Vermette - PP - Chapter 2 - Sociological thinking and research

Asking and Answering Chapter 2
Sociological Questions
Introduction to Sociology
Ninth Edition
Anthony Giddens, Mitchell Duneier,
Richard P. Appelbaum, & Deborah Carr

Asking and Answering Sociological
Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company
Questions
2
• Sociology is:
– (a) a pseudoscience.
– (b) a science like the natural sciences.
– (c) a science unlike the natural sciences.

Learning Objectives
3
• Basic Concepts
– Learn the steps of the research process and be able to
complete the process yourself
– Name the different types of questions sociologists address
in their research—factual, theoretical, comparative, and
developmental
• Asking and Answering Sociological
Questions: Historical Context
– Contrast Park’s and Ogburn’s visions of sociology as a
science
– Understand their influence on contemporary sociological
research

Learning Objectives
• Asking and Answering Sociological
Questions Today: The Research Process
– Familiarize yourself with the methods available to
sociological researchers and know the advantages and
disadvantages of each
• Unanswered Questions
– See how research methods generate controversies and
ethical dilemmas for sociologists
Copyright © 2014, W.W. Norton & Company 4

Basic Concepts
• Eight stages in the research process
– 1. Defining the research process
–What are the gaps in our understanding
about the topic?
–What puzzles haven’t been solved?

Basic Concepts
6
– 2. Reviewing the evidence
–What questions have been raised?
– How have others approached the problem?
– 3. Making the problem precise
– Formulating hypothesis that are testable

Basic Concepts
7
– 4. Working out a design
– Deciding what method (surveys, interviews,
participant observation, etc.) works best
– 5. Carrying out the research
–Gathering facts and data according to the
research design
– Dealing with unanticipated problems

Basic Concepts
8
– 6. Interpreting the results
– Answering initial questions
– Evaluating hypotheses
– 7. Reporting the findings
– Research reports, articles, books
– 8. Repeat

Basic Concepts
9

10
• Sociologists explore four types of
questions:
• Factual or empirical
• Comparative
• Developmental
• Theoretical

11
• Sociology at the University of Chicago,
beginning in the 1920s, was extremely
influential in shaping the discipline.
• Robert Park focused on interviews and
firsthand observations.
• William Ogburn suggested that sociology
should be more scientific and rely on
statistics.

12
• Ethnography
– Participant observation, interviews
– Generates rich, deep data
– Typically not generalizable

• Surveys
– Generate a lot of data from large
numbers of people
– Appropriate for statistical analysis
– Random sampling of the population to
generate a sample, thus improving
ability to generalize

• Surveys
– Can be superficial
– May lead to inaccurate results

• Experiments
– Control conditions to establish cause
and effect
– Hard to replicate findings from
controlled settings in natural settings

• Comparative Research
– Comparison of behaviors, attitudes, or
other aspects of social life across time,
place, or group
– Use any of the other research methods to
gather data for making comparisons

Unanswered Questions
20
• Understanding Cause and Effect of
Social Context
– Correlation is not the same as causation
– Variables may be related to each other
but not responsible for change in
another

21
• Human Subjects and Ethical
Dilemmas
– Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)
– Research must conform to ethical guidelines
– Acquire informed consent
– Minimize invasions of privacy
– Minimize risks to participants
– Ensure confidentiality
– Avoid deception

22
• Can We Really Study Human Social
Life in a Scientific Way?
– Sociology is a science guided by a
theoretical approach and based on
empirical investigation

Concept Quiz
23
What is one major difference between
natural sciences and social sciences like
sociology?
(a) The natural sciences do not include humans as the
subject of their studies.
(b) The findings in social science are never certain, whereas
natural scientists are able to discover indisputable facts.
(c) Social sciences require a more careful negotiation of the
issues of influence, power, and subjectivity than do most
natural sciences.

Concept Quiz
24
What is the definition of a hypothesis?
(a) a conclusion regarding a given state of affairs
that is informed by the results of the scientific
process
(b) an idea or guess about a given state of affairs put
forward as the basis for empirical testing
(c) a secondary argument put forth in a scientific
report that supports the main argument being made

Concept Quiz
25
Which of the following research methods is
most suitable to the way that Robert Park
envisioned sociology?
(a) experiments
(b) surveys
(c) interviews
(d) ethnography

Concept Quiz
26
In survey research, ___ is one of the best
ways to ensure conclusions can be
generalized to the whole ___ .
(a) random sampling; population
(b) a pilot study; scientific community
(c) statistics; sample
(d) a questionnaire; country

Concept Quiz
27
A study of the influence of family income on
educational achievement finds a correlation
coefficient of 0.4 between income and number of
years of higher education achieved. What is one
possible conclusion of this study?
(a) Family income is not a significant factor in educational
achievement.
(b) While a low income adversely affects the likelihood of
achieving a higher education, other factors might as well.
(c) Having a low income is the single most important factor in
why poor people are unable to acquire higher education.
.

Concept Quiz
28
What is the primary role of theory in
scientific research?
(a) It helps to explain empirical observations.
(b) It helps differentiate between real facts and
opinions.
(c) It helps to disprove hypotheses.
(d) It allows researchers to make conclusions about
the world even when empirical data is not available.

Discussion Question: Thinking
Sociologically
29
Suppose the dropout rate in your local high
school increased dramatically. Faced with
such a serious problem, the school board
offers you a $500,000 grant to study the
sudden increase. Following the
recommended procedures outlined in the
text, explain how you would conduct your
research. What hypotheses might you test?
How would you prove or disprove them?

Discussion Question: Thinking
Sociologically
Explain the advantages and disadvantages of
documentary research. What will it yield that
will be better than experimentation, surveys,
and ethnographic fieldwork? What are its
limitations compared with those approaches?

This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint
presentation for Chapter 2

Vermette - PP - Chapter 2 - Sociological thinking and research

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