Notes:
Code of ethics: a set of guidelines of appropriate behavior established by an organization for its members to follow
– principles of conduct about how you are supposed to behave in a given situation
Hawthorne effect: the tendency of people to change their behavior when they know they are being watched
Snowball sampling: a process in which people in the group being studied introduce the researcher to other people to study
Objectivity: the effort to eliminate bias from the research
Time diary method: a research method in which subjects track their actions at various points in time over several days
Debriefing: a follow-up review of the research
Experimental group: the study subjects exposed to the independent variable
In-depth interview: a one-on-one-open-ended method that probes for deeper meaning and understanding of the responses of the interviewee
– ability to explore different angles and levels
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
Groupthink: the tendency of group members to yield to the desire for consensus rather than expressing individual or alternative ideas
Focus Group: a small group interview or guided discussion using a moderator to gain insight into the participants opinions on specific topics
– ease of implementation and quick results
Content analysis: a systematic method of assigning codes to text, video, music, and other media to analyze and infer patterns
– does not involve human subjects and cost-effective
Participant observation: a method in which the researcher takes part in the social phenomenon being studied
– unrestricted access to observe social behavior
Sustainability: the idea that current and future generations should have equal or greater access to social, economic, and environmental resources
Survey: a series of questions used to extract specific information from respondents
Cost effective and convenient
Secondary analysis: the use of data previously collected for other purposes
Existing data is plentiful and study can be conducted quickly
Experiments: the use of two or more groups in which one group is exposed to a factor being examined
More control over design and stronger validity and reliability, inability to generalize
Longitudinal Studies: the repeated observation of the same subjects over a duration of time
provides broad and detailed data
reliability: the extent to which a study yields the same result in repeated studies
validity: the extent that the study measures what it claims to measure
qualitative: data collection using interviews, fieldwork, observation, photos, text, and other subjective measures
quantitative: data collection that focuses on exploring correlations by using systematic, numerical, and other objective measures to generalize across groups of people
dependent variable: a factor that is changed by another variable
anonymity: concealing the identities of participants within the research project
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
independent variable: a factor that causes a change in another variable
representative sample:
confidentiality: guarding who has the right of access to the data provided by the participants, are two basic ways to shield the participants from harm
peer review: 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
operational definition: a clear, concise, and observable measure of the variable
representative sample: a subset of the population whose characteristics accurately reflect those of the larger population from which it is drawn
IRB: a committee that reviews research proposals to protect the rights and welfare of human participants in research
Step1: Define the Question or Problem
Step2: Review the Literature
Step3: Develop Hypotheses
Step4: Choose a Research Design and Methods
Step5: Collect the Data
Step6: Analyze the Data
Step7: Develop Conclusions
Step8: Report Results and Pose New Questions