1. Foundations of Sociological Inquiry Trust and Trickery in Social Research

2. Today’s Objectives  Establishing Trust  Ethical Issues  Ethical Controversies  Validity and Reliability

3. Set up Clicker Technology  Becky Plugs in Receiver & Sets Channel to 05  Becky Sets Up Web-Based Session  Students with Clicker Set Channel to 05  Ch; 05; Ch  Students with Wireless Device Login to www.rwpoll.com www.rwpoll.com  Enter Session ID

4. Establishing Trust  I am doing research to examine how course evaluations differ by gender  I am surveying students in all sociology classes  Using your clicker, please respond to the following questions  Your responses are anonymous and will be kept confidential

5. Do you trust me? 1. Yes 2. No 3. Don’t Know

6. This course as a whole is: 1. Excellent 2. Very Good 3. Good 4. Fair 5. Poor 6. Very Poor

7. The course content is: 1. Excellent 2. Very Good 3. Good 4. Fair 5. Poor 6. Very Poor

8. The instructor overall is: 1. Excellent 2. Very Good 3. Good 4. Fair 5. Poor 6. Very Poor

9. The instructor’s contribution to your understanding of concepts/ideas is: 1. Excellent 2. Very Good 3. Good 4. Fair 5. Poor 6. Very Poor

10. The course content is: 1. Excellent 2. Very Good 3. Good 4. Fair 5. Poor 6. Very Poor

11. The instructor’s interest in whether students learned is: 1. Excellent 2. Very Good 3. Good 4. Fair 5. Poor 6. Very Poor

12. The amount learned in the course is: 1. Excellent 2. Very Good 3. Good 4. Fair 5. Poor 6. Very Poor

13. The relevance and usefulness of homework assignments is: 1. Excellent 2. Very Good 3. Good 4. Fair 5. Poor 6. Very Poor

14. Professor Pettit examines how an instructor’s gender affects course evaluations. Pettit decides to compare evaluations of college students in different classes. She decides to begin her research using students in her class. After explaining the study, she assures students that their responses will be confidential. The students complete her survey during class. Her research most clearly impinges on 1. deception. 2. no harm to participants. 3. voluntary participation. 4. the value placed on anonymity. 5. value-free reports of the data.

15. The main reason that codes of ethics exist are that 1. ethical issues are both important and ambiguous. 2. both the state and federal governments require them. 3. researchers would be both unwilling and unable to make ethical decisions without them. 4. the directors of the professional associations require and enforce them. 5. people are naturally unethical.

16. Ethical Issues in Social Research  Ethical (Webster’s): conforming to the standards of conduct of a given profession or group.

17. Ethical Issues in Social Research  Ethical (Webster’s): conforming to the standards of conduct of a given profession or group.  Voluntary Participation

18. Ethical Issues in Social Research  Ethical (Webster’s): conforming to the standards of conduct of a given profession or group.  Voluntary Participation  DO NO HARM

19. Ethical Issues in Social Research  Ethical (Webster’s): conforming to the standards of conduct of a given profession or group.  Voluntary Participation  DO NO HARM  Anonymity and Confidentiality

20. Which of the following techniques of data collection is MOST likely to make a guarantee of anonymity difficult? 1. interviews 2. mailed questionnaires 3. secondary data analysis 4. unobtrusive measures 5. The data collection technique does not effect the guarantee of anonymity.

21. Ethical Controversies  Trouble in the Tearoom – Laud Humphreys  Studied homosexual activities in public restrooms in parks  Researcher became interested in the lives of participants  Researcher volunteered to become “watchqueen”  Researcher collected personal information about the participants (license numbers of cars)

22. What should have Laud Humphrey done in his “Trouble in the Tearoom” study to uphold ethical standards? 1. debriefed subjects. 2. allowed subjects to decline to be studied. 3. remained nonpolitical. 4. promised confidentiality. 5. revealed his identity.

23. Ethical Controversies  Observing Human Obedience – Stanley Milgram  Participants imitated a laboratory-based World War II controversy  Participants were assigned job of “teacher” – to teach a list of works to the “pupil.” If the pupil got the word wrong, the teacher would administer increasing levels of shocks to the pupil.

24. The primary ethical research issue raised by the Milgram study was 1. the willingness of people to harm others when “following orders” required it. 2. the administration of electrical shocks to the pupils. 3. the effects of the methods on the pupils. 4. the effects of the methods on the teacher. 5. the examination of obedience as a topic for study.

25. Reliability and Validity  Reliability  The extent to which a given measurement strategy would describe a concept in the same way if repeated again and again OR  The extent to which two or more measures provide the same description of a concept

26. Reliability and Validity  Reliability  The extent to which a given measurement strategy would describe a concept in the same way if repeated again and again OR  The extent to which two or more measures provide the same description of a concept  Validity  Internal Validity represents the extent to which a variable or indicator accurately represents the concept it was chosen to measure  External Validity represents the extent to which findings from a study, based on a sample can be generalized to a larger population

27. 27. High Reliability and High Validity

28. 28. High Reliability and High Validity (Self-reported educational attainment)

29. 29. High Reliability and Low Validity

30. 30. High Reliability and Low Validity (Self-reported number of sexual partners)

31. 31. Low Reliability and High Validity

32. 32. Low Reliability and High Validity (Self-reported happiness)

33. Replicability  Someone should be able to figure out what you did, how you did it, and do it again  Your work (observational or analytical) should withstand further empirical scrutiny  All of this rests on shared professional standards (ethics)

34. Questions?