Chapter 2 Sociological Research Methods

Scientific Approach  “Science” = from Latin “to know”  Ways of asking & answering questions  Reduces emotional reactions (Holy Grail)

Value Free Max Weber =“Value-free sociology”  No personal beliefs or biases:  Religion  Racism  Sexism  Social class

Empirical Evidence  Faith  No evidence needed  Empirical Evidence  Verify with our senses:  Sight  Hearing  Touch  Smell

Quantitative Research Methods  Numbers  Objective  Generalizable  Examples:  U.S. Census  General Social Survey (GSS)

Data File

Qualitative Research Methods  Non-numerical data  Texts (Ex. books, newspapers, diaries)  Interviews  Photos  Recordings  Visual media (movies, TV)  Examples: Anne Frank’s Diary, Political Speeches, TV shows

Examples of Qualitative Data Sources Field Notes Text

Steps of the Scientific Method

 Concept: Mental construct  Deception  Love  Happiness  Variable: Concept that changes  Frequency of Deception  Intensity of Love  Extent of Happiness

Example  Concept  Mental construct that represents some part of the world (Deception)  Variable  Concept that changes from case to case  (Frequency of lying)  Measurement  Procedure for determining the value of a variable in a specific case (Likert scale)

Likert Scale (example)

Cause and Effect  Cause = Independent Variable  Effect= Dependent Variable  Goal=Prediction!

Correlation & Causation

 Correlation: Relationship between 2 variables (positive or negative)  Causation: Relationship where 1 variable causes another variable to change

Correlation

Positive Correlation

Perfect Negative Correlation

Negative Correlation

Spurious Correlations 2 variables appear to be correlated, but are caused by 3 rd variable

Spurious Correlations  Amount of ice cream sold and deaths by drowning  Number of police officers and number of crimes  Season: Ice cream sales and drownings tend to be high during the warm months of the year  Population density: In highly dense areas, there are more police officers and more crimes

Spurious Correlation ICC=Ice Cream Consumption

Three Criteria for Causation 1. Correlation  Positive  Negative 2. Time Order  Cause before Effect 3. Other possible causes eliminated  No spurious correlations

Research Methods 1. Ethnographic Methods 2. Interviews 3. Surveys 4. Existing Data 5. Experimental Methods

1. Ethnographic Methods  Two steps: 1. Observe a social setting 2. Create written account  Field notes

Types of Ethnographic Methods 1.Non participant observation 2.Participant observation  Researcher:  Observes  Participates  Examples:  Fraternity  AA*

2. Interviews  Face-to-face  Target population  Select s ample  Collect large amounts of data  Closed-ended questions  Open-ended questions*

3. Surveys  Questionnaires to a sample of target population (Quantitative data)  Large-scale social patterns  Political opinions  Marriage & Divorce  Crime  Analyze with statistics*

Information about a Population 2 Basic Options: 1. Census  Data from every member of population 2. Sample Data from selected members of population

Populations and Samples

How was Sample Selected: The Hite Report 84% of respondents (women) not satisfied emotionally with their relationships (with men) 95% report "emotional and psychological harassment" from male partner 98% desire more communication from partner Only 13% of women married more than two years are still “in love” with husband

The Hite Report  Researcher, Shere Hite  Large study of female sexuality  Sample size: 4,500 women  Questionnaires through women's groups  NOW, Ms. Magazine, and the Village Voice  Church groups  Political organizations 

The Hite Report  100,000 surveys distributed  4,500 returned  Response rate: 4.5 %  Response rate of 70%--80% needed to generalize to population

Problems with Research  Survey--127 essay questions  Motivation of respondents?  What about 95.5% who did not respond?  How did respondents differ from non-respondent?*

4. Existing Data  Data collected by other researchers:  U.S. Census  FBI Uniform Crime Report  National Health Interview Study  General Social Survey (GSS)

Content Analysis Verbal print media: Newspaper, plays, magazines, books Visual media: Videos, television, film Artistic productions: Paintings, sculpture, music Personal documents: Autobiographies, letters, diaries

5. Experimental Methods  Experiments:  Tests of specific variables and effects  Controlled setting  Laboratory

Experimental Design

9/17 Criteria for Evaluating Research Sampling? Replication? Funding source?

Applied Research  Applied sociologists work in various industries, including:  Private business  Government agencies  Not-for-profit organizations

Applied Research  Goal: Changing current state of social life for the better  Increasing health and wellbeing of a disadvantaged community group  Working with law enforcement to implement rehabilitation programs for criminal offenders

Applied Research  Assisting in planning for natural disasters  Enhancing existing government programs and policies