Notes:
scientific method, the process a sociologist uses to develop and test theories
American Sociological Association (ASA), a national organization for sociologists dedicated to advancing sociology as a scientific discipline and profession serving the public good,
peer review, a process by which research is evaluated by a group of experts in the specific subject area
hypothesis, an educated guess about a relationship between two or more situations, events, or factors
independent variable, a factor that causes a change in another variable,
dependent variable, a factor that is changed by another variable
validity, the extent that the study measures what it claims to measure
operational definition, a clear, concise, and observable measure of the variable
reliability, the extent to which a study yields the same result in repeated studies.
quantitative research design, data collection that focuses on exploring correlations by using systematic, numerical, and other objective measures to generalize across groups of people
–secondary analysis, the use of data previously collected for other purposes.
–survey, a series of questions used to extract specific information from respondents
qualitative research design, data collection using interviews, fieldwork, observation, photos, text, and other subjective measures
–in-depth interview, a one-on-one open-ended method that probes for deeper meaning and understanding of the responses of the interviewee
– participation observation, also called participant observation, a method in which the researcher takes part in the social phenomenon being studied
–focus group, a small group interview or guided discussion using a moderator to gain insight into the participants’ opinions on specific topics
**groupthink, the tendency of group members to yield to the desire for consensus rather than expressing individual or alternative ideas.
representative sample, a subset of the population whose characteristics accurately reflect those of the larger population from which it is drawn.
Institutional Review Board (IRB), a committee that reviews research proposals to protect the rights and welfare of human participants in research
informed consent, a signed statement by participants indicating full knowledge of the risks involved, and acknowledgment of the procedures to withdraw from the study at any time willingly
Anonymity, concealing the identities of participants within the research project,
confidentiality, guarding who has the right of access to the data provided by the participants
experiment, the use of two or more groups in which one group is exposed to a factor being examined
–experimental group, the study subjects exposed to the independent variable
– control group, the study subjects who are not exposed to the independent variable and are used as a reference group
longitudinal design, the repeated observation of the same subjects over a duration of time
ethnography, a descriptive account of social life and culture in a particular social system derived from the researcher being embedded over time within a group, organization, or community
content analysis, a systematic method of assigning codes to text, video, music, and other media to analyze and infer patterns.
Sustainability, the idea that current and future generations should have equal or greater access to social, economic, and environmental resources,
General Social Survey (GSS), a national survey on contemporary American society to monitor and explain trends and constants in attitudes, behaviors, and attributes,
snowball sampling, a process in which people in the group being studied introduce the researcher to other people to study
time diary method, a research method in which subjects track their actions at various points in time over several days.
Hawthorne effect, the tendency of people to change their behavior when they know they are being watched.
ethics, principles of conduct about how you are supposed to behave in a given situation.
debriefing, a follow-up review of the research
code of ethics, a set of guidelines of appropriate behavior established by an organization for its members to follow
objectivity, the effort to eliminate bias from the research
sample of convenience, a research sample based on the ease of accessibility of the research subjects.
case study, an in-depth analysis of a particular person, place, or event over a significant period.
verstehen (vûrst e hen), an empathetic approach to understanding human behavior