Sociological
Research
How do sociologists study social behavior?
Sociological Research
• Can a devout Catholic study abortion without being influenced
by his/her religion?
• Answer is yes. It is possible by following sociological
research/scientific method.
The Sociological Research
Process
• Quantitative Research- has the goal of objectivity and data
that can be measured
-typically relies on complex statistical techniques (think
numbers- quantity)
• -example: statistically examining the relationships among church
memberships, divorce and migration, and the impact of suicide rates
• Qualitative Research- relies on interpretation and description
of underlying meanings and patterns of social relationships
(think open-ended subjective questions)
• -example: analyzing the content of suicide notes, asking people
about their lives and general reactions
Deductive v Inductive
Approaches to Research
• Deductive- the researcher begins with a theory and generates
hypotheses which leads to data gathering, then
generalizations, and then to support or refutation of the
theory
• Inductive- the researcher collects information, creates a
generalization, the generalization is then used to create a
theory that is then tested through the formation of
hypotheses
Theory gives meaning to research---research helps support
theory
Divorce in America
Correlations
• Sociologists are interested in finding correlations between two
variables.
EXAMPLES
• What is the correlation between student perceptions of the
teacher and grades?
• What is the correlation between a parent’s education level
and what level classes their children take in school?
• What is the correlation between your income level and your
geographic location?
• What is the correlation between religious views and political
beliefs?
Correlations Continued
• What is the correlation between divorce rates and the state of
the economy?
• What is the correlation between your family’s income and
your grades?
• What is the correlation between gender and pay?
• What is the correlation between a nation’s overall wealth and
the gap between the rich and poor?
• What is the correlation between political views and gender?
• What is the correlation between geographic location and
race?
• What is the correlation between language and race?
• What is the correlation between age and musical preferences?
Sociological Research Methods
• Naturalistic Observations- Observing people in their natural
environments (aka field research)
• Surveys- polls that gather facts or determine relationships
among facts
• Experiments- in which subjects are exposed to an
independent variable to determine how this impacts a
dependent variable
Classifying Research
Opportunities
• You will each receive a slip of paper with a research
opportunity listed. Your job is to determine which research
method would be the most suitable. Be ready to read your slip
aloud and justify your choice.
•
•
•
•
Naturalistic Observation
Survey
Experiment
Impossible/Impractical to research using sociological methods
Survey
• Is a poll in which the researcher gathers facts of
attempts to determine relationships among facts
• How to collect data?
• Survey—Questionnaire and Interview
• Decide on a population and select a sample
• Random sampling- every member of a population has the
same chance of being selected
• Probability sampling- people are chosen because they have
certain characteristics
Strengths and weaknesses?
Field Research
• Is the study of social life in its natural setting: observing and
interviewing people where they live, work, and play.
• Qualitative data oriented
• Case studies
• Ethnography- is a detailed study of the life and activities of a
group of people by researchers who may live with that group
over a period of years
• Interviews
Strengths and weaknesses?
Experiments
Are carefully designed situations in which the researcher
studies the impact of certain variables on subjects’
attitudes and behaviors
• Experimental group (expose independent variable) vs. control
group (withhold independent variable)
• Follow the scientific method
• Hypothesis
• Variables
• Independent
• Dependent variables
Use existing sources• Secondary analysis—use previously collected data
• Content analysis—analyze your results
Steps of Sociological Research
• The scientific method involves eight basic steps:
1) Observation of an event that stimulates thinking.
2) Defining or classifying the terms or events being
considered.
3) Formulating the research issue or hypothesis.
4) Generating a theory or proposition - a general
statement that serves as a potential answer to the
research question.
5) Creating a research design in order to test
whether the theory or proposition is valid.
6) Collecting data-working through the research
design to make observations.
7) Analyzing the data
8) Making conclusions and evaluating the theory.
Example 1…
Sociology Question- What causes people to commit suicide?
DURKHEIM’S SUICIDE STUDY
•
DEFINING THE PROBLEM: WHAT ARE THE SOCIAL
PATTERNS RELATED TO SUICIDE?
1.
2.
3.
WHAT COUNTED AS SUICIDE?
WHEN AND WHERE ARE SUICIDE MOST COMMON?
WHAT SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS DO SUICIDE VICTIMS
SHARE?
Sociologist Emile
Durkheim
WHAT IS THE
INDEPENDENT
VARIABLE(S) IN
DURKHEIM’S
STUDY?
• TIME OF DAY
• GEOGRAPHY
• RACE
• GENDER
• SEASON
• MEDIA
• WHAT IS THE
DEPENDENT
VARIABLE(S) IN
DURKHEIM’S
STUDY?
• THE SUCIDE RATE
• THIS IS
INFLUENCED BY
THE
INDEPENDENT
VARIABLES
IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN THE TWO?
•GPA AND HOURS SPENT
STUDYING
•GPA AND ABSENTEEISM
•GPA AND HAIR COLOR
RELATIONSHIPS OF
VARIABLES
• DIRECT RELATIONSHIP: BOTH VARIABLES
INCREASE; BOTH VARIABLES DECREASE.
