Theory and Paradigms
Contrast inductive and deductive research approaches.
Deductive starts with a theory, then creates a hypothesis, and finally collects data. Inductive collects data, identifies shared themes, and finally, forms a theory.
Explain the relationship between the independent and dependent variable.
The independent variable influences or effects the dependent variable in some way (could be causal or spurious)
What type of study observes units of analysis at one point in time?
cross-sectional
In a given school, the average final exam test score was higher in classrooms with more small group activities than those with a lecture teaching style. What is the unit of analysis here?
Classroom
What are three types of reliability and what do they test?
Inter-rater: two different observers/research assistants should come to the same conclusion when collecting data (often in interview or observation setting)
Internal consistency: All questions on your measurement tool should get at the same concept
Test-retest: A participant should get the same results if they fill out a measurement tool multiple times at different points in time
Critical race theory and feminist theory are examples of which of the four sociological paradigms?
Conflict theory
This variable is caused by the independent variable and explains the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable.
Mediator.
What’s the difference between quantitative and qualitative data and what’s one data source for each?
Quantitative: Involves numbers, quantifying things. Example data source: medical records, surveys
Qualitative: Involves text, non-numeric data
Example: interviews, focus groups
(examples can be intermixed)
What kind of variable is a traditional Likert scale (ratio, interval, ordinal, nominal)?
What kind of variable is a list of student id's?
What kind of variable is number of points won in Jeopardy?
Ordinal
Nominal
Ratio
What are the differences between face validity, construct validity, and predictive validity?
Face validity: is your measurement intuitively related to the thing you want to measure?
Construct validity: Does your measure measure the concept you want to? Is it similar/related to things that it should be -- other measure that also measure that concept?
Predictive validity: Does your measure predict the behavior or outcome you care about?
A researcher finds married people are healthier than single people, then develops a theory of social support and health. What kind of theoretical approach is this?
Deductive
The impact of gender on income is greater for women with a college degree than for women with a high school diploma. What the moderator variable?
Education (what degree you have)
What is a trend/repeated cross-sectional study and how is it different from a panel study?
Trend study: Sample different samples at different points in time (not the same people)
Panel: Follow the same sample across different points in time
Conceptualization: concept, to dimensions (aspects) of that concept, to variables
Operationalization: Forming variables and deciding what kinds of attributes to put in the variables.
How can you measure crime rate? There may be more than one answer.
Number of crimes per night, etc
What is the core thesis of structural functionalism?
Every piece has it's part to contribute to the system. Things/concepts/ideas continue to exist largely because they work
People who watch TV more than 4 hours a day have IQs that are significantly lower than those of people who watch TV for 3 hours or less a day. What is the independent and dependent variables?
IV: Hours of tv per day
DV: IQ score
A researcher wants to understand how a group of 18-22 year olds’ mindsets about presidential candidates change during the election cycle. What kind of study design should the researcher use?
In this type of variable, the values of these data points can be subtracted from each other but not divided from each other in a way that makes sense
You are interested in researching the effect of media violence on aggression. Operationalize the terms ‘media violence’ and ‘aggression’
Thoughts?
Media violence might be: creating a scale for how violent a certain tv episode/movie is based on number of minutes of fighting, or based on how much blood is visible, etc.
Aggression might be: Measuring how often a child gets disciplined at school for aggressive behavior via school records, or observing how often a young child hits others at play time, etc
A researcher is observing the one-on-one interactions between opposing parties--#BlackLivesMatter vs #AllLivesMatter at a protest. What paradigm does this researcher draw upon?
Symbolic interactionism
What is a confounder variable and give an example.
It is something that has an effect on both the independent and on the dependent variable, so that the the true relationship between the independent and dependent variable is obscured. Example: Increased ice cream sales seem to cause more homicides. Confounding variable: Warm weather.
Describe the difference panel cohort and repeated cross-sectional (or trend) cohort and give an example of each.
Repeated cross-sectional (trend) Cohort: follow a group with a similar age characteristic over time (not the exact same people)
Panel Cohort: follow the exact same group of people, who share a similar age characteristic, over time
You want to understand California Varsity Basketball Players’ attitudes on the new bill that California Governor signed that allows NCAA players to be paid for their likeness. How would you measure attitudes and how would you assess the validity of this measure?
Thoughts? (Free form)
Conceptualize poverty - name one dimension, one variable and one attribute
Dimension: income, or "material hardship", hunger, etc
Variable: How many nights a month does someone go to bed hungry?
Attribute: 4, 8, 15, etc