The Scientific Method
What is a hypothesis?
A theoretical statement that someone thinks will explain the relationship between two variables
What is ethnography?
A naturalistic method based on studying people in their own environment
What two groups take place in an experiment?
An experimental and a control group
What research method commonly uses deception?
The experimental method
Another term for "Netnography"
Cyberethnography
What is the last step in the Scientific Method?
Disseminates the findings of the experiment into the scientific community
How is data commonly collected while taking part in ethnography?
Through detailed field notes everyday to document
What variable is predicted to cause change?
The independent variable
The assurance that no one other then the researcher will know the participants identify
Confidentiality
The combination of social science research and social change
Action Research
What is an operational definition?
A clear and precise definition of a variable that facilitates it's measurement
What does the researcher need to get from a respondent before they participate?
Informed Consent
What is causality?
Whether a change in the independent variable causes a change in the dependent variable
What is reactivity?
How people react to being studied
What is a double barreled question?
A question designed to attempt to get at multiple issues at once
What does a researcher do after all 7 steps of the scientific method?
Replicates the experiment
What is the name of the survey technique that makes you choose from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree"
The Likert Scale
Does data analysis in experiments tend to be quantitative or qualitative?
Quantitative
What is objectivity?
Impartiality; the ability to allow the facts to speak for themselves
An emerging method created due to a new type of computer software designed to attach social science data to geographic locations
Geographic information/Mapping Method
What kind of knowledge is the scientific method verifying?
Empirical Knowledge
What small scale project can help with survey design and takes place before administering it to a larger group?
A pilot study
Whats the main goal of an experiment?
To isolate a variable and explore the degree to which that variable affects a particular social situation
What is the Hawthorne effect?
When the desired effect is the result not of the independent variable, but of the research itself
What kind of questions should be avoided during an interview?
Biased and or leading questions