1. Sociological Research Methods
Chapter 2
Sociological Research Methods

2. The Scientific Approach
“Science” = from Latin “to know”
Ways of asking & answering questions
Reduces emotional reactions
(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.

3. The Scientific Approach
Max Weber =“Value-free sociology”
No personal beliefs or biases:
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.

4. Verify with our senses:
Scientific Sociology
Empirical Evidence=
Verify with our senses:
Sight
Hearing
Touch
Smell

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

6. Data File

7. 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

8. Examples of Qualitative Data Sources
Text
Field Notes

9. Steps of the Scientific Method

10. Concepts & Variables Concept: Mental construct Deception Love
Happiness
Variable: Concept that changes
Frequency of Deception
Intensity of Love
Extent of Happiness

11. 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)

12. Cause and Effect Cause = Independent Variable
Effect= Dependent Variable
Prediction!

14. Correlation & Causation

15. Correlation & Causation
Correlation: Relationship between 2 variables
Causation: Relationship where 1 variable causes another variable to change
Spurious Correlations: 2 variables appear to be correlated, but caused by 3rd 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.

16. Spurious Correlation
ICC=Ice Cream Consumption

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

18. Ethnographic Methods Interviews Surveys Existing Data
Research Methods
Ethnographic Methods
Interviews
Surveys
Existing Data
Experimental Methods

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

20. Researcher: Ethnographic Methods In participant observation Examples:
Observes
Participates
Examples:
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.

21. Interviews Face-to-face Target population*
Select sample
Collect large amounts of data
Closed-ended questions
Open-ended questions*
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?”

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

23. Populations and Samples

24. Know How the Sample was 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

25. 1972--Researcher, Shere Hite Large study of female sexuality
The Hite Report
1972--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

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

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

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

29. Tests of specific variables and effects
Experimental Methods
Experiments:
Tests of specific variables and effects
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…”

30. Experimental Design

31. Existing Data Data collected by other 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.

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

33. Criteria for Evaluating Research
Sample?
Replicable?
Funding source?