Expert answer:Evaluating Bias in Research
Solved by verified expert:Assignment 1: Evaluating Bias in ResearchDue Week 3 and worth 60 pointsRead the article titled, “As drug industry’s influence over research grows, so does the potential for bias,” located at http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/as-drug-industrys-influence-over-research-grows-so-does-the-potential-for-bias/2012/11/24/bb64d596-1264-11e2-be82-c3411b7680a9_story.html.Review the six (6) rules of critical thinking (Chapter 1) and the steps of “Doing Sociology: A Student’s Guide to Research” (Chapter 2).Student Success Tip: As you review the steps, jot a few notes or thoughts down. Relax and prepare to write a concise and accurate essay.Write a one to two (1-2) page essay in which you:Identify the first step in the student’s guide to research.Define the first step of research in your own words.Identify the major assumptions and bias of the drug industry that underlie drug research.Identify the personal bias that you, as a consumer, have on the drug industry’s influence over research.Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.To keep this essay short and manageable, your only sources for the essay should be the article from The Washington Post and the sections noted in your text. For this reason, APA citations or references are not required for this assignment.Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required assignment page length.The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:Define the basic concepts used in the discipline of sociology.Define the various methodologies for sociological research.Use technology and information resources to research issues in sociology.Write clearly and concisely about sociology using proper writing mechanics.
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To think critically, it is useful to follow six simple rules (adapted from Wade & Tavris, 1997):
1. Be willing to ask any question, no matter how difficult. The belief in small government is a
cherished U.S. ideal. But sociologists who study the role of government in modern society must
be willing to ask whether there are circumstances under which more—not less—government is
better. Government’s role in areas such as homeland security, education, and health care has
grown in the past several years—what are the positive and negative aspects of this growth?
2. Think logically and be clear. Logic and clarity require us to define concepts in a way that allows
us to study them. “Big government” is a vague concept that must be made more precise and
measurable before it provides for useful research. Are we speaking of federal, state, or local
government, or all of these? Is “big” measured by the cost of government services, the number
of agencies or offices within the government, the number of people working for it, or something
else? What did Jefferson mean by “best,” and what would that “best” government look like?
Who would have the power to define this notion in any case?
3. Back up your arguments with evidence. Founding Father Thomas Jefferson is a formidable
person to quote, but quoting him does not prove that smaller government is better in the 21st
century. To find evidence, we need to seek out studies of contemporary societies to see
whether there is a relationship between a population’s well-being and the size of government or
the breadth of services it provides. Because studies may offer contradictory evidence, we also
need to be able to assess the strengths and weaknesses of arguments on different sides of the
issue.
4. Think about the assumptions and biases—including your own—that underlie all studies. You
may insist that government has a key role to play in modern society. On the other hand, you
may believe with equal passion that big government is one root of the problems in the United
States. Critical thinking, however, requires that we recognize our beliefs and biases. Otherwise
we might unconsciously seek out only evidence that supports our argument, ignoring evidence
to the contrary. Passion has a role to play in research: It can motivate us to devote long hours to
studying an issue. But passion should not play a role when we are weighing evidence and
drawing conclusions.
5. Avoid anecdotal evidence. It is tempting to draw a general conclusion from a single experience
or anecdote, but that experience may illustrate the exception rather than the rule. For example,
you may know someone who just yesterday received a letter mailed 2 years ago, but that is not
evidence that the U.S. Postal Service is inefficient or does not fulfill its mandates. To determine
whether this government agency is working well, you would have to study its entire mail
delivery system and its record of work over time.
6. Be willing to admit when you are wrong or uncertain about your results. Sometimes we expect
to find support for an argument only to find that things are not so clear. For example, consider
the position of a sociologist who advocates small government and learns that Japan and
Singapore initially became economic powerhouses because their governments played leading
roles in promoting growth of a sociologist who champions an expanded role for government but
learns from the downturn of the 1990s in the Asian economies that some things can be better
achieved by private enterprise. The answers we get are sometimes contradictory, and we learn
from recognizing the error of our assumptions and beliefs as well.
Doing Sociology: A Student’s Guide To Research
Sociological research seldom follows a formula that indicates exactly how to proceed. Sociologists often
have to feel their way as they go, responding to the challenges that arise during research and adapting
new methods to fit the circumstances. Thus, the stages of research can vary even when sociologists
agree about the basic sequence. At the same time, for student sociologists, it is useful to understand the
key building blocks of good sociological research. As you read through the following descriptions of the
stages, think about a topic of interest to you and how you might use that as the basis for an original
research project.
