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Elements of Quantitative Design & Sampling
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- Trent University (TrentU )
Causal Relationships in Nomothetic Research
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February 3rd, 2021SOCI2151H Week 4: Elements of Quantitative Design & Sampling
Reading: Chapters 4 & 6
Recommended: Start Mock Research Proposal
Part One: Causal Relationships in Nomothetic Research
4 basic ways to locate cause variable
a) Nomothetic causation
● Looks at most important factors that explain general actions/events
● They are “probabilistic” causes (with either high/low probability of that
cause)
b) Criteria for determining cause
● 3 basic ways to determine cause (ON MIDTERM!!!!!!!!)
1. Variables must be correlated (change in one variable causes a
change in the other)
2. Time order (what took place first...that is the cause)
3. Non-spuriousness (third variable - ice cream causes drowning
situation...hot weather being third variable)
● Never 100% complete causation
c) Units of analysis
● The people (or things) whose characteristics researchers observe,
describe, and explain
● Individuals
○ aim to describe a population by describing the individuals within it
● Groups
○ populations, behaviours, religious affiliations, families
● Organizations
○ “official groups”, corporations, universities, church congregations
● Social artifacts
○ Artifacts that tell us a picture or a story
○ Books, magazines, painting, automobiles, newspapers
● WARNING!! Avoid fallacies (false notions of truth) about our unit of
analysis
○ Ecological fallacy: drawing conclusions about an individual based
on group generalizations (similar to stereotypes)
■ Eg. old people are bad drivers
○ Exception fallacy: drawing conclusions about an entire group
based on observations of individuals
■ Eg. assuming everyone in a class has a high IQ because the
class average IQ is high
, 2
d) The time dimension of causes
● Longitudinal Studies
○ Use of records and artifacts to study long term changes over time
● Cross-sectional Studies
○ Happen one time tha take a sample (cross-section) of a population
or phenomenon concerning one point in time
○ Builds on results of earlier studies
● Cause variable is independent
● Cause can have all kinds of effects on dependent variables
Variables: the focus of quantitative research
● a concept that has 2 or more values (attributes)
● Very important role in research
○ Can be measured, thus interpreted (analyzed, always informed by theory)
Independent variable: the cause (or presumed cause) that are of interest in the study
● Causes change in dependent variable
Dependent variable(s): the effects or presumed effects that are of interest in the study
● Not possible to cause change in independent variable
Extraneous variable(s): other possible causes that are not the central focus of a study
Example: time spent studying (IV) causes change in test scores (DV)
● extraneous variables in this situation may be wake up sick, partied night before
Part Two: Identifying Variables
● Together, conceptualization and operationalization make up the process of
making abstractions concrete
● Conceptualization is the process through which we specify precisely what we
mean when we use particular terminology
● In other words, we can turn vague ideas (concepts) into precise definitions
○ This is what your research proposal is if you are adopting quantitative
methods!
1. Concepts: Indicators and dimensions (we must clearly define all!)
● What do we mean when we say we “love” someone?
● Towards whom do we have a feeling of “love”? What kind of things do we do for
our loved ones?
● Compassion could be an indicator (reading to children at Sick Kids)
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