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69 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Observation is
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the foundation of empirical research
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Observation is done through
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measurement
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Measurement is
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careful, deliberate observation of the real world to describe objects and events and processes
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How we measure affects our
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results
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Direct observables
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what you can see and record yourself; physical characteristics (sex, age) being observed
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Indirect observables
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think archives and secondary sources and retold information; characteristics of a person given in a self-administered questionaire
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Studying what you can't see
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how do you measure love and prejudice? You can't see it. Personal experience in defining constructs
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Constructs
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o How we measure what we can’t see.
o Level of alienation, as measured by a scale that is created by combining several direct and/or indirect observables. o Theoretical creations that are based on observations but that cannot be observed directly or indirectly. |
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personal experiences
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shape our social understandings of terms
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indicator
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an observation that we choose to consider as a reflection of a variable we wish to study. For example, attending religious services might be considered an indicator of religiosity.
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Identity as 3-dimensional construct
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cognitive (what to know)...behavioral (acting a certain way)..affective (how we feel about it)
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Let’s say we wish to measure TV violence in more than one way. We could operationally define
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Type of violence (sport vs torture)…Length of scene (time)…Victim reaction…Outcome of event
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Social scientists can measure anything that’s real through
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conceptualization and operationalization.
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Law of parsimony
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How much detail do I need? What range of variation am I measuring? Ask what you need—no more and no less. What is your research question?
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Operational definition
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defining terms until they work. specifies precisely how a concept will be measured. that is, the operations we will perform.
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Nominal/Categorical Definition
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one that is simply assigned to a term without any claim that the definition represents a “real” entity. They are arbitrary.
o Gender, religious affiliation, political party affiliation, birthplace, college major, and hair color. |
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Conceptual Definition
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produces a specific, agreed-on meaning for a concept for the purposes of research.
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Attributes
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characteristics or quality of an object or person
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Variable
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Logical set of attributes that vary across a population
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Ordinal
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Relative ranking among categories. Distance between scale points not known
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Interval
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Known distance between scale points. No absolute zero.
Distance in Fahrenheit and IQ scores. |
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Ratio
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Interval scale with absolute zero.
A level of measurement describing a variable with attributes that have all the qualities of nominal, ordinal, and interval measures and in addition are based on a “true zero” point. Age, number of times married |
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General rule: the higher the level of measurement
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the more sophisticated your statistics can be
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Population
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complete list of persons or objects we want to study.
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Sample
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a subset of population.
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Representativeness
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how closely a sample matches it's population in terms of the characteristics we want to study.
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Sampling error
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degree to which a sample's characteristics differ from the populations characteristics.
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Probability sampling
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more rigorous because it means every single person of the population has an equal chance of being part of that sample. when possible we do this.
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Non probability sampling
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- Reliance on available subjects: sometimes called “convenience” or “haphazard” sampling. Can provide useful insights but we must be careful not to overgeneralize from them. Does not give control over the representativeness of the sample.
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You want to be able to draw conclusions from your analysis that
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can be applied to the population of interest.
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Convenience sampling
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use who is most closely available as participants.
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Volunteer sampling
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students who get extra credit for participating in campus research projects (ethical issue).
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Purposive or quota sampling
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selecting a certain number of particular kind of people (proportions/types).
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Snowball sampling
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start with one participant and snowball out to include their references/friends.
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Systematic sampling
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choosing every nth person in a population when you know how many people you need to contact.
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Stratified random sampling
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dividing the population along a certain characteristic of interest to the research and then randomly sampling from each group.
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EPSEM: stands for equal probability of selection method.
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Each member of a population has the same chance of being selected into the sample.
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Cluster sampling
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random sampling of location...not the people themselves...then sampling people at that location.
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Multistage sampling
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used to deal with very large populations...when using a sampling frame is not feasible. Probably the most complex of probability sampling.
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What are the two most important ways that you find out health-related information?
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random digit dialing of all numbers to reach a specific ethnic group in a specific LA community and a nationwide survey conducted online with people who have been recruited by Knowledge.
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Why is random selection important
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increases our confidence that the sample we've collected is like the whole population
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Marriage in america: who conducted the study
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pew research center. Trusted research facility
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Marriage in america: who funded the study?
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pew charitable trusts
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Marriage in America: who else contributed to the research?
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academic experts
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Marriage in America: how was the population sampled
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gives dates...telephone survey of adults 18 and older
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What is the instrumental value of marriage in America
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common law marriage...health benefits...social recognition of marriage if you don't believe in it?
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Why definitions matter
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- replication: repeating a study and checking to see if the same results are produced each time.
- Allows other researchers to assess similarities and differences in findings with other research projects - can advance political arguments - determines the nature of possible responses |
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Conceptualization
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mental process whereby fuzzy and imprecise notions are made more specific and precise result is called a concept
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Dimension
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specific aspect of a concept (breaking it down into other dimensions)
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Specification
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process through which concepts are made more specific
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Validity
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a measure that accurately reflects the concept it is intended to measure
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Face validity
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quality of an indicator that makes it seem a reasonable measure of some variable.
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Criterion
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related validity
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Construct validity
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degree to which a measure relates to other variables as expected within a system of theoretical relationships
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Content validity
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a measure cover s the range of meaning included within a concept
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Vulnerable populations
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might be considered vulnerable when they have relatively less power in the broader political context as well as in the research process;making them more susceptible to exploitation ex. Prisons or psych wards;students and children;people with free material resources or social privileges
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Periodicity
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may limit the process if a potential pattern in the listing that would create a sample not typical of the population
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Focus groups
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may be selected purposively by the researcher
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Sampling bias
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that the people or texts constituting the research sample are not typical of the broader population they are meant to reflect.
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External validity
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relationship between the particular research project and the wider context in which it was conducted
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Research implementation
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the process of gathering and assessing data
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Participant observation
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might work directly with the research subjects or watch from a distance without engaging in the activities
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Interviewing
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subjects directly;whether through open-ended or more structured formats;can focus on individual informants or on groups;either through focus groups and shiz
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Assent
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consent given by an adult to children
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Public Space
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Researchers may believe they can ignore procedures toward ensuring informed consent when research subjects are in a public setting. Distinction between public and private space is not always clear ex. Internet forums and shiz like that
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Video cameras
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assessing visual as well as verbal cues
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Audiotape
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attention to inflection and most importantly would offer a complete record of each word said
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Consider how researchers have documents their observations
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using alternative approaches to documentation offered different kinds of information
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Action research
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research participants should have control over the purpose and process of the research;relative to the researchers
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