Social science involves the study of people. Social research methods are based on a systematic approach to studying social phenomena. Social sciences include anthropology, sociology, economics, psychology, political science, communications, and history. Researchers in each of these disciplines are interested in pursuing explanations for human social behavior. Sociologists and anthropologists, in particular, are interested in
The various ways anthropologists conduct research in naturalistic settings, or in the field, are called field methods. They include participation in social life and various forms of observation. Anthropology relies on field methods as its ultimate source of information. Research in the field, known as fieldwork, involves collecting primary data on humans, other primates, and
Inmate classification is a procedure in which incarcerated offenders are placed into varying custody levels based on a professional assessment. Each custody level is designed to match an individual offender’s needs with available correctional resources. Classification based on custody level assigns offenders to specific facilities and dictates the level of supervision and treatment they will
A rating, as the term is most often used in media industries, is an estimate of the size and demographic composition of a radio, television, or Internet audience. Such metrics are of enormous importance to advertiser-supported media because they set the value of the time used to run commercial messages. The larger and more desirable
Bayesian econometrics has become an increasingly popular paradigm for the fitting of economic models, since the early 1990s. Although Bayesian efforts in economics existed well before this time – perhaps originating in our specific discipline with the pioneering work of Zellner in the early 1970s – Bayesian applied work before 1990 was relatively scarce and
Alongside theories, research methods shape academic disciplines such as communication. Whereas theories determine the subject matter (i.e., the part of reality a discipline is looking at), methods determine how a discipline gathers information about its subject matter. Which methods are acceptable and how methods are applied is subject to an ongoing debate and communication process
A variety of job analysis methods have been developed over the years. These include work-oriented methods, which seek to describe what a worker does, worker-oriented methods, which seek to identify the characteristics needed to successfully perform job tasks, and hybrid methods, which combine elements of work- and worker-oriented methods. Because of space constraints, only methods
The language barrier is one of the biggest obstacles to effective cross-cultural research, testing, and counseling. Translation methods are specialized procedures designed to make possible the communication between people who speak or read different languages. Four translation methods have been identified. The first two are oral methods: (1) simultaneous oral translation, also known as interpretation
Following the scientific revolution, being a natural scientist meant quantitatively measuring one’s subject matter, and ideally, performing experiments. In the nineteenth century, experimental and psychometric methods came into existence. The first experimental technique to appear was mental chronometry, measuring the speed of mental processes. On the brain side, the premier physiologist of the nineteenth century
The laboratories being constructed in the early 1900s were critical to the science’s self-definition as well as its legitimacy as a field of intellectual inquiry. Predominant in the new laboratories were the techniques of what was later critically termed brass instrument psychology. These were the methods of experimental introspection where subjects are presented with standard