Frame Your Research Question
“Good research,” Thomas Dewey observed, “scratches where it itches.” Sociological research begins
with the formulation of a question or questions to be answered. Society offers an endless spectrum of
compelling issues to study: Does exposure to violent video games affect the probability of aggressive
behavior in adolescents? Does religious faith affect voting behavior? Is family income a good predictor
of performance on standardized college entrance tests such as the SAT? Beyond the descriptive aspects
of social phenomena, sociologists are also interested in how they can explain relationships between the
variables they examine.
Unobtrusive Research in Criminal Justice
Ethnography in Context
Participatory Research Methods in Skid Row Los Angeles
Formulating a research question precisely and carefully is one of the most important steps toward
ensuring a successful research project. Research questions come from many sources. Some arise from
problems that form the foundation of sociology, including an interest in socioeconomic inequalities and
their causes and effects, or the desire to understand how power is exercised in social relationships.
Sociologists are also mindful that solid empirical data are important to public policies on issues of
concern such as poverty, occupational mobility, and domestic violence.
Figure 2.6 Sociological Research Formula
Keep in mind that you also need to define your terms. Recall our discussion of operationalizing concepts.
For example, if you are studying middle school bullying, you need to make explicit your definition of
bullying and how that will be measured. The same holds true if you are studying a topic such as illiteracy
or aggressive behavior.
Review Existing Knowledge
Once you identify the question you want to ask, you need to conduct a review of the existing literature
on your topic. The literature may include published studies, unpublished papers, books, dissertations,
government documents, newspapers and other periodicals, and, increasingly, data disseminated on the
Internet. The key focus of the literature review, however, is usually published and peer-reviewed
research studies. Your purpose in conducting the literature review is to learn about studies that have
already been done on your topic of interest so that you can set your research in the context of existing
studies. You will also use the literature review to highlight how your research will contribute to this body
of knowledge.
Select the Appropriate Method
Now you are ready to think about how your research question can best be answered. Which of the
research methods described earlier (1) will give the best results for the project and (2) is most feasible
for your research circumstances, experience, and budget?
If you wish to obtain basic information from a relatively large population in a short period of time, then
a survey is the best method to use. If you want to obtain detailed information about a smaller group of
people, then interviews might be most beneficial. Participant observation and detached observation are
ideal research methods for verifying data obtained through interviews, or, for the latter, when the
presence of a researcher might alter the research results. Document analysis and historical research are
good choices for projects focused on inaccessible subjects and historical sociology. Remember,
sociological researchers often use multiple methods.
Weigh the Ethical Implications
Research conducted on other human beings—as much of sociological research is—poses certain ethical
problems. An outpouring of outrage after the discovery of gruesome experiments conducted by the
Nazis during World War II prompted the adoption of the Nuremberg Code, a collection of ethical
research guidelines developed to help prevent such atrocities from ever happening again (Table 2.5). In
addition to these basic guidelines, scientific societies throughout the world have adopted their own
codes of ethics to safeguard against the misuse and abuse of human subjects.
Before you begin your research, it is important that you familiarize yourself with the American
Sociological Association’s Code of Ethics (www.asanet.org/about/ethics.cfm), as well as the standards of
your school, and carefully follow both. Ask yourself whether your research will cause the subjects any
emotional or physical harm. How will you guarantee their anonymity? Does the research violate any of
your own ethical principles?
Most universities and research institutes require researchers to complete particular forms before
undertaking experiments using human subjects, describing the research methods to be used and the
groups of subjects who will take part. Depending on the type of research, a researcher may need to
obtain written agreement from the subjects for their participation. Today, a study like that conducted by
Philip Zimbardo in the 1970s at Stanford University (described in the Private Lives, Public Issues box)
would be unlikely to be approved because of the stress put on the experiment’s subjects in the course of
the research. Approval of research involving human subjects is granted with an eye to both fostering
good research and protecting the interests of those partaking in the study.
Collect and Analyze the Data
Collecting data is the heart of research. It is time-consuming but exciting. During this phase, you will
gather the information that will allow you to make a contribution to the sociological understanding of
your topic. If your data set is qualitative—for example, open-ended responses to interview questions or
observations of people—you will proceed by carefully reviewing and organizing your field notes,
documents, and other sources of information. If your data set is quantitative—for example, completed
closed-ended surveys—you will proceed by entering data into spreadsheets, comparing results, and
analyzing your findings using statistical software.
The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
During the Nuremberg Trials, which brought key figures of the Nazi Party of Germany to justice, the
practices of some Nazi medical personnel were found to be unethical and even criminal. The Nuremberg
Code, which emerged from these trials, established principles for any type of human experimentation.
Galerie Bilderwelt/Contributor/Getty Images
Your analysis should offer answers to the research questions with which you began the study. Be
mindful in interpreting your data and avoid conclusions that are speculative or not warranted by the
actual research results. Do your data support or contradict your initial hypothesis? Or are they simply
inconclusive? Report all of your results. Do your findings have implications for larger theories in the
discipline? Do they suggest the need for further study of another dimension of the issue at hand? Good
research need not have results that unequivocally support your hypothesis. A finding that refutes the
hypothesis can be instructive as well.
