1 / 26

Chapter 2: Studying Social Life: Sociological Research Methods

Chapter 2: Studying Social Life: Sociological Research Methods. Overview of Research Methods. Quantitative research: translates the social world into numbers that can be studied mathematically

tavi
Download Presentation

Chapter 2: Studying Social Life: Sociological Research Methods

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Chapter 2: Studying Social Life: Sociological Research Methods

  2. Overview of Research Methods • Quantitative research: translates the social world into numbers that can be studied mathematically • Qualitative research: uses nonnumerical data like texts, interviews, photos, and recordings to help understand social life

  3. The Scientific Approach • The scientific method—a procedure for acquiring knowledge that emphasizes collecting data through observation and experiment.

  4. The Scientific Method • Literature review • Hypothesis • Variables • Operational definitions • Helps determine:

  5. The Scientific Method (con’t.) • Correlation: a relationship between two variables • Causation: a relationship where one variable causes another variable to change • Spurious correlation: a relationship that seems to appear between two variables, but is actually caused by some external, or intervening, variable.

  6. Paradigm Shifts • Research can lead to what Thomas Kuhn called a paradigm shift, or a change in the way we think about some aspect of life.

  7. Methods: How Do We Gather Data? • There are different ways to collect information about a topic, but each method has benefits and limitations. • When beginning a research project, it is important to consider which method will work best.

  8. Ethnographic Methods • One way to collect to data is through ethnography—studying people in their own environments in order to understand the meanings they give to their activities.

  9. Ethnographic Methods (con’t.) • Ethnography usually happens in two steps: • The researcher participates in and observes a setting. • Then the researcher makes a written account (field notes) of what goes on there.

  10. Ethnographic Methods (con’t.) • In participantobservation the researcher both observes and becomes a member in a social setting.

  11. Interviews • Interviews involve direct, face-to-face contact with respondents. • Can generate large amounts of qualitative data • Researcher identifies the targetpopulation of interest, then selects a sample of people to be interviewed from that population

  12. Interviews (con’t.) • Interviews can use open-ended questions or closed-ended questions. • Open-ended questions let respondents talk as much as they’d like about the question you asked, whereas closed-ended questions give respondents a choice of answers.

  13. Surveys • Surveys are questionnaires that are administered to a sample of respondents selected from a target population. Survey research tends to look at large-scale social patterns and employs statistics and other mathematical means of analysis.

  14. Existing Sources • Existingsources refer to any data that has already been collected by earlier researchers and is available for future research.

  15. Experimental Methods • Experiments are formal tests of specific variables and effects that are performed in a setting where all aspects of the situation can be controlled.

  16. Experimental Methods (con’t.) • Many experiments involve: • An experimentalgroup—participants that receive the experimental treatment • A controlgroup—participants that continue without intervention so they can be compared with the experimental group

  17. Sociological Research Methods • The research methods described in this chapter are often applied outside the field of sociology.

  18. The Scientific Approach • Most sociologists believe that they should not allow their personal beliefs to influence their research. • MaxWeber coined the phrase value-freesociology, stating that researchers should identify facts without allowing their own personal beliefs or biases to interfere.

  19. Conducting Sociological Research • The American Sociological Association has developed its own codeofethics to help researchers avoid bias and adhere to professional standards and to protect respondents from harm.

  20. Conducting Sociological Research (con’t.) • Most universities where research is conducted also have an institutionalreviewboard, a group of scholars within a university who meet regularly to review and approve the research proposals of their colleagues and make recommendations for how to protect human subjects.

  21. Sociological Research Methods— Concept Quiz • If researchers wanted to do a study that required them to analyze income per household and average age of people living in the house, they would likely do what kind of research? • quantitative • qualitative • interviews • participant observation • ethnography

  22. Sociological Research Methods— Concept Quiz • If researchers wanted to do a study that required them to determine the quality of life in a residential campus dorm, they would likely do what kind of research? • quantitative • qualitative

  23. Sociological Research Methods— Concept Quiz • You’re doing interview research and you ask the following question: “So, will you tell me about your childhood?” What kind of question did you ask? • closed-ended question • open-ended question

  24. Sociological Research Methods— Concept Quiz • You’re doing interview research and you ask the following question: “So, what year did you get your first car?” What kind of question did you ask? • closed-ended question • open-ended question

  25. This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint presentation for Chapter 2 Visit the StudySpace at: http://wwnorton.com/studyspace For more learning resources, please visit the StudySpace site for The Real World, 3e.

More Related