SOSA 2008

• Logical fallacy
• Purpose of a study

  • Exploration
  • Description
  • Explanation
• Middle-range theory


  Focuses on specific aspects of social life and can be tested via hypothesis
• Positivist


  Social science is seen as the same as natural science research
• Agency


  One's ability to make their own choices
• Deductive approach


  From abstract theory to concrete evidence
• Idiographic


  Focuses on descriptions and specific details about settings
• Harm to participants

  • Legal
  • Physical
  • Psychological
• Ordinary explanation


  Clarifying or describing something to illustrate it
• Ontology


  How we understand the nature of reality
• Conditions of causality

  • Temporal order
  • Association
  • Elimination of alternatives
• The literature review includes key findings, methods, hypothesis
• Scales


  Usually ordinal, common to measure opinion, used in surveys, Likert scale most common
• Interpret approach


  Human life is different than natural science
• Empirical generalization


  A statement that summarizes findings based on evidence
• Inductive approach


  From detailed observations to abstract ideas
• Types of research

  • Cross-sectional research - a single point in time or snapshot approach
  • Longitudinal research - examines people or units at multiple points in time
  • Time series studies - different people studied at different times
  • Cohort studies - same people studied at different periods who share a common experience
  • Case studies - a small number of cases over time
• Epistemology


  How we know what we know
• Steps in the research study

  1. Pick a topic

  2. Focus question

  3. Design a study

  4. Collect data

  5. Analyze data

  6. Interpret data

  7. Inform others
• Conflict theory


  Society is made up of groups with opposing views
• Structure

  Factors that may limit someone's ability to make choices
• Temporal order - the cause must happen before the effect
• Causal explanation

  Explaining why things occur in terms of cause and effect
• Meta-analysis - a quantitative review of already existing evidence
• Index

  Ranks several different dimensions
• Levels of measurement

  • Nominal
  • Ordinal
  • Interval
  • Ratio