Question | Answer |
case study | A method of research consisting of detailed, long-term investigation of a single social unit. |
concept | A generalized idea about people, objects, or processes that are related to one another, an abstract way of classifying things that are similar. |
cross-section | A survey of a broad spectrum of a population at a specific point in time. |
ethical neutrality | An attitude of the scientific metnod in the social sciences, requiring that scientists not pass moral judgment on their findings |
experiment | A method of research in which the researcher controls and manipulates variables in one group to test the effects of an independent variable on a dependent variable |
hypothesis | A tentative statement in clearly defined terms, predicting a relationship between variables. |
longitudinal | a survey that continues over a long period, engaging in contrasts and comparisons. |
objectivity | A principle of the scientific method, especially in the social sciences, requiring researchers to divest themselves of personal attitudes, desires, beliefs, values, and tendencies when confronting their data. |
participant observation | a method of research in which researchers try to take part in the lives of the members of the group under analysis, sometimes without revealing their purpose |
population | In the social sciences, a statistical concept referring to the totality of phenomena under investigation (eg all college students enrolled in four-year private universities). |
research | An aspect of scientific methodology that bolsters and complements theories. In the social sciences, four fundamental formats are used, the sample survey, the case study, the experiment , and participant observation. |
sample survey | a method of research consisting of an attempt to determine the occurrence of a particular act or opinion i a particular sample of people |
theory | a set of concepts arranged so as to explain and/or predict possible and probable relationships |
variables | factors whose relationships researchers try to uncover, characteristics that differ (vary) in each individual case |
The research method in which the researcher controls one variable and observes and records the results in called | experiment |
Once a social scientist has formulated the hypothesis, | Developing a research design |
The scientific method contains all but one of the following techniques. | selecting data to prove a point |
If a broad spectrum of the population is surveyed at a given times, the study is called | cross-sectional |
An anthropologist living with a group of people and engaging in some of their rituals is using the following research method | participant observation |
Variables that exercise influence on other variables are called | independent variables |
Scientific theories | are open to challenge |
The hypothesis is a statement of | a tentative statement of a topic that is subject to testing |
A theory is a | set of concepts and generalizations |
Repeating a research project is called | replication |
History is often NOT considered a social science because | its primary concern is to record events of the past |
An intensive study of an individual or a small group is made by using the following research | case study |
The social sciences have | problems conducting laboratory experiments , as do the natural sciences |
A sample is | a subset of a population |
Correlation differs from causation in that correlation | only indicates a possible causal relation |
Scientific conclusions are | relative to time and place of study and subject to revision |
Experiments are | based on controlling a variable and observing the results |
Statistics that allow researchers to generalize
to a population from a sample are called | inferential |
During the Enlightenment of the 18th century | a number of scholars believed human social life could be studied |
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