Research

How to find what you need to know.

Section 1: Social Research

What is Social Research anyways?

Research that examines human behavior

• Remember– This is a SCIENTIFIC process (which is why

Sociology is considered to be a social science)– Methods shall be used for specific reasons which

are based off what TYPE of information needs to be obtained

Valid vs. Reliable

• Valid= right• Reliable= consistent

Data needs to be valid as well as reliable. So it needs to be ‘consistently right’.

• Deduction- starts general and goes specificTheoryHypothesisObservation (data collection)Confirmation or rejection of hypothesis/theory

• Inductive- starts specific and goes generalObservationData collectionPatterns or regulationsHypothesisTheory

OBSERVATIONStudents who study together seem

to make better grades

DATA COLLECTION/ANALYSISStudy 100 students to determine if

students who study together actually make better grades

HYPOTHESIS AND THEORYStudents who study together DO

make better grades

DEDUCTIVE

INDUCTIVE

Sample vs. Population• Population- any well defined group of people (or

things) about whom researchers want to know something

• Sample- a group of people (or things) that are representative of the population researchers wish to study

Population

Sample

Terms to know…..• Scientific method- a specific set of steps that

include careful data collection, analysis of data, and when appropriate application to a larger population

• Variable- a characteristic that has specific values• Hypothesis- a statement of a relationship between

two or more variables• Independent variable- a characteristic that

determines or has an effect on the dependent variable

• Dependent variable- the outcome, which may be affected by the independent variable

The Research Process

Choose a Topic

Summarize Related Research

Formulate a Hypothesis or Ask a Research Question

Describe Data Collection Method(s)

Collect the Data

Present the Findings

Analyze the Results: State Conclusion

Correlation vs. Causation

• Correlation- a relationship between two or more variables

• Causation- a relationship that the change in the dependent variable is CAUSED by the effect of the independent variable(s)

Correlation

Causation

Approaches to research

• Qualitative research- research that examines nonnumeric material and interprets it

• Quantitative research- research that examines numerical material and interprets it

Data Collection Methods

Survey• Questionnaires• Face to face or telephone interviews

• Advantages– Cheap– Simple

• Disadvantages– Low response rate (10%)– Questions are often unclear to readers– People skip questions or lie

Secondary Analysis

Basically is data that has been collected by other people and is ‘re-analyzed’

Advantages- Convenient and generally cheap- Generally longitudinal (over time) rather than cross

sectional (at a specific point)Disadvantages- Existing data is not what the researcher is looking for- Existing data is not easily accessible

Experiments A carefully controlled artificial situation that allows researchers to manipulate variables and measure the effects

Advantages- More controlled

environment- Can be replicated

Disadvantages- Expensive- Seen as artificial

Program Evaluation

Research that determines how “well” a program is working

• City Accessibility Study

• America’s Second Harvest

Triangulation Methods

• Using one type of research which counteracts the weak parts of other research methods

• Ex- surveys do not give in depth answers but interviews do so by using both surveys and interviews you are able to get a larger sample with more in depth information

****This is NOT in your book****

Section 2: Statistics

So what ‘technically’ is a statistic?

A set of procedures used by social scientists to organize, summarize, and communicate information

…..so what is data?Data is information which can be represented by

numbers

…..so what is empirical?Anything that can be measured

Be very very careful with statistics

Things to be VERY careful of• What are we actually measuring?• Who would benefit from this?• What is the source?• What was the ORIGINAL purpose?• Does this even sound right?• How do you define what you are looking at?

Operational Definition

The formal criterion for what a study is measuring

• This determines how something is measured- and ultimately the entire outcome of the research

• Ex. What is family? The operational definition of ‘family’ will greatly influence the results.

Misreading/Interpreting of Statistics

An Illustration

The Million Man March on Washington DC

October 16, 1995

How many people were at the “Million Man” march?

• March Organizers said 1,500,000- 2,000,000

• National Park Service Police said 400,000– That is 1 person per 3.6 square foot

• Boston University Research Team said 837,000– That is 1 person per 1.8 square foot

StalkingSource: Dr. Lowney and Dr. Best

• On January 1, 1998 at 9:00 a.m. a CNN anchor read a news story that said that, according to research, there were 20,000 stalkers in the country.

• At 10:00 a.m. the same anchor read the same story, only she made a verbal error and said “200,000 stalkers” instead of “20,000” stalkers.

• Associated Press publishes the 10:00 a.m. news stories from CNN, so they picked up the story and transmitted it as “fact” around the world on their news wire.

• And so a simple slip of the tongue (200,000 instead of 20,000) entered the literature.

The 200,000 statistic is now a part of most articles about stalking; it is even cited in FBI reports.

Simple Statistics

Measures of Central Tendency

Statistics that show what the ‘average’ tendencies of the data are

• Mode- Most common answer• Median- middle value• Mean- average

Mode- Most Common

Median- Divides the data into the lower 50% and the upper 50%

• Sally Jessy- 1• Jo Schmo- 1• Kristin Stewart- 2• Santa- 3• Logan- 4• Weber- 4• Tom Green- 5

Number of cars that people own

Mean

• Average– Add up every case– Divide by the total

number of cases

Number of Cars

Sally Jessy- 1Jo Schmo- 1Kristin Stewart- 2Santa- 3Logan- 4Weber- 4Tom Green- 5

Correlation• Positive and negative– Negative means it is a negative relationship– Positive means there is a positive relationship

• Range from 0 to 1– The closer to 1 the stronger the relationship is– 0-.3= weak, .3-.6= moderate, .6-1.0= strong– 0= no relationship

• +.36• -.78

2 quotes to remember

“Research is to see what everyone else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought”

- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

“Do not put your faith in what statistics say until you carefully consider what they do not say”

Questions?