Sociology 2206A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Quantitative Research, Discourse Analysis, Antipositivism

• School: Western University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: Sociology 2206A/B
• Professor: Stephen Lin

Document Summary

There is a "real", objective reality, but humans cannot know for sure. Reality is subjective and multiple as seen by the participants. The goal is objectively, but pure objectiv is impossible. Researcher interacts with that being researched; must identify own biases ; researcher as instrument. Tends toward quantification and controlled experiments but can include mixed methods. Aims to examine and describe experiences, processes, happenings (can include mixed methods) Interpretation & meaning making e. g. thematic analysis, narratives. Bookmark added at 01:15:38 in audio 1 exam quesstion. Quantitative research: collects numerical data to, answer a research question, test a hypothesis (support or contradict) Interprets data with statistics: test for significance: Likelihood that an observed relationship is not caused by random chance but real effect: calculated by computer, but understand the basics. Inferential statistics: main purposes, describe and summarize data, make predictions or generalization from observations.