1. Quick Introductions
● Name
● PGP
● Year at Wooster
● Major or possible major

2. Dalton Conley - Methods
Research Methods
Friday
1/20/12

3. Introduction
Conley opens with the story of Sudhir
Venkatesh's doctoral research in Chicago.
What is Conley trying to illustrate with this
story?

4. Research Methods Defined
"tools we use to describe, explore, and explain
various social phenomena in an ethical fashion"
(42)

5. Two Categories of Methods
● Quantitative Methods
● Qualitative Methods

6. Two Kinds of Reasoning
● Deductive approaches to research
● Inductive approaches to research
Discuss the flow chart on page 44

7. Correlation versus Causation
What does correlation mean?
What does causation mean?

8. Requirements for Causality
● Correlation
● TIme order
● Ruling out other explanations
What is a "spurious relationship"? (page 47)

9. Variables
● Dependent
● Independent
What is a hypothesis in social science
research?

10. Operationalization
What do we mean by this?

11. Operationalization
What do we mean by this?
● "The process of assigning a precise method for
measuring a term being examined for use in a
particular study" (48).

12. Operationalization
What do we mean by this?
● "The process of assigning a precise method for
measuring a term being examined for use in a
particular study" (48).
Discuss the example of the concept of
"poverty" that Conley uses (page 49).
What does he mean by "positive relationship" in
the alternative hypothesis example?

13. A Successful Operationalization
● Valid
● Reliable
● Generalizable

14. Researcher Effects
What does he mean by this?
What does the example of Mitchell Duneier's
research on sidewalk vendors illustrate for us?

15. Population and Sample
How do we define population?
What are examples Conley provides? (page
52)
So then what's a sample?

16. Power and Feminist Methods
Why does Conley address feminist methods in
his section on power?

17. Data Collection
● Participant observation
● Interviews
○ open-ended, semi-structured, and structured
● Survey research
○ GSS and panel study
● Historical
● Comparative
● Experimentation
● Content analysis
○ manifest and latent content

18. page 56

19. Ethics of Social Research
What are the three key principles of ethics in
research?

20. Ethics of Social Research
● Do no harm
● Informed consent
● Voluntary participation