Sociology Research Methods

Research technique that poses at least two people identical in nearly all respects to test whether discrimination occurs when one of the pair or teams presents themselves as potential tenants or employees

Any abstract characteristic or attribute that has the potential to be measured

The analysis of meanings in cultural artifacts such as books songs and other forms of cultural communication

A method of collecting data that can determine whether something actually causes something else

The degree of positive (direct) or negative (inverse) association between two variables

A table that shows how the categories of two variables are related

The systematic information that sociologists use to investigate research questions

The process by which sociologists organize collected data to discover what patterns and uniformities are revealed

A process whereby a researcher explains the true purpose of a research study to a subject

The process of creating a specific research question about a focused point based on a more general or universal principle

The variable that is a presumed effect

Research assessing the effect of policies and programs

Applying information obtained on a small sample of units to a larger population of the units

Effect of the research process itself on the groups or individuals being studied; hence the act of studying them often changes them

A statement about what one expects to find in research

A variable that is the presumed cause of a particular result

Something that points to or reflects the abstract concept

The process of arriving at general conclusions from specific observations

In covert participant observation research a single group member who provides inside information about the group being studied

A formal acknowledgment by research subjects that they understand the purpose of the research and agree to be studied

The sum of set values divided by the number of cases from which the values are obtained; an average

The midpoint in a series of values that are arranged in numerical order

The most frequently appearing score among a set of scores

A method whereby the sociologist becomes both a participant in the group being studied and a scientific observer of the group

The number of parts per hundred

A relatively large collection of people that a researcher studies and about which generalizations are made

Research that is somewhat less structured than quantitative research but that allows more depth of interpretation and nuance in what people say and do

Research that uses numerical analysis

A sample that gives everyone in the population an equal chance of being selected

Parts per some number (ex. per 10000)

The likelihood that a particular measure would produce the same results if that measure were repeated

Research that is repeated exactly but on a different group of people at a different point in time

The overall logic and strategy underlying a research project

Any subset of units from a population that a researcher studies

The steps in a research process including observation hypothesis testing analysis of data and generalization

Unanticipated yet informative results of a research study

A false correlation between X and Y produced by their relationship to some third variable (Z) rather than by a true causal relationship

The degree to which an indicator accurately measures or reflects a concept

Something that can have more than one value or score