INSTRUCTOR MANUAL FOR An Invitation to Social Research How It's Done 4th Edition. Emily Stier Adler,

INSTRUCTOR MANUAL FOR An Invitation to Social Research How It's Done 4th Edition. Emily Stier Adler, Roger Clark. (Lecture Notes Only)

An Invitation to Social Research How It's Done 4e Emily Stier Adler, Roger Clark (Instructor Manual (Lecture Notes Only) All Chapters, 100% Original Verified, A+ Grade) Chapter 1: The Uses of Social Research Methods LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 1, students should be able to do the following: 1. Distinguish research from other ways of knowing about the world. 2. Understand the limitations of relying on authorities or personal experience as a basis for knowing about the world. 3. Identify four steps of the scientific method. 4. Understand how the scientific method contributes to greater objectivity and intersubjectivity. 5. Appreciate the varied purposes of research. 6. Understand the value and importance of basic and applied research. 7. Identify the distinctions among descriptive, exploratory, explanatory, and evaluative research.

KEY TERMS – (page references from text in parentheses) Personal Inquiry (5) Positivist View of Science (6) Post-Positivist View of Science (7) Premature Closure (6) Qualitative Data Analysis (14) Quantitative Data Analysis (15) Research Question (2) Scientific Method (6) Theory (10) Unit of Analysis (3)

Applied Research (11) Authorities (4) Basic Research (11) Descriptive Study (14) Evaluation Research (16) Explanatory Research (15) Exploratory Research (13) Factually testable (9) Intersubjectivity (7) Objectivity (7) Overgeneralize (9)

CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Introduction a. What is a research question? • A question about one or more topics or concepts that can be answered through research.

II. Research versus Other Ways of Knowing a. Knowledge from Authorities • Examples: Mom, Census Bureau, Social Institutions (Religion, School, Media) 1. Problems: may be misleading and/or incorrect b. Knowledge from Personal Inquiry • Inquiry that employs the senses’ evidence for arriving at knowledge 1. Problems: Overgeneralize from a limited number of cases 2. Perceive Selectivity 3. Premature Closure-tendency to stop searching once we think we have an answer c. Strengths of the Scientific Method • Positivist View of Science • Post-positivist view of Science • Objectivity- the ability to see the world as it really is. • Intersubjectivity-agreements about reality that result from comparing the observations of more than one observer.

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The Uses of Social Research Methods • • • • •

The Promotion of Skepticism and Intersubjectivity The Extensive Use of Communication Testing Ideas Factually The Use of Logic Theoretical Explanation 1. Theory-an explanation of how and why something is at is

III. The Uses and Purpose of Social Research a. Uses of Social Research • Basic Research-designed to add to our knowledge about the social world • Applied Research-designed to have practical results and used in the immediate future b. Purpose of Social Research • Exploratory Research 1. Inductive research on a relatively unstudied topic in a new area 2. Qualitative data analysis • Descriptive Research 1. Research designed to describe groups, activities, situations, or events. Provides detailed and precise idea of the way things are, perhaps even how they have changed over time. 2. Quantitative data analysis • Explanatory Research 1. Research designed to explain why subjects vary in one way or another; plays an important role in theory building.

IV. Evaluation Research a. Evaluation Research-research designed to assess the impacts of programs, policies, or legal changes.

TEACHING TIPS In Class Assignments 1. Bring in, or have students bring in, some articles from the newspaper about topics of interest to sociologists. Compare journalistic coverage to social science interest. Discuss the sources of data and what these reports might mean to the public and to interest groups. Discuss why it is so difficult to get "final answers" on questions that are essentially tied to values, e.g. the death penalty, abortion and others. 2. Have students spend a few minutes writing about why so many people spend so much time and money on consulting psychics and horoscopes. Why are so many individuals willing to trust the advice of sources, whose basis in evidence is somewhat suspect (from a scientific point of view)? 3. The media is another authoritative source from which we get information. Have students discuss sources of media, those of which are more trustable authoritative sources and those which may be more biased. Have students discuss ways in which the media may collect and present information in ways that may be biased. 4. Create a survey with items that collects basic descriptive data about students as well responses to questions about political opinions and attitudes. Students should generate a code name for

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Chapter 1 themselves. This survey should be collected and then distributed to students for analysis throughout the semester. (See Chapters 6, 9, and 15 in this manual for exercises that use information gathered in this survey). This test or survey should include different types of questions (closed-ended and open ended), with allowance for data analysis with nominal, ordinal and other levels of measurement. The instrument should include questions that are clearly worded, as well as those that are likely to be misunderstood by students. A sample pre-test is shown in the Appendix. 5.

