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| The term used when one variable causes another to change. |
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| sampling technique used when "natural" groupings are evident in the population. The total population is divided into these groups, then a sample of the group is selected. Then the required information is collected from the elements within each selected group. |
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| Research method in which on analyzes artifacts (books, movies, TV programs, and so on) instead of people. |
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| The things that might get in the way of an accurate measurement of the impact of one variable on another. |
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| In an experiment, the comparison group that will not experience the manipulation of independent variable. |
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| The term for the fact of some relationship between two phenomena. |
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| They are systematically collected and systematically bits of organized information. |
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| Reasoning that logically proceeds from one demonstrable fact to the next. It often moves from general to specific. |
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| The variable whose change depends on the introduction of the independent variable. |
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| A perspective that constrains the researcher from becoming in any way involved in the event he or she is observing. This reduces the amount that the researchers' observations will change the dynamic that they are watching. |
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| A type of field method in which the researcher inserts him or herself into the daily world of the people he or she is trying to study, to understand the events from the point of view of the actors themselves. |
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| A controlled form of observation in which one manipulates independent variables to observe their effects on a dependent variable. |
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| In an experiment, the group that will have the change introduced to see what happens. |
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| Variables that influence the outcome of an experiment but are not the variables that are actually of interest. |
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| A testable explanation for an event or phenomenon, that assumes a relationship between two or more variables. |
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| Also called external validity or applicability, the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other circumstances. |
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| In an experimental study, the agent of change, the ingredient that is added to set things in motion. |
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| Research in which one reasons to a conclusion about all or many members of a class based on examination of only a few members of that class. Loosely, it is reasoning from specific to general. |
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| Research method in which a researcher asks a small group of people open-ended questions. |
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| The most common form of survey coding; arranges possible responses from lowest to highest. |
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| Reading and summary of other research on or closely related to the topic of study. |
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| Sociological research method in which one observes people in their natural habitat. |
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| The degree to which a correct prediction of a research outcome can be made. |
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| Sample in which respondents are not selected randomly and are not representative of the larger population but are selected precisely because they possess certain characteristics that are of interest to the researcher. |
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| Inductive and inferential means to drawing sociological understanding, usually about less tangible aspects of social life, such as the actual felt experience of social interaction. |
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| Numerical means to drawing sociological conclusions using powerful statistical tools to help understand patterns in which the behaviors, attitudes, or traits under study can be translated into numerical values. |
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| A sample chosen by an abstract and arbitrary method; each person has an equal chance of being selected. |
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| A limited group of research subjects whose responses are then statistically developed into a general theme or trend that can be applied to the larger whole. |
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| Analysis conducted on data previously collected from others for other reasons. |
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| Sample in which research subjects are divided into proportions equal to the proportions found in the population at large. |
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| The complex of individual perceptions, motivations, ideas, and emotions that give each of us a point of view. |
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| Research method in which one asks a sample of people closed-ended questions and tabulates the results. |
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| Max Weber's term for "intersubjective understanding," or the ability to understand social behavior from the point of view of those the sociologist is observing. |
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