What is causality?
- The idea that a change in one factor results in a corresponding change in another factor
- must have THREE factors: correlation, time order, rule out all other factors
What are research methods?
The standard rules that social scientists follow when trying to establish a causal relationship between social elements.
What are QUANTITATIVE methods?
seek to obtain information about the social world that is in, or can be converted to, NUMERIC form
What are QUALITATIVE methods?
an attempt to collect information about the social world that CANNOT be readily converted to numeric form
What is a deductive approach?
- start with THEORY
- develop HYPOTHESIS
- make empirical OBSERVATIONS
- ANALYZE DATA collected through observation to confirm, reject, or modify the original theory
What is a inductive approach?
- start with EMPIRICAL OBSERVATION
* then work to FORM A THEORY
What is correlation?
When we observe change in two things simultaneously
What is causation?
When we prove that a change in one factor CAUSES the change in the other factor
What is a dependent variable?
- the outcome the researcher is trying to explain
* USUALLY ONLY ONE DEPENDENT VARIABLE
What is an independent variable?
- the measured factor that researchers believe has a causal impact on the dependent variable
- CAN HAVE ONE OR MORE INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
- Key- the most important independent variable
What is a hypothesis?
A proposed relationship between two variables
What is operationalization?
Process by which a researcher specifies the terms and methods he or she will use in a particular study
What are moderating variables?
Factors that affect the relationship BETWEEN the INDEPENDENT and DEPENDENT variables
What are mediating variables?
- Factors that are POSITIONED BETWEEN the independent and dependent variables
- DO NOT AFFECT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VARIABLES
What must the measures used to evaluate variables in a hypothesis be?
- valid and reliable
- outcomes must be generalizable to the larger population WITHOUT BIAS
- generalizations DO NOT make things valid
What is feminist methodology?
- treats women’s experiences as legitimate empirical and theoretical resources
- promotes social science that may bring about policy change to help women
- conscious of the role of the researcher as that of the subjects being studied
What are the types of data collection used in social research?
- participant observation
- interviews
- survey research
- historical methods
- comparative research
- experimentation
- content analysis
Who sets the codified standards that researchers must follow?
- professional associations
- academic institutions
- research centers
What must researchers guard against and how is this accomplished?
- researchers must guard against causing PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, and PSYCHOLOGICAL harm
- adhering to INFORMED CONSENT and VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION
