SOC 1500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Economic Inequality, Sexual Assault, Sample Size Determination
5 Dec 2012
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Exploration: what you want to know. Explanation: why do some cities/countries have crime rates than others. Independent & dependent variables: independent-cause, dependent- effect. Experimental & control groups: if control group does have same change=no affect going on. Disadvantages: very artificial, experimented on in a laboratory not realistic. Weaknesses: low on validity, measuring the wrong thing. We observe people as they naturally go about their lives and record what they"re doing. From that, we can come to conclusions about how people behave in their natural settings. Participant/non-participant observation: don"t engage in any activities they do. In-depth interviews: want to get someones life story, serial killers. Case studies: want a specific group of people (5 people) and get to know them very well. Validity: has a lot of validity, you are measuring what you think you"re measuring. Strengths: you are observing people who are unable to fill out a survey, you get rich detail.