• INVERSE RELATIONSHIP: THE VALUE OF ONE
VARIABLE INCREASES AS THE VALUE OF THE
OTHER DECREASES.
• NULL HYPOTHESIS: THERE IS NO RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN VARIABLES.
REVIEWING THE LITERATURE
STEP 2
• WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT SUICIDE?
• VICTIMS OF SUICIDE WERE ASSUMED TO BE
DEPRESSED, MENTALLY ILL, OR STRICKEN WITH
UNBEARABLE LOSS.
• ARE THERE DIFFERENT RATES OF SUICIDE IN
DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, SEASONS, AND
DIFFERENT SOCIAL GROUPS? DURKHEIM WOULD
TEST THIS SUSPICION.
HYPOTHESIS
STEP 3
DURKHEIM’S STUDY: THE MORE INTEGRATED PEOPLE ARE INTO
THEIR SOCIAL GROUPS, THE LESS LIKELY THEY ARE TO COMMIT
SUICIDE
CHOOSING A RESEARCH
DESIGN
STEP 4
•
DATA: FACTS, STATISTICS, STUDY RESULTS
•
HOW WILL YOU MEASURE (OBSERVE) THE DIFFERENT
VARIABLES?
•
TWO VARIABLES:
1) DEGREE OF INTEGRATION
2) RATE OF SUICIDE
CHOOSING A RESEARCH
DESIGN
STEP 4
•
DATA: FACTS, STATISTICS, STUDY RESULTS
•
HOW WILL YOU MEASURE (OBSERVE) THE DIFFERENT
VARIABLES?
•
TWO VARIABLES:
1) DEGREE OF INTEGRATION
2) RATE OF SUICIDE
INDICATORS
• DURKHEIM DEVELOPED
CAN BE MEASURED
AN OPERATIONAL
EMPIRICALLY IN ORDER
DEFINITION USING THE
TO GATHER
FOLLOWING INDICATORS
INFORMATION ABOUT
TO MEASURE SOCIAL
AN ABSTRACT VARIABLE INTEGRATION:
WHAT IS THE ABSTRACT
VARIABLE IN
DURKHEIM’S STUDY?
1.MARITAL STATUS
2.CHURCH INVOLVEMENT
COLLECTING THE DATA
• DURKHEIM RELIED ON GOVERNMENT RECORDS
THAT LISTED CAUSES OF DEATH.
• DURKHEIM ALSO USED RECORDS THAT LISTED
THE NUMBER OF SUICIDES AND GAVE STATISTICS
ABOUT THE VICTIMS: THEIR AGE, MARITAL
STATUS, NATIONALITY, RELIGION.
WHAT WAS THE POTENTIAL PROBLEM OF DOING
THIS?
DURKHEIM’S FINDINGS
• THE MORE SOCIALLY INTEGRATED ONE IS, THE LESS LIKELY
ONE IS TO COMMIT SUICIDE.
• WHAT TYPE OF RELATIONSHIP EXISTS BETWEEN THE TWO
VARIABLES?
Strengths and weaknesses of
experiments
• A.) advantages include the high degree of control, the low
cost, small numbers of subjects, and the ability to replicate
many times
• B.) disadvantages include artificiality, a less communal
approach to data gathering, biases on the part of the
reseracher, and subject reactivity
• Hawthorne Effect- is an example of how subjects react to
their knowledge of being studied.
Can you think of situations in which your behavior changed
because you knew you were being observed?
CHALLENGES IN DOING RESEARCH
• RELIABILITY
• VALIDITY
• SPECIFYING THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN VARIABLES
• PEOPLE ARE NOT REDUCIBLE TO
SIMPLE CAUSE-AND-EFFECT
EQUATIONS
VALIDITY
• THE DEGREE TO WHICH A STUDY MEASURES WHAT IT IS
ATTEMPTING TO MEASURE
• MEASURING SOCIAL INTEGRATION BY USING INDICATORS LIKE
MARRIAGE RATES
• MIGHT THE DATA BE DISTORTED? READ PAGE 36
RELIABILITY
•
THE DEGREE TO WHICH A STUDY YIELDS
THE SAME RESULTS WHEN REPEATED BY
THE ORIGINAL RESEARCHER OR BY
OTHERS
•RELIABILITY OR VALIDITY?
1.BATHROOM SCALE
2.GPA AS AN INDICATOR OF
INTELLIGENCE
Sociological Research
• The best way to conduct sociological research is to
triangulate- meaning to combine more than one method
• Ethics of sociological research—code of ethics
•
•
•
•
•
Objectivity/integrity
Privacy/confidentiality
Avoid harm to subjects
Informed consent
Disclose
Example #2- The Kinsey
Report
• What
• Alfred Kinsey was a zoologist
who studies flies and wasps.
• Kinsey began to investigate
human sexual behavior with
the same fervor he had
formerly invested in the gall
wasp.
