SOCI1001: Introduction to Sociology

Lecture 4: Sociological research methods

Date: September 27, 2023

Instructor: Dr. HAN, Sinn Won

Modern sociological theories (wrap up)

5. Postmodernism 後現代主義

• In sociology, postmodernism is a theory that questions grand narratives and objective truth

• Postmodernism is characterized by broad skepticism, subjectivism, relativism, cynicism …

• A broad argument is that there is no longer one version of history that is correct

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Modern sociological theories (wrap up)

6. Midrange theory (or Middle range theory)

• Proposed by Robert K. Merton (1910-2003), a student of Talcott Parsons – the founder of functionalism

• According to Merton, the problem of sociology was to explain human behaviors and our society by
applying grand theories of social systems (e.g., Marxism, functionalism), which are difficult to
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incorporate into sociologists’ empirical research

• Midrange theory is an attempt to integrate theory and empirical research by focusing on explaining
specific aspects or social phenomena within a narrower scope of sociological inquiry

• It is currently the dominant type of sociological theorizing/sociological research, especially in the US

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Modern sociological theories

● If you would like to learn more about these various contemporary sociological theories,

the sociology department has an option for you:

● SOCI3024: Modern social theory (2nd semester)

➢ This course will provide an overview of the main currents, themes and debates in
modern and contemporary Western social theory, with a primary focus on
sociological and anthropological contributions

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 Today’s agenda:
Sociological research methods (Textbook Chapter 2)

• Define and describe the scientific method

• Hypothesis and variables
• Variable relationships: Correlation vs. causality
• 載入中⋯
Choosing your method: Quantitative & qualitative approaches
• Ethics of social research
• The dark side of science: The Milgram Experiment & The Stanford Prison Experiment

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What is the scientific method?

● Sociologists, as scientists, follow the scientific method

● The scientific method is a process to generate reliable results to answer a research question
● The scientific method involves developing and testing theories about the social world based
on EMPRICIAL EVIDENCE (as opposed to your opinion, gut, beliefs)
經驗證據
● Therefore, it commits to systematic observation of the world and strives to be objective,
critical, and logical

● The scientific method consists of a series of prescribed steps that have been established
over centuries of scientific scholarship
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The scientific method (cont.)

Ask a question

Form a theory
(by researching existing sources)
假設
Formulate a hypothesis
。

Design and conduct a study to test the hypothesis

(e.g., experiment, systematic observations)

Draw conclusions
(Accept or reject the hypothesis and confirm/revise your theory) 7
The scientific method (cont.)

Ask a question

Form a theory
(by researching existing sources)

Formulate a hypothesis

Design and conduct a study to test the hypothesis

(e.g., experiment, systematic observations)

Draw conclusions
(Accept or reject the hypothesis and confirm/revise your theory) 8
Hypothesis & Variables 變數

● Formulating a hypothesis
● Formulating a hypothesis is the starting point of any scientific research
● Hypothesis is a statement of a tentative relationship between two variables
⾃樂項
● The independent variable: a factor that the researcher believes has a causal impact on the
dependent variable 因果政變
● The dependent variable: the outcome the researcher tries to explain
因為⾃變項延伸⼭黎的
因項變
● Additional types of variables
● A mediator variable: a mechanism (i.e., process) through which two variables are related
● A moderating variable: a third variable that affects (moderates) the strength and direction of that relationship
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Hypothesis & Variables

Independent Dependent
Hypothesis Variable Variable
因為⽗⺟ dLV ⾼ → 影响到
The lower the educational level of the parents, the Parents’ Adult children’s
greater the chance that children will be poor as adults education levels poverty status

The greater the availability of affordable housing, the Affordable Homeless

lower the homeless rate housing rate

The greater the country’s economic development, the Economic People’s

higher the happiness of the people in the country development happiness level

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Hypothesis & Variables

● “Operationalization” of variables
● The process of assigning a precise definition for measuring an abstract concept being
examined in a study
● e.g. Economic development is such a broad concept, so we need to specify it
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● Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
● Gross National Income (GNI)
● The quality of research is based on the “validity” and “reliability” of operationalization
有效性 ● Validity: The extent to which a variable measures what it is intended to measure

可靠性● Reliability: The likelihood of obtaining consistent results using the same measure
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Variable relationships: Correlation vs. Causality

● Correlation 相關性
● Correlation means that there is an association between two variables

● Causality (or causation) 萬事皆有其因

● Causality means that a change in one variable causes a change in another variable

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Variable relationships: Correlation vs. Causality

● A classic example of confusing correlation with causality (a.k.a. the curse of ice cream)

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Variable relationships: Correlation vs. Causality

● Key finding:

There is an association between higher income

(i.e., higher socioeconomic status) and higher
probability of getting melanoma in Canada.

