if astudyis reproducedRepresentativenessRepresentativenessis defined as the level of how well or how accurately something reflects upon a sample. When a study gives a good indication of what the whole population believes, this is an example of a study with goodrepresentativeness.

RespondentAny individual that answers questions during an interview or replies to a survey.Example:Citizens responding to an annual census or students filling out course evaluations at the end of a semester.

Response rateResponse rate(also known as completionrateor returnrate) in survey research refers to the number of people whom answered the survey divided by the number of people in the sample. It is usually expressed in the form of a percentageSampling methods/random/snowballing/quota/stratifiedA sampling method is a procedure for selecting sample members from a population.Random:A sample that ensures that everyindividualin thegroupbeing studied has a equal chance of inclusion.With stratified sampling, the researcher divides the population into separate groups, called strata. Then, aprobability sample(often asimple random sample) is drawn from each group.Quota samplingis a non-probabilitysampling techniquewherein the assembledsamplehas the same proportions of individuals as the entire population with respect to known characteristics, traits or focused phenomenon. In sociology and statistics research,snowball sampling(or chain sampling, chain-referralsampling, referralsampling) is a non-probabilitysampling techniquewhere existing study subjects recruit future subjects from among their acquaintances.

Sampling frameA sampling frame is a list of all the items in yourpopulation. The difference between apopulationand a sampling frame is that thepopulationis general and the sampling frame is specific. For example, thepopulationcould be People who live in Jacksonville, Florida. The sampling frame would name ALL of those people, from Adrian Abba to Felicity Zappa.41Secondary dataSecondary datais information that has been collected for a purpose other than your current research project but has some relevance and utility for your researchSemi-structured interviewAsemi-structured interviewis a method of research used in the social sciences. While astructured interviewhas a rigorous set of questions which does not allow one to divert, asemi-structured interviewis open, allowing new ideas to be brought up during theinterviewas a result of what the interviewee says.

Social surveyA research method that collectsdatafromrespondentsthrough a series of questions either in the form of a questionnaire or an interview.Structured interviewAstructured interview(also known as a standardizedinterviewor a researcher-administered survey) is a quantitative research method commonly employed in survey research. The aim of this approach is to ensure that eachinterviewis presented with exactly the same questions in the same orderSubjectivityOpinions based on personal impressions that are influenced bybiasandprejudices.Survey populationThe section of the population which is of interest in asurvey.47TriangulationThis is the use of two or more research methods in a single piece of research to check the reliability and validity of research evidence.Unstructured interviewAnunstructured interviewor non-directiveinterviewis aninterviewin which questions are not prearranged. These non-directiveinterviewsare considered to be the opposite of a structuredinterviewwhich offers a set amount of standardized questionsValidityThis is concerned with notions of truth how far the findings of research actually provide a true, genuine or authentic picture of what is being studied.