a. The detailed study of a subject
Social scientists are realistic in their ontology. What does it mean regarding their conception of knowledge?
A sociologist wants to study racial discrimination in hiring, and decides to either distribute a survey asking employers about their hiring methods, or conduct an experiment that involves sending fake resumes to employers to see who gets an interview.
When the sociologist is asked to teach an ethnography class, she hangs out with the students and teaches them more about ethnography in a small group setting. She quickly begins to see many of the group members as her friends, and participates in social events with them.
An observer takes notes on the nonverbal behavior of members of a focus group for car commercials.
A sociologist begins participant observation of a group of community college students in the hopes that she can learn more about how young people form new relationships. This group of students is diverse in terms of race, gender, and age. When the sociologist is asked to teach an ethnography class, she hangs out with the students ...
Values and norms are widely shared and agreed upon; they contribute to social stability by reinforcing common bonds and constraining individual behavior.
Culture acts as a lens through which individuals view the world.
Survey research often doesn't capture a full range of expression from the respondents. Survey research may have low validity because respondents are dishonest. Survey respondents are sometimes difficult to talk to and other times try too hard to be helpful. Survey research has low reliability.
Social science research studies human behavior. Social science research is focused on finding reasons for human behavior. Social science research is conducted using the scientific method: ask a question, form a hypothesis, conduct empirical research, draw a conclusion, and evaluate the conclusion. Fields of study in which social science research is ...
Fields of study in which social science research is used include political science, anthropology, and sociology. Learning Outcomes. Look over the lesson on social science research in great detail so that you can be certain of your ability to: Realize the importance of social science research.
Through scientific study, social science research seeks to understand the hows and whys of human behavior.
Correlational research examines the relationships, if any, between variables. For our example, we might find that younger drivers have an increased rate of accidents while texting and driving. This would show a correlation between age and rate of accidents.
After a research question is determined, social science researchers must form a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an educated guess regarding what the researchers expect to find. Usually, social science researchers base their hypotheses on previous research in the field. In the case of our texting and driving example, ...
Experimental research manipulates variables to measure changes in other variables. More specifically, social science researchers manipulate the independent variable to see how that manipulation changes the dependent variable. For our example, experimental research might compare accident rates in those who text and drive versus those who do not text and drive. The behavior of texting and driving would be the independent variable while the outcome (accident or no accident) would be the dependent variable.
This can be done through descriptive research, experimental research, or correlational research. Descriptive research describes a behavior. In our example, descriptive research might describe commonalities among those who are most likely to text and drive.