Share the Results
However fascinating your research may be to you, its benefits are amplified when you take advantage of
opportunities to share it with others. You can share your findings with the sociological community by
publishing the results in academic journals. Before submitting research for publication, you must learn
which journals cover your topic areas and review those journals’ standards for publication. Some
colleges and universities sponsor undergraduate journals that offer opportunities for students to publish
original research.
Other outlets for publication include books, popular magazines, newspapers, video documentaries, and
websites. Another way to communicate your findings is to give a presentation at a professional meeting.
Many professional meetings are held each year; at least one will offer a panel suited to your topic. In
some cases, high-quality undergraduate papers are selected for presentation. If your paper is one,
relevant experts at the meeting will likely help you interpret your findings further.
Sociology And You: Why Learn To Do Sociological Research?
The news media provide us with an immense amount of round-the-clock information. Some of it is very
good; some of it is misleading. Reported “facts” may come from sources that have agendas or are
motivated by self-interest, such as political interest groups, lobbying groups, media outlets, and even
government agencies. Perhaps the most problematic are “scientific” findings that are agenda driven, not
scientifically unbiased. In particular because we live in a time of information saturation, it is important
that we learn to be critical consumers of information and to ask questions about the quality of the data
presented to us. Carefully gathered and precise data are important not only as sources of information
but also as the basis of informed decision making on the part of elected officials and others in positions
of power.
Because you now understand how valid and reliable data are gathered, you can better question the
veracity and reliability of others’ claims. For example, when a pollster announces that 80% of the
“American people” favor Joe Conman for Congress, you can ask, “What was the size of the sample? How
representative is it of the population? How was the survey questionnaire prepared? Exactly what
questions were asked?” If it turns out that the data are based on the responses of 25 residents of a
gated Colorado community or that a random sample was used but the survey included leading
questions, you know the results do not give an accurate picture.
Similarly, your grasp of the research process allows you to have greater confidence in research that was
conducted properly. You should put more stock in the results of a nationwide Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention survey of college students’ drug use or safe-sex choices that used carefully
prepared questionnaires tested for their validity and reliability and less stock in data gathered by a
reporter untrained in scientific methods who interviewed a small, nonrandom sample of students on a
single college campus.
You have also taken the first step in learning how to gather and evaluate data yourself. Realizing the
value of theories that can be tested and proven false if they are wrong is the first step in developing
your own theories and hypotheses. By using the concepts, processes, and definitions introduced in
this chapter, you can conduct research that is valid, appropriate, and even publishable.
In short, these research tools will help you be a more critical consumer of information and enhance your
understanding of the social world around you. Other benefits of learning sociology will become
apparent throughout the following chapters as you discover how the research process is applied to
cultures, societies, and the institutions that shape your life.
Summary
•
Unlike commonsense beliefs, sociological understanding puts our biases, assumptions, and
conclusions to the test.
•
As a science, sociology combines logically constructed theory and systematic observation in
order to explain human social relations.
•
Inductive reasoning generalizes from specific observations; deductive reasoning consists of
logically deducing the empirical implications of a particular theory or set of ideas.
•
A good theory is logically consistent, testable, and valid. The principle of falsification holds that
if theories are to be scientific, they must be formulated in such a way that they can be disproved
if wrong.
•
Sociological concepts must be operationally defined to yield measurable or observable
variables. Often, sociologists operationally define variables so they can measure these in
quantifiable values and assess validity and reliability, to eliminate bias in their research.
•
Quantitative analysis permits us to measure correlations between variables and identify causal
relationships. Researchers must be careful not to infer causation from correlation.
•
Qualitative analysis is often better suited than quantitative research to producing a deep
understanding of how the people being studied view the social world. On the other hand, it is
sometimes difficult to measure the reliability and validity of qualitative research.
•
Sociologists seek objectivity when conducting their research. One way to help ensure objectivity
is through the replication of research.
•
Research strategies are carefully thought-out plans that guide the gathering of information
about the social world. They also suggest the choice of appropriate research methods.
•
Research methods in sociology include survey research (which often relies on random
sampling), fieldwork (including participant observation and detached
observation), experiments, working with existing information, and participatory research.
•
Sociological research typically follows seven steps: framing the research question, reviewing the
existing knowledge, selecting appropriate methods, weighing the ethical implications of the
research, collecting data, analyzing data, and sharing the results.
•
To be ethical, researchers must be sure their research protects the privacy of subjects and does
not cause them unwarranted stress. Scientific societies throughout the world have adopted
codes of ethics to safeguard against the misuse and abuse of human subjects.
…
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