SOC100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Sociological Inquiry, Online Dating Service, Statistical Power
SOC100H1 verified notes
3/12View all
Document Summary
What are research methods: research methods are the rules and procedures that social scientists use to approach a research question. It is necessary that the rules of practice are standardized because this creates rigorous and reproducible work. Research question: your research question is the foundation of any sociological inquiry. An aspect of social life/behaviour that fascinates you. A question that is unanswered, but answerable. Research approach: o(cid:272)ial p(cid:396)o(cid:271)le(cid:373)s (cid:894)blu(cid:373)e(cid:396)(cid:895) (cid:862)wo(cid:396)th(cid:455)(cid:863) of (cid:272)o(cid:374)side(cid:396)atio(cid:374) a(cid:396)e di(cid:272)tated (cid:271)(cid:455) (cid:272)o(cid:374)te(cid:454)t, the research approach you choose qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods (fusion) is determined by your research question. A (cid:862)good(cid:863) (cid:396)esea(cid:396)ch (cid:395)uestion should ha(cid:448)e: an identifiable social problem, clear/concise measures, a narrowed scope, defined population parameters. A technique in which researchers collect and report data numerically. Advantage allows scientists to model relationships and calculate statistics. Disadvantage requires high volume of responses, and can miss descriptive nuance. Usually for answering research questions that start with (cid:862)(cid:449)hat(cid:863), (cid:862)(cid:449)ill(cid:863) and/or (cid:862)do/does(cid:863: qualitative.
