Introduction to Sociology Research Methods SOC MCC Introduction to Sociology Research Methods 1

How Research Filters Perception Y Values, Theories, Existing Research, Methods

6. Treat subjects ethically The Research Cycle Figure out what matters to you 2. Formulate a testable theory (a tentative explanation of a phenomenon) 8. Report results 3. Review existing literature 7. Analyze data 4. Select method(s) 6. Treat subjects ethically 5. Collect data

Research Ethics Respect your subjects’ right to safety. Do your subjects no harm and, in particular, give them the right to decide whether and how they can be studied. Respect your subjects’ right to informed consent. Tell subjects how the information they supply will be used and allow them to judge the degree of personal risk involved in supplying it. Respect your subjects’ right to privacy. Allow subjects the right to decide whether and how the information they supply may be revealed to the public. Respect your subjects’ right to confidentiality. Refrain from using information in a way that allows it to be traced to a particular subject. Do not falsify data. Report findings as they are, not as you would like them to be. Do not plagiarize. Explicitly identify, credit, and reference authors when making use of their written work in any form, including Web postings.

Sampling A sample is part of a group. A population is the entire group. A voluntary response sample is a group of people who chose themselves in response to a general appeal. A representative sample is a group is a group of people chosen so their characteristics closely match those of the population of interest. A convenience sample consists of people who are easiest to reach. If respondents are chosen at random and an individual’s chance of being chosen is known and greater than zero, the respondents constitute a probability sample. A sampling frame is a list of all the people in the population of interest. A randomizing method is a way of ensuring every person in the sampling frame has a known, equal, and non-zero chance of being selected.

Surveys A mail questionnaire is a form containing questions is mailed to the respondent and returned to the researcher through the mail system. The response rate is the number of people who answer the questionnaire divided by the number of people asked to do so, expressed as a percent. In a face-to-face interview survey, questions are presented to the respondent by the interviewer during a meeting. In a telephone survey, questions are presented to the respondent by the interviewer over the phone. A closed-ended question provides the respondent with a list of permitted answers. Open-ended questions allow respondents to answer questions in their own words.

Threats to Validity Undercounting occurs due to an imperfect sampling frame. Nonresponse occurs when respondents do not answer some or all questions. Response bias occurs when respondents do not answer questions completely accurately. To avoid wording effects, questions should be specific, simple and neutral, and they should focus on important, singular, current events.

Turning a Classroom into a Contingency Table (a cross-classification of cases by at least two variables) BACK more than 10 hours TV per week and no act of physical violence per year 10 or fewer hours TV per week and no act of physical violence per year LEFT RIGHT 10 or fewer hours TV per week and at least 1 act of physical violence per year more than 10 hours TV per week and at least 1 act of physical violence per year FRONT

Female/Male Earnings Ratio, Canada, 1967-2002 Female/male earnings ratio Full-time ratio = 1 in 2079, when today’s 19-year-old is 92 years old. Year and Status

Nuclear Family Decline: USA and Sweden, Early 1990s USA Sweden median age at first marriage men 26.5 29.4* women 24.4 27.1* percentage of 45-49 population never married men 5.7 15.4* women 5.1 9.1* nonmarital birth rate 25.7 50.9* 1-parent hshlds among all hshlds with children < 15 25.0* 18.0 % of mothers in labor force with children < 3 51.0 84.0* total fertility rate 2.0 2.0 average household size 2.7 2.2*

Child Well-Being: USA and Sweden, Early 1990s USA Sweden mean reading performance score at 14 5.1 5.3* % of children in poverty single-mother households 59.5 5.2* two-parent households 11.1 2.2* death rate of infants from abuse 9.8 0.9* suicide rate for children 15-19 (/100,000)11.1 6.2* juvenile delinquency rate (/100,000) 11 .6* 12.0 juvenile drug offence rate (/100,000) 558 241*