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Sociology
Chapter 3 Glossary
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| 1. Concept: | Any abstract characteristic or attribute that has the potential to be measured. |
| 2. Content Analysis: | The analysis of meanings in cultural artifacts like books, songs, and other forms of cultural communication. |
| 3. Controlled Experiment: | A method of collecting data that can determine whether something actually causes something else. |
| 4. Correlation: | A statistical technique that analyzes patterns of association between pairs of sociology variables. |
| 5. Cross-Tabulation: | A table that shows how the categories of two variables are related. |
| 6. Data: | The systematic information that sociologist use to investigate research questions. |
| 7. Data Analysis: | The process by which sociologists organize collected data to discover what patterns and uniformities are revealed. |
| 8. Debriefing: | A process whereby the researcher explains the true purpose of a research study to the subject (respondent); usually done after completion of the study. |
| 9. Deductive Reasoning: | The process of creating a specific research question about a focused point, based on a more general or universal principle. |
| 10. Dependent Variable: | The variable that is presumed effect. |
| 11. Evaluation Research: | Research assessing the effect of policies and programs. |
| 12. Generalization: | The ability to make claims that a finding represents something greater than the specific observation on which the finding is based. |
| 13. Hypothesis: | A statement about what one expects to find in research. |
| 14. Independent Variable: | A variable that is the presumed cause of a particular result. |
| 15. Informed Consent: | A formal acknowledgment by the research subject (respondent) that she/he understands the purpose of the research and agrees to be studied. |
| 16. Indicator: | Something that points to or reflect an abstract concept. |
| 17. Inductive Reasoning: | The process of arriving at general conclusions from specific observations. |
| 18. Mean: | The sum of a set of values divided by the number of cases from which the values are obtained; an average. |
| 19. Median: | The midpoint in a series of values that are arranged in numerical order. |
| 20. Mode: | The value (or score) that appears most frequently in a set of data. |
| 21. Participant Observation: | A method whereby the sociologist becomes both a participant in the group being studied and a scientific observer of the group. |
| 22. Percentage: | The number of parts per hundred. |
| 23. Population: | A relatively large collection of people (or other unit) that a researcher studies and about which generalization are made. |
| 24. Qualitative Research: | Research that is somewhat less structured than quantitative research but that allows more depth of interpretation and nuance in what people say and do. |
| 25. Quantitative Research: | Research that uses numerical analysis. |
| 26. Random Sample: | A sample that gives everyone in the population an equal chance of being selected. |
| 27. Rate: | Parts per some number (e.g., per 10,000; per 100,000). |
| 28. Reliability: | The likelihood that a particular measure would produce the same results if the measure were repeated. |
| 29. Replication Study: | Research that is repeated exactly, but on a different group of people at a different point in time. |
| 30. Research Design: | The overall logic and strategy underlying a research project. |
| 31. Sample: | Any subset of units from a population that a researcher studies. |
| 32. Scientific Method: | The steps in a research process, including observation, hypothesis testing, analysis of data, and generalization. |
| 33. Serendipity: | Unanticipated, yet informative, results of a research study. |
| 34. Spurious Correlation: | A false correlation between X and Y, produced by their relationship to some third variable (Z) rather than by a true causal relationship to each other. |
| 35. Validity: | The degree to which an indicator accurately measures or reflects a concept. |
| 36. Variable: | Something that can have more than one value or score. |