Review Sheet -- First Exam

Ways of knowing
Agreement
Tradition (advantages & disadvantages)
Authority (advantages & disadvantages)
Experience (advantages & disadvantages)
Errors in human inquiry
Errors in observation (inaccurate & selective)
Errors in reasoning (overgeneralization, discounting evidence, illogical reasoning)
Errors in the process (premature closure, private process)
Overview of scientific approach (empiricism & logic)
Safeguards employed in scientific discovery (openness, based on observation, use of logic, no closure-never complete, public process)
Advantages and disadvantages of scientific approach
Scientific process of inquiry
Goal of social science research
Variables and Aattributes
Relationships (causal vs. correlational)
Overview of scientific process of inquiry
Theory
Research questions
Observations
New knowledge
Inductive vs. deductive research
General steps in research design
Questions (theory, practical needs, curiosity)
Types of questions (exploratory, descriptive, explanatory)
Determining unit of analysis
Select a research method
Operationalization
Sampling
Make your observations
Analyze observations
Interpret results
Conceptualization
Operationalization
Capturing range of variation
Degree of precision
Reliability
Validity
Selecting samples
Key Concepts (sampling, population, study population, sample, statistic, parameter)
Probability sampling
Sampling theory
Key concepts (sampling distribution, normal distribution, 68-95-99 rule, standard deviation, sampling error, confidence level, confidence ratio)
Types of representative samples (advantages & disadvantages)
Random samples
Systematic sampling
Stratified sampling
Multistage clustering
Types of non-representative samples (advantages & disadvantages)
Purposive sampling
Convenience sampling
When to use different types
Types of research methods
Comparison between qualitative and quantitative methods
Similarities
Differences
Questions addressed
Words vs. numbers
Importance of insider perspective
Emphasis of induction or deduction
Naturalistic vs. artificial settings
Tools used to collect observations
Advantage and disadvantage of using two approaches
Criticism often leveled qualitative approach (idiomatic, studying the obvious)
Criticism often leveled quantitative approach (artificial settings, measurement issues)
Overview of qualitative methods
Basic qualitative tools
Watching (complete participant to complete observer)
Asking (advantages & disadvantages)
Ethnographic interview
Informant interviews
Respondent interviews
Narrative interviews
Focus group interviews
Reviewing (advantages & disadvantages)
Public documents -- official records
Private documents
Mass media artifacts
Physical artifacts
Overview of qualitative research design (steps involved)
Questions
Conceptualization
Operationalization
Reliability (trustworthy)
Validity (authenticity-believability)
Triangulation
Member checks
Sampling
Purposive sample
Snowball sampling
Maximum variation sampling
Theoretical construct sampling
Typical case sampling
Critical case sampling
Collecting data
Recording observations
Data analysis
Guidelines for evaluating qualitative research
Types of qualitative research studies (ethnography, ethnology, case studies, grounded theory, symbolic interaction, ethnomethodological studies, cultural studies)