sociological investigationppt
TRANSCRIPT
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Sociological Investigation
The succeeding slides cannot be cited
or used as reference
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Basics of Sociological Investigation
Two simple requirements:
Apply the sociological perspective
Be curious and ask questions
we need to realize that there are various
kinds of truth
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Science is only one form of truth
Kind of knowing belief or faith Recognized by experts
Simple agreement among ordinary people
Peoples truths differ the world over, and we
often encounter facts at odds with our own,
Science is another form of truth
The wisdom of experts, and general agreement,scientific knowledge rests on empirical evidence
information we can verify with our senses.
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Common Sense vs. Scientific Evidence
Poor people are far more likely than rich
people to break the law
most poor people dont want to work
Differences in the behavior of females and
males are just human nature
Most people marry because they are in love More married men committed extra marital
affairs than single men
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Three Ways to Do Sociology
Positivist Sociology
Interpretative Sociology
Critical Sociology
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Positivist Sociology
According to Auguste Comte and Emile Durkheim,applied science to the study of society just as
natural scientists investigate the physical world.
Positivist sociology is the study of society based
on systematic observation of social behavior.
The approach to the world assumes that anobjective reality exists outthere.
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Concepts, Variables, and Measurement
Concepta mental construct that representssome part of the world in a simplified form.
Variableis a concept whose value changesfrom case to case.
Measurementa procedure for determiningthe value of a variable in a specific case.
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Descriptive Statistics average for a large
number of people.
Operationalize a variable by specifying exactly
what is to be measured before assigning a valueto a variable.
Reliability refers to consistency in measurement.
A measurement is reliable if repeatedmeasurements give the same results time aftertime.
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Validitymeans actually measuring exactly
what you intend to measure.
Relationships among variables: seeing how
variables are related. The scientific ideal is
cause and effect, a relationship in which
change in one variable causes change in
another.
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Correlation is a relationship in which two (or
more) variables change together.
To establish cause and effect, three
requirements must be met:
Demonstrated correlation
An independent variable that occurs before the
dependent variable
No evidence that a third variable could be causinga spurious correlation.
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The Ideal of Objectivity
Objectivity means personal neutrality in
conducting research. Objectivity means that
researchers carefully hold to scientific
procedures and do not let their own attitudes
and beliefs influence results.
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Max Weber expected that people would select
their research topics according to theirpersonal beliefs and interests.
Knowing that people select topics that arevalue-relevant, Weber urged researchers to be
value free in their investigations. Only by
controlling their personal feelings and
opinions can researchers study the world as it
is rather than tell how they think should be.
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Replication means repetition of research by
other investigators. If other researchersrepeat a study using the same procedures and
obtain the same results, we gain confidence
that the results are accurate.
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Limitations Of Scientific Sociology
Human behavior is too complex for
sociologists to predict any individuals action
precisely.
Because humans respond to their
surroundings, the presence of a researcher
may affect the behavior being studied.
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Social patterns vary; what is true in one time
or place many not hold true in another.
Because sociologist are part of the social
world they study, they can never be 100percent value free when conducting social
research.
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Interpretative Sociology
The study of society that focuses on the meaning
of people attach to their social world.
Max Weber, the pioneer of this framework,argued that the proper focus of sociology is
interpretation, or understanding the meaning that
people create in their everyday lives.
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Max Weber believed the key to interpretative
sociology lay in Verstehen, the german word
for understanding. The interpretativesociologist does not just observe what people
do but also tries to understand why they do it.
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Difference between Positivist and
Interpretative Sociology
Positivist Interpretative
Focuses on actionson
what people dobecause
that is what we can
observe directly.
Focuses on peoples
understanding of their
actions and their
surroundings.
Objective reality out
there,
The reality is subjective,
constructed by people inthe course of their
everyday lives.
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Positivist Interpretative
Tends to favor quantitative
datanumerical
measurements of peoples
behavior .
Favors qualitative data, or
researchers perceptions of
how people understand
their world.
Best suited to research in a
laboratory, where
investigators stand back
and take carefulmeasurements.
Learn more by interacting
with people, focusing on
subjective meaning, and
learning how they makesense of their every day
lives.
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Critical Sociology
Karl Marx, who founded the critical
orientation, rejected the idea that society
exists as a natural system with fixed order.
Critical Sociology is the study of society that
focuses on the need for social change.
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Importance of Change
Critical sociology does not reject science
completely, - they used scientific method to
learn about inequality. Critical sociology does
not reject the positivist claim that researchers
should try to be objective and limit their
work to studying the status quo.
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Marx, claims that the point of sociology is not
just to research the social world but to change
it in the direction of democracy and social
justice.
They often identify personally with their
research subjects and encourage them to help
decide what to study and how to do the work.
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Three Research Orientation in
SociologyPositivist Interpretative
Sociology
Critical Sociology
What is
reality?
Society is an orderly system.
There is an objective reality
outthere.
Society is ongoing
interaction.
