Research methods

• What does PETS stand for in research methods?

  Practical, ethical and theoretical issues
• What are practical issues in research?

  Factors like time, cost, and location
• What are ethical issues in research?

  Risks, privacy, and confidentiality concerns
• What are theoretical issues in research?

  Validity, reliability, and representativeness
• What does reliability refer to in research?

  Consistent results across different researchers
• What does validity indicate in research findings?

  Whether findings represent a true picture
• What does representative mean in research?

  A typical cross-section of the population
• What is positivism in research?

  A preference for quantitative and objective methods
• What is interpretivism in research?

  A preference for qualitative and subjective methods
• What is quantitative data?

  Information in numerical form, like statistics
• What is qualitative data?

  In-depth information usually in written form
• What is informed consent in research?

  Agreement from subjects after explaining the study
• What does harm to subjects refer to in research ethics?

  Research must not harm participants
• What are laboratory experiments?

  Experiments with closely controlled variables
• What are social surveys?

  Asking participants questions in questionnaires
• What is participant observation?

  Sociologist joins the group being studied
• What are official statistics?

  Statistics produced by the government
• What are documents in research?

  Letters, emails, diaries, and reports
• What is primary data?

  Information collected first-hand by the researcher
• What is secondary data?

  Information collected by someone else
• What is an experimental group?

  Group exposed to the independent variable
• What is a control group?

  They are not exposed to the independent variable and their conditions are kept the same.
• What is the Hawthorne effect?

  Subjects act differently when aware of study
• What is an artificial environment in research?

  A setting not in real-life conditions
• What are leading questions?

  Questions that influence respondent answers
• What are open-ended questions?

  Questions allowing free-form responses. They are used in qualitative data.
• What are closed-ended questions?

  Questions with limited answer choices> They are used in quantitative data.
• What is the expectancy effect?

  Researcher expectations affect experiment outcomes
• What does going native mean in research?

  Researcher becomes too involved in the group
• What is objectivity in research?

  Where the sociologist is impartial and unbiased. They don't let their own opinions and views influence the research.
• What is subjectivity in research?

  Where the sociologist is influenced by personal feelings for their research.
• What is a population in research?

  The entire group of people that researchers may want to study.
• What is sampling?

  The process of selecting a group of people from the population to be studied.
• What is a sampling frame?

  A list of the population to be studied and from where the sample is chosen.
• What is random sampling?

  A sample where each member has equal chance
• What is systematic sampling?

  Selecting every nth element in the population
• What is stratified sampling?

  Dividing population and taking proportionate samples
• What is quota sampling?

  Sampling a certain quantity with specific characteristics
• What is snowball sampling?

  Informants provide contacts for further sampling
• What is a volunteer sample?

  People willing to participate in a study