Have students spend a class time in a student union, or place on campus heavily populated by students on campus. To demonstrate the example of knowledge by personal inquiry, have students do a one hour observational research of campus students. Students can be observing whether or not students are studying, socializing, attending or skipping class. Are certain types of students more likely to engage in certain types of activities? What do they conclude about the student body after these observations? How does this activity coincide with the example and issues that go along with knowledge by personal inquiry?

Videos There are many films that can be used to begin a discussion of research methods in sociology. 1. Sociological Thinking and Research Focusing on a sociological study of Times Square, this video discusses how research is used to answer key questions about society. The researchers discuss the formulation of research questions, employ multiple methodologies and explain how their findings are used by stakeholders and other interested audiences. This film can be found by writing to Insight Media, 121 West 85th Street, New York, NY 10024. Discussion questions: 1. Why is itmportant to spend the time to develop appropriate experimental designs for each research question? 2. What was the study done in Time Square? What was researcher’s experimental design? 3. Why is it important to have a sociological imagination when developing research questions? 2. Research Methods for the Social Sciences This video provides an overview of the research process and the challenges of applying the scientific method in the social sciences. Advantages and disadvantages of using various methodologies are also discussed along with research ethics. Discussion questions: 1. What are the steps to the scientific method? 2. What ethical issues are discussed in the film?

This film is commonly found in library catalogues. If your specific university library does not hold the title, request an interlibrary loan. You can also request the title from ProMedion productions.

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The Uses of Social Research Methods

Homework Assignments 1. In Exercise 1.1, Ways of Knowing about Social Behavior in the text, students are asked to compare different ways of knowing about the world. This could serve as a good introductory exercise where students compare their taken-for-granted views of the world with information gathered through data collection. Have students use authoritative sources for data sources, such as information found on the Census Website, or General Social Survey Website. 2. To spark student interest in social research, have students access the Sociological Tour of Cyberspace web site listed below. Ask students to investigate one of the links provided by Kearl and be prepared to discuss what the site holds in class. 3. Have students access sociological journal articles, or you can provide students with a sample of articles for analysis. With each article have students identify whether the research question is exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory. Also have students identify whether or not the analysis is qualitative or quantitative. 4. Have students bring in two or three Census Reports they find and print out online. With the Census Reports have students identify the research question addressed, units of analysis, and any relevant findings. Do the findings coincide with any knowledge previously found by personal inquiry? 5. Have students complete exercise 1.3, but about a more relevant sociological research question, such as crime or drug use. For crime, students can focus on their neighborhood, campus housing, or apartment complex as a place where crime occurs or does not occur.

Internet Exercises http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/ A Sociological Tour of Cyberspace This site managed by Mike Kearl at Trinity University in Texas is a very comprehensive site for sociologists teaching a variety of courses. A good exercise for week one is to direct students to locate this site and identify areas of interest. There are links to resources for data analysis, methods and statistics, subject-based inquiries and other topics. Kearl also provides a guide to writing a research paper, resources for evaluating the credibility of resources on the web and ways for students to locate data to examine hypotheses. http://www.census.gov/ US Census Bureau web site On the main front page students can access short fact sheets. Under people and households students can click on a more specific topic, such as households or poverty to get more specific short fact sheets. Also on the main page students can access the data finder where they can put in their specific county or city and get demographic specifics. These can be used as authoritative data sources for class discussion.

http://publicsociology.com/ Homepage for Public Sociology This website is a social reform movement to conduct a new type of sociology. When discussing basic research, applied research, and evaluation research, have students also look at a different type of research which is often debated and discussed; public research. Sociologists engaging in public research utilize

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Chapter 6: Measurement LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 1, students should be able to do the following: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Identify how conceptualization and operationalization differ from each other. Understand how qualitative researchers systematically code data. Understand the importance in research of indexes and scales. Understand how researchers determine whether measures are reliable or valid. 5. Explain how nominal-, ordinal-, interval-, and ratio levels of measurement differ from each other.

