Sociology 101 Final Exam
Conflict Theory the idea that conflict between competing interests is the basic, animating force
of social change and society in general
Symbolic interactionism a micro-level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions
form the basic motivations behind people's actions
Social construction an entity that exists because people behave as if it exists and whose existence
is perpetuated as people and social institutions act in accordance with the
widely agreed-upon formal rules or informal norms of behavior associated with
that entity
Reseach methods approaches that social scientists use for investigation the answers to questions
Quantitative methods methods that seek to obtain information about the social worlds that is already
in or can be converted to numeric form
Qualitative methods methods that attempt to collect information about the social world that cannot
be readily concerted to numeric form
Deductive approach a research approach that starts with a theory, forms a hypothesis, makes
empirical observations, and then analyzes he date to confirm, reject, or modify
the original theory
Inductive approach a research approach that starts with empirical observations and then works to
form a theory
Dependent variable the outcome that the researcher is trying to explain
Independent variable a measured factor that the researcher believes has a causal impact on the
dependent variable
Hypothesis a proposed relationship between two variables
Validity the extent to which an instrument measures what it is intended to measure
Reliability likelihood of obtaining consistent results using the same measure
Population an entire group of individual persons, objects, or items from which samples
may be drawn
Sample the subset of the population from which you are actually collecting data
Case study an intensive investigation of one particular unit of analysis in order to describe
it or uncover its mechanisms
, Sociology 101 Final Exam
Participant observation a qualitative research method that seeks to uncover the meanings by observing
social actions in practice
Survey an ordered series of questions intended to elicit information from respondents
Historical methods research that collects data from written reports, newspaper articles, journals,
transcripts, television programs, diaries, artwork, and other artifacts that date to
a prior time period under study
Comparative research a methodology by which two or more entities (such as countries), which are
similar in many dimensions but differ on one in question, are compared to learn
about the dimension that differs between them
Experimental methods methods that seek to alter the social landscape in a very specific way for a
given sample of individuals and then track what results that change yields;
often involve comparisons to a control group that did not experience such an
intervention
Ethnocentrism the belief that one's own culture or group is superior to others and the
tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one's own
Nonmaterial culture values, beliefs, behaviors, and social norms
Material culture everything that is a part of our constructed, physical environment, including
technology
Ideology a system of concepts and relationships, an understanding of cause and effect
Cultural relativism taking into account the differences across cultures without passing judgement
or assigning value
Values moral beliefs
Norms how values tell us to behave
Conflict Theory the idea that conflict between competing interests is the basic, animating force
of social change and society in general
Symbolic interactionism a micro-level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions
form the basic motivations behind people's actions
Social construction an entity that exists because people behave as if it exists and whose existence
is perpetuated as people and social institutions act in accordance with the
widely agreed-upon formal rules or informal norms of behavior associated with
that entity
Reseach methods approaches that social scientists use for investigation the answers to questions
Quantitative methods methods that seek to obtain information about the social worlds that is already
in or can be converted to numeric form
Qualitative methods methods that attempt to collect information about the social world that cannot
be readily concerted to numeric form
Deductive approach a research approach that starts with a theory, forms a hypothesis, makes
empirical observations, and then analyzes he date to confirm, reject, or modify
the original theory
Inductive approach a research approach that starts with empirical observations and then works to
form a theory
Dependent variable the outcome that the researcher is trying to explain
Independent variable a measured factor that the researcher believes has a causal impact on the
dependent variable
Hypothesis a proposed relationship between two variables
Validity the extent to which an instrument measures what it is intended to measure
Reliability likelihood of obtaining consistent results using the same measure
Population an entire group of individual persons, objects, or items from which samples
may be drawn
Sample the subset of the population from which you are actually collecting data
Case study an intensive investigation of one particular unit of analysis in order to describe
it or uncover its mechanisms
, Sociology 101 Final Exam
Participant observation a qualitative research method that seeks to uncover the meanings by observing
social actions in practice
Survey an ordered series of questions intended to elicit information from respondents
Historical methods research that collects data from written reports, newspaper articles, journals,
transcripts, television programs, diaries, artwork, and other artifacts that date to
a prior time period under study
Comparative research a methodology by which two or more entities (such as countries), which are
similar in many dimensions but differ on one in question, are compared to learn
about the dimension that differs between them
Experimental methods methods that seek to alter the social landscape in a very specific way for a
given sample of individuals and then track what results that change yields;
often involve comparisons to a control group that did not experience such an
intervention
Ethnocentrism the belief that one's own culture or group is superior to others and the
tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one's own
Nonmaterial culture values, beliefs, behaviors, and social norms
Material culture everything that is a part of our constructed, physical environment, including
technology
Ideology a system of concepts and relationships, an understanding of cause and effect
Cultural relativism taking into account the differences across cultures without passing judgement
or assigning value
Values moral beliefs
Norms how values tell us to behave
