Deck 5: How Sociologists Do Research

Question 1

Why can't common sense replace sociological research?

Answer 1

What is considered common sense may or may not be true.
In order to answer a question, we need to move beyond guesswork and common sense, in order to know what is really going on.

Question 2

What are the three ways sociologists measure average, and how do they differ?

Answer 2

The three ways sociologists measure average are the mean, median, and mode.
The mean is calculated by adding up a group of numbers and then dividing by the number of cases that you added.
The median is the middle case in an ordered range of cases.
The mode is the number of cases that occur most often.

Question 3

What are the three necessary conditions for causation?

Answer 3

The three necessary conditions necessary to establish causation:
Correlation
Temporal priority
No spurious correlation

Question 4

What are the eight steps of the research model?

Question 5

Explain how research and theory work together in sociology.