KEY TERMS – (page references from text in parentheses) Measurement (130) Measurement error (142) Multidimentionality (133) Mutual exclusiveness (145) Nominal measure (150) Operationalization (133) Ordinal measure (150) Predictive validity (148) Qualitative research (130) Quantitative research (130) Ratio measure (151) Reliability (146) Scales (136) Test-Retest Method (146) Validity (146) Visual analysis (143)

Coding (144) Composite measure (135) Conceptual definition (132) Conceptualization (132) Concurrent validity (149) Construct validity (149) Content validity (148) Dimensions (132) Exhaustiveness (145) Face validity (148) Index (134) Indicators (133) Internal consistency method (147) Interobserver reliability method (147) Interval measure (151) Measure (130)

CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Introduction a. Measurement-classifying units of analysis by categories to represent variable concepts. b. Understanding the differences between quantitative and qualitative research.

II. Conceptualization a. Conceptualization is the process by clarifying what we mean by a concept. • Conceptual definition- a definition of a concept through other concepts.

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Dimensions and multidimensionality 3-As of conceptualization 1. Action, Attribute, Attitude

III. Operationalization a. Operationalization and Operational Definitions • Indicators b. An Example of Conceptualization and Operationalization

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Measurement • Life satisfaction among professional psychologists c. Composite Measures • Indexes and Scales

IV. Focal Research Excerpt a. Imposter Tendencies and Academic Dishonesty by Joseph R. Ferrari. • Using indexes and scales in research V. Other Issues in Measurement a. Visual Analysis in qualitative research b. Coding c. Exhaustive and Mutually Exclusive Categories

VI. Quality of Measurement a. Checking reliability • Test-retest method • Internal Consistency Method • Interobserver Reliability Method b. Checking validity • Face validity • Content validity • Predictive validity • Concurrent validity • Construct validity VII. Level of Measurement a. Nominal Level Variables – describes a variable whose categories have names • Sex (Male, Female); Religion (Muslim, Christian) b. Ordinal Level Variables – describes a variable whose categories have names and can be rankordered in some way • Social class (upper, middle, lower) c. Interval Level Variables – describes a variable whose categories have names, can be rank-ordered, and whose adjacent categories are a standard distance from another. • SAT scores d. Ratio Level Variables – describes a variable whose categories have names, can be rank-ordered, has a standard distance from another AND HAS AN ABSOLUTE ZERO • Weight, income, length – must have an absolute zero e. The Practical Significance of Level of Measurement • Given a choice, measure a variable in a higher level of measurement than a lower one.

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Using Available Data 6. http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/pom/pom_list.html Roper Center: Public Opinion Matters These sites each provide detailed analysis of public opinion. The Pew Center presents the results of its surveys and those conduced by other organizations with accompanying articles. The Roper Center provides polling results as well as on-line databases for further analysis of topics and research questions.

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Chapter 13: Content Analysis LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 13, students should be able to do the following: 1. Understand content analysis and its application. 2. See how content analysis is applied in the focal research Reloading the Canon: The Timing of Diversification in American Literature Anthologies by Mikaila Mariel Lemonik Arthur, Adam Clark, Roger Clark & Jennifer Racine 3. Distinguish between units of analysis and units of observation. 4. Distinguish difference between quantitative and qualitative content analysis. 5. Understand the advantages and disadvantages of content analysis.

KEY TERMS – (page references from text in parentheses) Content Analysis (358) Qualitative Content Analysis (371) Quantitative Content Analysis (368)

Units of Analysis (368) Unit of Observation (369) Visual Analysis (372)

CHAPTER OUTLINE I. Introduction a. Content analysis is a method of data collection in which some form of community is studied systematically. II. Focal Research a. Reloading the Canon: The Timing of Diversification in American Literature Anthologies by Mikaila Mariel Lemonik Arthur, Adam Clark, Roger Clark & Jennifer Racine III. Appropriate Topics for Content Analysis a. Examples • Notebooks of revolutionaries to gain insight into causes of French Revolution. • Newspaper advice columns to make sense of sexuality in Viagra era IV. Materials Appropriate for Content Analysis a. Suicide notes, magazines, textbooks, radio programs, personal ads, speeches, diaries, websites, email messages. V. Questions Asked by Content Analyzers a. Who says what, to whom, why, how, and with what effect? VI. Units of Analysis a. Need to determine elements, the kinds of subjects to focus on • Units of analysis can be words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, themes, photographs, illustrations, chapters, books, characters, audiences, etc. b. Units of observation- the units from which information is collected. VII. Sampling a. Use conventional sampling techniques (simple, random, systematic, stratified, or cluster).

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