Study Guide
Test One

Terms
scientific method                    observation                             

measurement

replication                               verification                             

operationalization

value-free social science          experimentation                     

validity

reliability                                 credibility                               

ethnocentrism

correlation                              

spurious correlation                

positive correlation     

negative correlation                 theory                                     

hypothesis

variable                                   

dependent variable                 

independent variable

constant                                   empirical                                 

bad science

false correlation                       subculture                               

culture

counter culture                        assimilation                            

amalgamation

partitioning                              segregation                             

material culture

folkways                                 morals                                     
mores

formal sanctions                     
informal sanctions                  
proscriptive    

prescriptive                             
positive  sanctions                  
negative sanctions

sanctions                                 pluralism                                 
annihilation

expulsion                                 partition                                  
multi-culturalism

functionalism                          interactionism                         
conflict theory

theory type                              interactionism                         
macrosociology

microsociology                       
value free sociology               
cultural relativity

ethnocentrism                         
cultural misunderstandings    
anecdotal evidence

applied sociology                   
basic sociology                       
social experiment

social predictions                   
external variables                   
social forces

policy-oriented investigation 
social facts                             
social structure

qualitative                              
quantitative                            
mean

scale                                        duration                                  
severity

empirical generalization         
positivism                               
control group

experimental group                
natural experiment                 
controlled experiment

lab experiment                        
theory level                            
mesosociology

representative sample             
random sample                       
neutral question

research design                       
social issue                             
social problem
personal problem                    
empirical generalization         
methodology

Important Dead People:

Emile Durkheim                     
Herbert Spencer                     
Auguste Comte
Karl Marx                               
Max Weber                            
William Edward Bu Bois

C. Wright Mills

Discussion Question Bank:

1. Discuss the conceptualizations of cultural relativism and value-free sociology and identify the advantages they offer in the study of social phenomena. A complete answer would include defining ethnocentrism and examples the dangers of its use in scientific research.

2. Compare and contrast the concepts of culture, subculture, counterculture, and group.  Using detailed examples to compare and contrast each.

3. Define sociology and contrast its scale of variables and subject matter to anthropology, geography and psychology.  Use detailed examples. 

5. Identify and explain the major contributions of Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber and Auguste Comte to the development of the sociological perspective.

6. Describe the five basic steps of the scientific method.  Then describe in detail a research proposal about a current social issue by explaining how you would apply them in the proposed study.

7.  Identify the level and type of sociological theory used to explain the social phenomena described in the theory below (make sure you explain your answer in detail, define all your terms, and define the level and type of theory you choose). A complete answer would include identifying and discussing the hypotheses that distinguish the independent variables, constants and dependent variables in the theory:

Men control society.  Men want to keep control of society.  Women are now entering the business and social world. Women expect to be treated as equals.  However, some view this status shift as a threat to mans' domination of society.  Men attempt to crush such a threat by discouraging women from entering the work force, harassing them at work, paying women less than men, and not promoting women as fast as men.  Men hope that these sanctions will dishearten women and they give up their bid for equality in the workplace.  

8. List and describe the five characteristics Einstein identified as constituting a good theory.  Then describe a theory in detail from your readings that illustrates them.

9. Explain what a scientific theory is and how it differs from personal opinion.  Illustrate your understanding of this distinction by developing an example of how a scientifically arrived understanding can be much more credible than an individual’s beliefs about a social issue.

10. Explain the distinction between “failing to disprove” and “proving” in science and its importance to sociology in particular.  Explain how misjudging the credibility of scientific research in general result from not applying this distinction.