foundations of sociological inquiry causal reasoning

Foundations of Sociological Inquiry

Causal Reasoning

Today’s Objectives Asch Experiments Linking Theory and Research Midterm Course Evaluations Questions?

Which two lines are of equal length

1 2 3 4

45%

0%0%

55%1. X and A

2. X and B

3. A and C

4. X and C

Which two lines are of equal length

1 2 3 4

67%

0%0%

33%

1. X and A

2. X and B

3. A and C

4. X and C

Which two lines are of equal length

1 2 3 4

75%

0%0%

25%

1. X and A

2. X and B

3. A and C

4. X and C

Which two lines are of equal length

1 2 3 4

71%

0%1%

28%

1. X and A

2. X and B

3. A and C

4. X and C

Social Science Paradigms Asch Experiment (1958)

A group of subjects is presented with a set of lines on a screen and asked to identify the two lines that are equal in length.

Others in the group identify A or C as the correct answer, while you know that B is the correct answer.

Walking with an open umbrella on a beautiful day or using hands to eat mashed potatoes are techniques used by _____ to understand the social world.

1 2 3 4 5

2%6%

79%

6%7%

1. social Darwinists

2. conflict theorists

3. structural functionalists

4. symbolic interactionists

5. ethnomethodologists

The Links Between Theory and Research Deductive Model – research is used to test theories. Inductive Model – theories are developed from

analysis of data.

Which one of the following statements best summarizes the role of deduction and induction?

1 2 3 4 5

0%2%

44%

10%

44%1. Deduction is the preferred approach.

2. Induction is the preferred approach.

3. In practice, scientific inquiry involves an alternation between deduction and induction.

4. In practice, scientific inquiry involves primarily one or the other approach.

5. In practice, scientific inquiry involves the use of both at the same time.

Are you in Section AA, AB, or AC?

1 2

38%

62%

1. Yes

2. No

This course as a whole is (AA, AB, AC):

1 2 3 4 5 6

13%

43%

0%0%1%

43%1. Excellent

2. Very Good

3. Good

4. Fair

5. Poor

6. Very Poor

Mean = 2.32

This course as a whole is:

1 2 3 4 5 6

8%

44%

2%0%

3%

44%1. Excellent

2. Very Good

3. Good

4. Fair

5. Poor

6. Very Poor

Mean = 2.4844

The course content is (AA, AB, AC):

1 2 3 4 5 6

11%

30%

0%1%5%

53%

1. Excellent

2. Very Good

3. Good

4. Fair

5. Poor

6. Very Poor

Mean = 2.5556

The course content is:

1 2 3 4 5 6

6%

39%

0%2%

9%

44%1. Excellent

2. Very Good

3. Good

4. Fair

5. Poor

6. Very Poor

Mean = 2.6296

The instructor overall is (AA, AB, AC):

1 2 3 4 5 6

26%

56%

0%0%1%

17%

1. Excellent

2. Very Good

3. Good

4. Fair

5. Poor

6. Very Poor

Mean = 1.9359

The instructor overall is:

1 2 3 4 5 6

26%

50%

0%0%

4%

20%

1. Excellent

2. Very Good

3. Good

4. Fair

5. Poor

6. Very Poor

Mean = 2.02

The instructor’s contribution to your understanding of concepts/ideas is (AA, AB, AC):

1 2 3 4 5 6

24%

37%

0%0%

8%

31%

1. Excellent

2. Very Good

3. Good

4. Fair

5. Poor

6. Very Poor

Mean = 2.2267

The instructor’s contribution to your understanding of concepts/ideas is:

1 2 3 4 5 6

15%

45%

0%0%

6%

34%

1. Excellent

2. Very Good

3. Good

4. Fair

5. Poor

6. Very Poor

Mean = 2.3019

The instructor’s interest in whether students learned is (AA, AB, AC):

1 2 3 4 5 6

35%

31%

0%0%1%

32%

1. Excellent

2. Very Good

3. Good

4. Fair

5. Poor

6. Very Poor

Mean = 2

The instructor’s interest in whether students learned is:

1 2 3 4 5 6

27%

35%

2%0%

4%

31%

1. Excellent

2. Very Good

3. Good

4. Fair

5. Poor

6. Very Poor

Mean = 2.1961

The amount learned in the course is (AA, AB, AC):

1 2 3 4 5 6

7%

33%

0%1%

21%

38%1. Excellent

2. Very Good

3. Good

4. Fair

5. Poor

6. Very Poor

Mean = 2.7763

The amount learned in the course is:

1 2 3 4 5 6

2%

37%

2%2%

15%

43%1. Excellent

2. Very Good

3. Good

4. Fair

5. Poor

6. Very Poor

Mean = 2.8333

The relevance and usefulness of homework assignments is (AA, AB, AC):

1 2 3 4 5 6

33% 33%

0%0%0%

33%1. Excellent

2. Very Good

3. Good

4. Fair

5. Poor

6. Very Poor

Mean = 2

The relevance and usefulness of homework assignments is:

1 2 3 4 5 6

0% 0% 0%0%0%0%

1. Excellent

2. Very Good

3. Good

4. Fair

5. Poor

6. Very Poor

0 of 5 Mean =

15

Professor Pettit examines how sending an e-mail to students affects students assessment of a course. Pettit compares evaluations of students who received an e-mail declaring her devotion to student learning with those who didn’t receive an e-mail. She is conducting:

1 2 3 4 5

61%

10%

3%

25%

2%

1. an experiment

2. deception

3. no harm to participants

4. qualitative research

5. ethnography

Professor Pettit did an experiment on her students in a classroom. She measured their views about the course on the first week, randomly assigned half of them to receive an offer for extra help on the second week, and measured their views about the course on the third week. Measuring the student’s views on the third week is the

1 2 3 4 5

50% 50%

0%0%0%

1. independent variable.

2. posttest.

3. pretest.

4. experimental group.

5. control variable

Professor Pettit did an experiment on her students in a classroom. She measured their views about the course on the first week, randomly assigned half of them to receive an offer for extra help on the second week, and measured their views about the course on the third week.

1 2 3 4 5

10%15%

1%

70%

4%

The half of the students who did not receive an offer of extra help are known as the

1. independent variable.

2. experimental group.

3. pretest.

4. control group.

5. posttest.

Professor Pettit did an experiment in class over the space of a few weeks to examine the effect of specific interventions on course evaluations. She randomly assigned students to the experimental and control groups and did a pretest and posttest. At the time of the posttest, several student realized that they received the same questions on the pretest, and used the same answers they had originally given on the pretest even though their evaluations may

1 2 3 4 5

46%

20%

3%

14%17%

1. history

2. maturation

3. instrumentation

4. testing

5. mortality

have changed. Which source of internal invalidity does this example reflect?

Questions?