Sociology 2206A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Mnemonic, Time Series, Official Statistics
Document Summary
Experiments- explanatory research involving group comparisons, definitive data, numbers. Surveys- descriptive research asks many people numerous questions, number one in sociology. Content analysis- assessment of written, pictorial or symbolic material, manifest or latent. Existing statistic- using previously collected information to examine old or create new findings. Statistics are one of the most important means by which research and theory interact. Permit us to analyze data, identify relationships and revise theories. Description helps make more sense, 2 columns have 99 options, computer reads instead. Code books tells you what it means, tells computer information. Mean~ arithmetic average, interval or ratio level, very sensitive to extreme values. Median~ 50th percentile, ordinal, interval, or ratio. Mode ~ most common or frequent occurring score, lowest level. Figure 10. 3, mode, median, mean, tail, if skewed use median. In general, variation is defined as the spread, dispersion, or variability around center of distribution. Range~ distance between smallest score and largest group.