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Connecting Sociology and YOU!

Chapter 2: Sociological Inquiry

Notes:

quantitative research design, data collection that focuses on exploring correlations by using systematic, numerical, and other objective measures to generalize across groups of people

ualitative research design, data collection using interviews, fieldwork, observation, photos, text, and other subjective measures

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

nformed 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

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.

epresentative 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,

econdary analysis, the use of data previously collected for other purposes

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

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.

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 

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.

 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,

nowball sampling, a process in which people in the group being studied introduce the researcher to other people to study (HP).

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

value neutrality, also known as 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