Methodology summary
Table of contents
Lecture 1: Nature of science, hypotheses, relationships between variables & conceptual model. 2
Lecture 2: Elaboration, causality & logical fallacy 6
Lecture 3: Sampling & sampling designs 11
Lecture 4+5: Survey research designs 16
Lecture 6: Reliability & validity 24
!!!! = Teacher said it’s important
Exam: Example of an exam question / this might be on the exam
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,Lecture 1: Nature of science, hypotheses, relationships between
variables & conceptual model.
Why? Academics approach is based on empirical sciences: we don't just believe what we think is true or
what others claim to be true, no, we verify it with empirical data. This course deals with basic methods
and statistics needed to design and evaluate an empirical study.
Selected chapters: 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 + pages 445-462 of Social Research.
Chapter 3 origins of research topics
1. Personal interest of the researcher
2. The structure and state of the scientific discipline
3. Social problems (effect of covid measurements on students)
4. Social premiums
5. Practical considerations
Chapter 2: scientific questions
What is a scientific question: they are questions that can be answered by making observations that
identify the conditions under which certain events occur. Still, to qualify as scientific knowledge, the
answers to such questions must take a particular form that meets the requirements of description,
explanation, predictions and understanding (straits & singleton).
Product: logical structure of knowledge that tells us how and why (laws, principles, and theories).
Process: The methods and logic of inquiry through which the knowledge is created, tested and refined.
!!!Chapter 2: nature of science
Theory ← Propositions → hypotheses
!!! Proposition: a general statement regarding a regularity in the behavior or opinion of subjects.
Example: 1. If you drink too much alcohol, you get drunk. 2. When an individual manages a particular task
well, then (s)he will perform that task better in the presence of others, than when nobody else is present
(social facilitation effect).
!!! Theories: Provides an explanation for a proposition or set of propositions. (why question).
Example: 1. Alternative theories for the SFE proposition:
- Biological: the presence of others activates physiological triggers
- Psychological: people perform better when they believe they are being watched/evaluated
You can test these theories.
!!! Hypotheses: An expected relationship between 2 or more variables that can be tested. If it’s not
testable, it’s not a hypothesis. Remember: this implies that it is applied to a context.
Example 2: Athletes will perform better (a) the more spectators there are, (b) the more journalists there
are that will comment on their performances (c) when there is direct coverage of the event by the media
(television...).
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, Scale is also called measurement level (exam).
● Distinction between metric versus non-metric refers to ‘measurement level’ of a variable (see
later).
● Making the distinction is vital to statistics.! Formulation of hypothesis should be consistent with
this distinction.
● Applies to all types of hypotheses.
Exam question: Is this statement a proposition or a hypothesis?
Chapter 2: Science as a process
From theory to hypothesis: deduction.
From observation to theory: induction.
Empirical cycle:
Example Deduction
1.Theory: People perform better when they believe they are being watched/evaluated.
2.Hypothesis: Athletes perform better the more spectators there are.
3.Observation: Observe that athletes perform better when more spectators are watching.
Example Induction
1.Observation: Observe that athletes perform better when more spectators are watching.
2.Empirical generalization: Individuals perform better the more people are watching.
3.Theory: People perform better when they believe they are being watched/evaluated.
Chapter 2: The ideal and the reality of scientific enquiry
“Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly; sometimes with a very high degree of formalization and rigor,
sometimes quite informally, unselfconsciously, and intuitively; sometimes through the interaction of
several scientists in distinct roles (of say, “theorists”, “research director”, “interviewer”, “methodologist”,
“sampling expert”, statistician”, etc.), sometimes through the efforts of a single scientist; and sometimes
only in the scientists imagination, sometimes in actual fact.”(p. 34, Straits & Singleton, 2018).
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