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Variable relationships: Correlation vs. Causality

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Variable relationships: Correlation vs. Causality

How do we do when we communicate correlation and causality?

• If we do not have strong evidence, we should NOT use the words that explicitly imply causation

• A CAUSES B 明確暗天因果關停⼀
• A INCREASES B
• A REDUCES B

• It’s always safe to use more suggestive words and expressions such as

• “An increase in A is associated with an increase (or decrease) in B”

• “A is correlated with B”
• “A is related to B”
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Exercise) “The Conservative Fertility Advantage”

● Background
璃
• Many high-income societies have fertility rates far below the replacement level
• Hong Kong’s TFR in 2021: 0.81; South Korea’s TFR in 2021: 0.78; Mainland China’s TFR in 2022: 1.069

USA ⽣育率依然⾼
• USA has been a notable exception to this trend, maintaining high fertility levels (above 2.0)
• But the 2008 financial crisis came, and TFR dropped from 2.11 (2008) to 1.66 (2022)
• This fertility decline alarmed politicians and commentators concerning the fate of the country
• This concern about the fertility decline is particularly pronounced among the political right
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Exercise) “The Conservative Fertility Advantage”

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Exercise) “The Conservative Fertility Advantage”

• Data come from 600 counties (out of 3,143) in the U.S.

• X-axis: Share of a county’s votes won by Trump in 2020

• Y-axis: Total fertility rate in the county around the election

Q: Can we say the political right (Trump-

supporter) have more kids than the political left

(Democratic-supporter) based on this graph?

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Choosing your method

● Quantitative approach
● “Obtain information about the social world that can be converted to numeric form”
● Data usually collected by social surveys (e.g., census), experiments (either online or lab), …
● Use statistical techniques to analyze trends, compare groups, explore correlation and/or causation, …

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Choosing your method

● Quantitative approach
● “Obtain information about the social world that can be converted to numeric form”
● Data usually collected by social surveys (e.g., census), experiments (either online or lab), …
● Use statistical techniques to analyze trends, compare groups, explore correlation and/or causation, …

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Choosing your method

● Qualitative approach
● “Collect information about the social world that cannot be readily converted to numeric form”
● Data usually collected by in-depth interviews (i.e., unstructured and open-ended interviews),
participant observation, record and archival review, …
● Often focus on describing and understanding the meanings people attach to their encounters with
other people, their environments, and objects (e.g., symbolic interactionism)

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Two different reasonings

● Deductive approach (演繹) theoy 第⼀

● Theory Generate a hypothesis Data/observations Analyze the data to confirm/reject the theory
● “From the known to the unknown”
● Syllogism: (i) All humans die (ii) Socrates is a human (iii) Therefore, Socrates dies…

● Inductive approach (歸納) theoy 最後

● Data/patterns Analysis Theory construction Result
● Sir Isaac Newton was able to formulate a general physical law by inductive approach

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 道德
Ethics of social research
邊緣化
● Discussions on ethical issues are often marginalized from the process of social research
道德容誠信
● However, the moral integrity of the research is a prime aspect of ensuring that the research
process is trustworthy and valid

● In the United States, there was no codified research ethics until the National Research Act of
1974 was passed
● This act identified the basic ethical principles that should underlie the conduct of research involving human subjects

● The development of ethics in research has been built on disastrous breaches of ethical values
● Stanley Milgram Experiment (1961): Obedience to authority
● Stanford Prison Experiment (1971): The power of the social situation
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Ethics of social research

● The Milgram Experiment (1961): Obedience to authority

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Ethics of social research

● The Stanford Prison Experiment (1971): The power of the social situation

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 Ethics of social research

● A few golden rules we should keep in mind when doing research involving human subjects

1) Do no harm to your human subject, whether it is physical, emotional, or psychological

同意
2) Get informed consent – your subjects have a right to enter research with full information
about what it means for them to participate in the research

3) Ensure voluntary participation – your subjects have a right to enter and leave the
research freely

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See you next week!

Slides templates:
Ma, G. Y. K., Choi, C., & Yeung, P. P. S. (2023) PowerPoint template.
#IDEALeaders Self-learning Series: Co-creation of virtual learning
accessibility. HKU Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.25442/hku.22683433

27/9/2023

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