The Scientific Approach “Science” = from Latin “to know” Ways of asking & answering questions Scientific thinking reduces emotional reactions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2MhMsLn9B0&feature=related (Holy Grail) You may hear about “the scientific method” in your natural science classes like biology or chemistry. This is the same procedure that social scientists often employ. Although natural scientists and social scientists study different things, both disciplines are scientific in that they collect data to analyze and understand the topic that they are interested in.

The Scientific Approach Max Weber = “Value-free sociology” Researchers not to allow personal beliefs or biases to interfere: Religion Racism Sexism Social class Value-free sociology is helpful because if you try to conduct a study and you think you already know what you’re going to find, those suspicions might make you see what you’re looking for and ignore other important facts.

Scientific Sociology Science Bases knowledge on: Direct Systematic Observation

Scientific Sociology Study of society based on systematic observation of social behavior Empirical Evidence Can verify with our senses Sight, hearing, touch, smell

Quantitative Research Methods Numbers Objective Deductive Generalizable Examples: U.S. Census GSS Remember, as per our discussion in Chapter 1, it is important to note that within the social sciences, both of these types of research are valuable. Some researchers specialize in one type of research or the other, but many researchers use both methods to “triangulate” their data, or to make sure that their findings are consistent no matter what kind of research they do. As we already discussed, a good example of quantitative research is the U.S. census, which uses surveys to analyze data from across the country. A good example of qualitative research could be Anne Frank’s diary, which served as field notes based on her experiences and observations.

Data File

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

Examples of Qualitative Data Sources Text Field Notes

Examples of Qualitative Data Sources Mural in Northern Ireland

Qualitative Research Characteristics: Systematic Subjective Analyze words or images Inductive Not generalizable

Steps of the Scientific Method The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company

Concepts & Variables Concept: Mental construct Deception Love Honesty Happiness Variable: Concept which changes

Concepts and Variables

Measurement & Operationalization Procedure to determine value of a variable in a specific case Operationalize Stating exactly what is being measured

Measurement

Operationalization

Example Concept Variable Measurement 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 (How often…)

Example Operationalize Deception=Responses to questions about frequency of various types of lies White lies Lies to protect partner Lies to protect self Lies that might end the relationship

Cause and Effect Scientists refer to the cause as the: Independent Variable And the effect as the Dependent Variable Understanding cause and effect is valuable because it: Allows researchers to predict how one pattern of behavior will produce another

Cause and Effect

Dependent & Independent Variables (Example) Dependent Variable=Frequency of lying Range: Never (1) to All the time (7) Independent Variables: Love Trust Commitment Dependency Expressiveness

Correlation & Causation Correlation: A relationship between two variables (they change together) Causation: A relationship where one variable causes another variable to change Spurious Correlations: Two variables appear to be correlated, but relationship caused by a third variable Let’s take an example: In Florida, there are a lot of palm trees, and a lot of senior citizens. You want to examine the relationship between the variables. The variables in this case are palm trees and senior citizens. You see that in other states with less palm trees, there are less senior citizens, and in Florida where there are many palm trees, there are many senior citizens. Therefore, there is a relationship between the variables. Palm trees and senior citizens are correlated. Now, you want to see is there are any causations. Do palm trees cause senior citizens? Well, you can conduct an experiment where you plant 100,000 palm trees in Ohio and monitor the population, but you don’t see a difference in the number of senior citizens. So, you can tell that palm trees aren’t causing senior citizens. So what’s going on? There is a relationship, but it is not causal. You start to investigate further, and you realize that palm trees like warm weather. Senior citizens also like warm weather. A-ha! There was a third variable (temperature) that you didn’t think of at the beginning. This is a spurious correlation. There is a relationship between palm trees and senior citizens, but it is based on the fact that they both have a relationship with the third variable—temperature.

Three Criteria for Causation Correlation Positive (Ice cream consumption increases; Crime increases) Negative (SES increases; Infant mortality rate decreases) Time Order Cause must occur before the Effect Independent variable  Dependent Variable Other possible causes eliminated No spurious correlations

Spurious Correlation

Research Methods How do we gather data? Several research methods Each has benefits & limitations Which method works best? Depends on your project Sometimes researchers will collect data using more than one method, which is called a “mixed methods approach.” If your research is showing the same trends when you use multiple kinds of methods, it is more likely that your conclusions are correct.

Study people in their environments Ethnographic Methods Study people in their environments To understand meanings they give their activities Ethnography literally means “writing culture” and this happens when researchers collect their observations and write about their experiences in a scientific way.

