Research Methods

1. faith - religious beliefs

2. consensus - based on what experts say

3. science

must be able to see it, measure it, and replicate it

personally experienced

things are considered to be real because everyone agrees they’re real

median between experiential and agreement realities

-must be logical

-must be empirical

predicting behavior

hard sciences; future circumstances are caused by present ones (a causes b)

effects occur more often, but not always (more likely to happen, not 100%)

1. tradition - “things that everyone knows”

   1. authority (consensus) - relying on experts

mistakes made when finding research

(error) sloppy observers

-solution: make observation a conscious activity

(error) only making a few observations and assuming all interviewed people represent the whole population

-leads to selective observation: only paying attention to info that supports hypothesis

-solution: predetermine the # of people that you’re going to interview

(error) making up what you want to hear

-leads to ex post facto hypothesizing: hypothesis isn’t supported

-when research switches hypothesis, it’s okay

-solution: don’t lie

(error)

-ex. gambler’s fallacy

(error) whenever researchers become so involved, that it becomes personal

-solution: replication

(error) stop researching too soon

-solution: never stop researching

(error) the belief that we can’t understand everything

-bad because when something is mystified, research stops

1. theory - logical aspect of research (what you expect)

2. research method - observational aspect (what you observe)

   1. stats - compare what you observed with what you expected

if there is social regularity, there’s predictability and we can study scientifically

-triviality: why study information we already know

-exceptions: particular cases are not significant overall

-people interfering with research: compensate for this with large sample size

people in the same place at the same time

a description; the specifics or details (69 years old)

logical groupings of attributes (age)

-independent: has an effect on the dependent variable and manipulated in an experiment

-dependent: affected by the independent variable

variables go in the same direction

variables go in opposite directions

no correlation

1. to test theories that are already in existence

2. to explore unstructured interests

3. applied research: when you gather data for a client

   1. involuntary research: research done under external pressure (class projects)

a very large thing that encompasses a lot of information

a part of a theory that is removed and subjected to measure

game plan; how do you plan to test this

*must operationalize variables

system of logic;

-you go from the general to the particular

-you go from theory to observation

-you reason toward observation

-it tests theories

system of logic;

-you go from the particular to the general

-you go from observation to theory

-you reason from observation

-you develop theories

when you allow your personal feelings to get involved

*can’t do

you do not allow personal feelings to get involved

*trying to reach

all cultures have it

structural-functional: society is structured and everything has a function

conflict: Marx; money and power

symbolic interaction: we create reality and reality is created for us

psychoanalytic: Freud; you do not have free will, you are controlled by your unconscious

-human nature is bad

behaviorism: you do not have free will, your environment controls you

-human behavior is neutral

humanism: you do have free will

-you’re a good person, and when left alone you’ll do great things

things we study;

1. individuals

2. groups - results from individuals averaged together into one measure

3. organization - businesses

   1. social artifacts - inanimate objects

characteristics, orientations, actions

ecological fallacy: you say it’s individuals, but it’s actually groups (all you’ve looked at are groups) ex. everyone who wears glasses have a high IQ

reductionism: you limit yourself to only one range of causes

you study different groups of people at the same time

-advantages: quick and dirty research

-disadvantages: don’t control for cohort (time period/age) differences

take place over time

type of longitudinal study; study changes with a general population over time

type of longitudinal study; studies different age groups

type of longitudinal study; uses the same people over and over again

same people at different times

panel and cross sequential studies: subjects become test why’s (same inventory results in participants knowing what the study wants) and people either drop out or die

things we observe directly

a check in a box in a questionnaire (or telling in an interview)

*not on test

consistency

-ask only what people know

-ask about relevant things

-ask clearly

-test retest method: make same measurement twice

-established measures

-research worker reliability: want your research workers doing the exact same thing

quality of measurement

measuring what you want to measure

how much do your results apply to the outside world