SOCI 217 Sociological Research Methods Week 3 (January 23 - 39) Readings Principles of Social Inquiry, Chapter 14: Reading and Understanding Social Research Blackstone, 2012) 14.1 Reading Reports of Sociological Research Critical consumption of sociological research requires the reader to pay attention to a few key components: · Acknowledgments - who is supporting the research? · Discussion - what are people saying about this topic/ what voices are being included? · Statistical significance: how relevant & accurate are the relationships between variables in the study? · A null hypothesis is one that suggests that no relationship or one that is significant exist between variables o If you can find the probability of the null hypothesis (p-value) & it is low, you can put greater trust in the regular hypothesis Table 14.2 Questions Worth Asking While Reading Research Reports Report section Questions worth asking Abstract What are the key findings? How were those findings reached? What framework does the researcher employ? Acknowledgments Who are this study's major stakeholders? Who provided feedback? Who provided support in the form of funding or other resources? Introduction How does the author frame his or her research focus? What other possible ways of framing the problem exist? Why might the author have chosen this particular way of framing the problem? Literature review How selective does the researcher appear to have been in identifying relevant literature to discuss? Does the review of literature appear appropriately extensive? Does the researcher provide a critical review? Sample Was probability sampling or nonprobability sampling employed? What is the researcher's sample? What is the researcher's population? What claims will the researcher be able to make based on the sample? What are the sample's major strengths and major weaknesses? Data collection How were the data collected? What do you know about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the method employed? What other methods of data collection might have been employed, and why was this particular method employed? What do you know about the data collection strategy and instruments (e.g., questions asked, locations observed)? What don't you know about the data collection strategy and instruments? Data analysis How were the data analyzed? Is there enough information provided that you feel confident that the proper analytic procedures were employed accurately? Results What are the study's major findings? Are findings linked back to previously described research questions, objectives, hypotheses, and literature? Are sufficient amounts of data (e.g., quotes and observations in qualitative work, statistics in quantitative work) provided in order to support conclusions drawn? Are tables readable? Discussion/conclusio Does the author generalize to some population beyond her or his sample? How are these claims presented? Are claims made supported by data provided in the results section (e.g., supporting quotes, statistical significance)? Have limitations of the study been fully disclosed and adequately addressed? Are implications sufficiently explored? n
14.2 Being a Responsible Consumer of Research To responsibly consume research you must hold your position as a social scientist first and foremost: · Sociologists should keep their biases