Ethnographic Methods Product research http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tHgNXzS2EY&feature=related Good qualitative researchers http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=jSdxYb2IVwg

Ethnographic Methods Ethnography usually has two steps: Researcher: Observes a social setting 2. Creates written account (field notes) of observed activity It is important to take thorough and precise field notes when conducting an ethnographic study. Leaving something out because “it doesn’t seem important” can give you incomplete data. Every detail is equally important, and recording these details properly allows the researcher to draw conclusions at the end of the study. Thus, writing field notes can take a lot of time!

Ethnographic Methods In participant observation Researcher both: Observes and Participates Fraternity AA Say, for instance, you want to study a particular church. One of the best ways to study that church might be to conduct an ethnographic study, where you go to that church for the services and participate in the church activities. In a sense, this gives you a “bird’s eye view” into the inner workings of that organization. It is usually required that you inform the organization that you will be collecting data while you are there.

Interviews Interviews: Direct, face-to-face contact with respondents Generate large amounts of data Researcher identifies target population Selects sample of people to interview Interviews can take a long time to complete, but they can produce very rich data. In fact, in an interview, a respondent might say something that the researcher had not previously considered, and can help the researcher focus the research project. Researchers have to be careful not to lead the respondent into certain kinds of answers by asking questions like, “you really like eating vegetables, don’t you?” Instead researchers should allow the respondent to answer, by asking questions like “How do you feel about eating vegetables?”

Sampling To acquire information about a population--two basic Options: 1. Gather data from every member of the population (a census) 2. Sample—Gather data from selected members of the population

Populations and Samples

Know How the Sample was Selected: The Hite Report 84% of respondents (women) are 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 In 1972 a behavioral researcher, Shere Hite, initiated a large-scale study of female sexuality Sample size was 4,500 women Questionnaires distributed through women's groups e.g., NOW, Ms. Magazine, and the Village Voice, church groups, political organizations

The Hite Report 100,000 surveys distributed 4,500 returned Response rate of Hite's survey is 4.5 % Should have response rate of 70% to 80% to generalize to population

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

Interviews Open-ended: Closed-ended questions: Respondents say as much as like What do you think about gay marriage? Closed-ended questions: Respondents choose answers “I support gay marriage” Yes or No An open-ended question allows the answer to take whatever from the respondent chooses: “What do you think about couples living together before they are married?” The respondent can give lots of information, examples, and personal experiences, all of which could provide valuable data to the researcher. This method does take a lot of time, though, as responses can be lengthy. A closed-ended question imposes a limit on the possible responses: for example, “Are you for or against couples living together before they are married?” This question doesn’t have an option for a “middle ground”—respondents are forced to choose.

Surveys Survey research focus: Questionnaires given to sample from target population (Quantitative data) Survey research focus: Large-scale social patterns Political opinions Marriage & divorce Crime Analyzes data using statistics Surveys are relatively easy to create and to administer. However, they are generally closed-ended. You can’t dialog with the respondent in a survey. Therefore, answers will be direct, and usually concise. It is easy to collect a lot of data this way, but the scope of the responses will be limited.

Experimental Methods Experiments: Performed in controlled setting Tests of specific variables and effects Performed in controlled setting Laboratory Experiments are sometimes difficult to conduct in social settings because it is hard to control every aspect of a social situation, but they can provide valuable insights into “how a person might respond if…”

Experimental group: Experimental Methods Experimental & Control Groups Participants receive treatment or intervention This is very common in medicine, where one group (the experimental group) receives a drug treatment and another group (the control group) receives a placebo, or a treatment that looks like the experimental group, but actually is nothing (for instance, this group might get a pill that looks like the experimental pill, but it is really just a sugar pill, so it would have no effect on the participant’s health). However, this method is also used in social science to collect data.

Control group: Experimental Methods Participants receive no intervention Compare experimental & control group results Did intervention have an effect?

Experimental Design

Existing Sources Existing Sources: Data already collected by earlier researchers: U.S. Census FBI Uniform Crime Report National Health Interview Study General Social Survey (GSS) This can include sources such as census data, newspapers, photography, and cultural artifacts. Using existing data is usually less involved than collecting original data and also gives researchers access to distant places and times.

Content Analysis Verbal print media - newspaper, magazines, books, plays Visual media - videos, television, film Visual print media - drawings, cartoons Artistic productions - painting, sculpture, music Personal documents - autobiographies, letters, and diaries

Conducting Sociological Research: Ethics Institutional Review Board (IRB) Group of scholars who review colleagues’ research proposals Recommendations for protecting human subjects from harm: Physical Psychological Any time you are conducting research, it is helpful to have input from other scholars. It helps you make sure your research is sound, that no one gets harmed, and that you are embarking on a project that will contribute to the existing literature and that other scholars will appreciate.

For you: Evaluating Research Findings Know source of data Find out how sample or participants were selected Other possible limitations of data and results