People construct
reality as theyattach meanings
Society is patterns
of inequality.
Reality is that some
categories ofpeople dominate
others.
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Positivist Interpretative
Sociology
Critical Sociology
How do we
conduct
research?
Using a scientific
orientation, the researcher
carefully observes
behavior, gathering
empirical, ideally
quantitative data.
Research tries to be a
neutral observer.
Seeking to look
deeper than
outward behavior,
the researcher
focuses on
subjective meaning.The researcher
gathers qualitative
data, discovering
the subjective
sense people make
of their world.
Researcher is a
participant
Seeking to go
beyond positivisms
focus on studying
the world as it is,
the researcher is
guided by politicsand uses research
as a strategy to
bring about desired
social change.
Researcher is anactivist.
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Positivist Interpretative
Sociology
Critical Sociology
Correspondingtheoretical
approach
Structural-functionalapproach
Symbolicinteraction
approach
Social conflictapproach
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Gender and Research
1. Androcentricity (literally, focus on the
male) refers to approaching an issue from
male perspective.
2. Overgeneralizingthis problem occurs when
researchers use data drawn from people of
only one sex to support conclusion about
humanity or society.
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3. Gender Blindnessthis is failing to consider
gender.
4. Double standards: researchers must be
careful not to distort what they study byjudging men and women differently.
5. Interferencea subject reacts to the sex ofthe researcher, interfering with the research
operation.
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Basic Steps in Research
Selecting a topic
Defining the Problem
Reviewing the literature Formulating Hypothesis
Choosing a research method
Collecting the data
Analyzing the results
Sharing the results
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Methods of Sociological Research
Research method is a systematic plan fordoing research.
Four commonly used of sociologicalinvestigation:
Experiments
Surveys Participant observations
Use of existing data
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Testing a Hypothesis: Experiment
Experiment is a research method for
investigating cause and effect under highly
conditions.
Hypothesis a statement of a possible
relationship between two (or more) variables.
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Hawthorne Effect
Researcher need to be aware that subjects
behavior may change simply because they are
getting special attention, as one classic
experiment revealed.
Hawthorne Effect refers to a change in a
subjects behavior caused simply by the
awareness of being studied.
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Asking Questions: Survey Research
Survey is a research method in which subjects
respond to a series of statements or questions
on a questionnaire or in an interview.
Population , the people who are the focus of
research.
Sample, a part of a population that represents
the whole.
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Random Sampling, in which researchers draw
a sample from the population at random so
that every person in the population has an
equal chance of being selected. Themathematical laws of probability dictate that a
random sample is likely to represent the
population as a whole.
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Questionnaire is a series of written questions
a researcher presents to subjects.
Conducting Interview
Is a series of questions a researcher asks
respondents in person.
Types of Questionnaire
Closed ended format
Open ended format
Self administered survey
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In the Field: Participant
Observation
Participant Observation
A research method in which investigators
systematically observe people while joining
them in their routine activities.
Allows researchers an inside look at social
life in any natural setting, from a nightclub
to a religious seminary.
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Cultural anthropologists use participant
observation to study other societies, calling
this method fieldwork and their research
results an ethnography.
Participant observation may require that the
researcher enter the setting not just for a
week or two but for months or even years: at
the same time, however, the researcher must
maintain some distance as an observer,mentally stepping back or record field notes
and later to interpret them.
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Using Available Data: Existing
Sources
Not all research requires investigators to
collect their own data. Sometimes
sociologists analyze existing sources, data
already collected by others.
This approach has special appeal to
sociologists with low budgets. For anyone,
however, government data are generally moreextensive and more accurate than what most
researchers could obtain on their own.
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EXPERIMENT SURVEY PARTICIPANT
OBSERVATION
EXISTING SOURCES
APPLICATION For explanatory
research that specifies
relationships between
variables
Generates quantitative
data
For gathering
information about
issues that cannot be
directly observed, such
as attitudes and values.
Useful for descriptive
and explanatory
research.
Generates quantitative
or qualitative data.
For exploratory and
descriptive study of
people in a natural
setting
Generates qualitative
data.
For exploratory,
descriptive, or
explanatory research
whenever suitable data
are available.
ADVANTAGES Provides the greatest
opportunity to specifycause-and-effect
relationships.
Replication of research
is relatively easy
Sampling, using
questionnaires, allowssurveys of large
populations
Interviews provide in-
depth responses
Allows study of
natural behavior.Usually inexpensive
Saves time and expense
of data collection.Makes historical
research possible.
LIMITATIONS Laboratory settings
have an artificial quality.
Unless the research
environment is carefully
controlled, results may
be biased.
Questionnaires must be
carefully prepared and
may yield a low return
rate.
Interviews are
expensive and time-
consuming.
Time consuming
Replication of research
is difficult.
Researcher must be
balance roles of
participant and
observer.
Researcher has no
control over possible
biases in data.
Data may only partially
fit current research
needs.