The Kinsey Report
• In an era when masturbation,
contraception, and premarital
sex were widely considered
sins, Kinsey's work sparked a
revolution in attitudes toward
sex by showing that even far
more scandalous practices -extramarital affairs,
homosexuality, and so forth -were commonplace.
• For many Americans, his
findings were liberating. For
others, they were filthy lies that
threatened to undermine the
moral fiber of the nation.
The Kinsey Scale
Problems with Kinsey’s
Research Methods
• 1.Sampling. Kinsey relied on what we
today call a "convenience sample" of
respondents. He and his colleagues
interviewed accessible volunteers rather
than a randomized and representative
sample of the American population. About
one third of Kinsey's respondents had a
known "sexual bias." They were
prostitutes, members of secretive
homosexual communities, patients in
mental hospitals, residents of homes for
unwed mothers, and the like. Two thirds of
these people were convicted felons. Five
percent were male prostitutes. But even if
we eliminate respondents with a "sexual
bias" we do not have a representative
sample. For example, 84 percent of the
men without a "sexual bias" went to
college. Most of them were from the
Midwest, especially Indiana. In Kinsey's
defense, scientific sampling was in its
infancy when he did his research. Still, we
are obliged to conclude that it is difficult to
generalize from Kinsey's work because his
sample is unrepresentative.
Problems with Kinsey’s Report
• 2.Questionnaire design. Kinsey required
that his interviewers memorize long
questionnaires including 350 or more
questions. He encouraged them to adapt
the wording and ordering of the questions
to suit the "level" of the respondent and
the natural flow of conversation that
emerged during the interview. Yet much
research now shows that even subtle
changes in question wording and ordering
can produce sharply different results. A
question about frequency of masturbation
per month yields means between 4 and
15 depending on how the question is
phrased. To avoid such problems, modern
researchers prefer standardized
questions. They also prefer questionnaires
considerably briefer than Kinsey's because
asking 350 questions can take hours and
often results in "respondent fatigue," a
desire on the part of respondents to offer
quick and easy answers (as opposed to
considered, truthful responses) so they
can end the interview as quickly as
possible.
Problems with Kinsey’s Report
• 3.Interviewing. People are generally
reluctant to discuss sex with strangers,
and Kinsey and his associates have often
been praised for making their
respondents feel at ease talking about the
most intimate details of their personal
life. Yet to establish rapport with
respondents, Kinsey and his colleagues
did not remain neutral. They expressed
empathy with the pains and frustrations
many respondents expressed, often
reassuring them that their sexual histories
were normal and decent. Today,
researchers frown upon any departure
from neutrality in the interview situation
because it may influence respondents to
answer questions in a less than truthful
way. The reassurance and empathy
expressed by Kinsey and his associates
may have led some respondents to offer
exaggerated reports of their behavior.
Problems with Kinsey’s Report
• 4.Data analysis. It is unclear how
Kinsey decided whether the effect of
one variable on another was
significant. He rarely used statistical
tests for this purpose. He never
introduced control variables to see if
observed associations between
variables were spurious. Moreover, he
saw no problem in lumping together
data collected over decades. Yet
between 1938, when Kinsey started
collecting data, and 1953, the year in
which his second book was published,
the United States experienced
unprecedented social change fueled by
depression and boom, war and peace.
Sexual attitudes and behavior
undoubtedly changed, and one may
wonder whether it is meaningful to
analyze respondents from the late 30s
and the early 50s together.
• Since Kinsey, researchers have conducted more than 1,000
surveys of human sexual behavior. Today, using modern
research methods, we are able to describe and explain sexual
behavior more accurately and insightfully than did Kinsey and
his pioneering colleagues.
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
• You have TWO options- PICK ONLY ONE
• 1. The Helping Experiment (for more extroverted kids)- Field
work
• 2. Survey- Making (for more introverted kids)
Option One: Field Work
Assignment
The Helping Experiment
This experiment explores whether attachments between people
affect whether help is offered. Two people are attached to each
other when they like each other or when they have affection for
each other. Sociologists consider attachments crucial for social
life and have explored their importance in many areas of social
behavior.
The Experiment
Decide on some objects to be dropped such as books,
notebooks, coins, or whatever. Several or more items should be
dropped.
Drop the objects in front of a stranger as the stranger passes bt.
Do so in a way that appears natural.
• Record whether the stranger helps you pick up the dropped
items.
• Drop the same objects in front of a friend. Do so in a way that
appears natural.
• Record whether your friend helps you.
• Bring your results to be combined with the results from your
classmates.
Option Two: Survey Making
• You will work by yourself or with a partner to make a survey
using all the tips you learned today.
• I will need to approve of your topic first.
• Your sample will be the Social Studies Dept here at MHS.
There are 20 teachers.
• Think about making a survey that gets at a correlation
between two variables. Come up with a hypothesis.
• For example: Hypothesis- Social Studies teachers were high achieving
students in their high school Social Studies classes.
• Example #2: Hypothesis- Social Studies teachers come from upper
middle class backgrounds.
Next class
• I will group you with other students based on the option you
selected and you will compile your data.