Information for the job advisor:

• Introduce yourself and offer your help.

• Tell about vacancies.

• Tell about the salary and responsibilities of the job the candidate is interested in.

• Give address and telephone number of the company which has got the vacancy the candidate is interested in.

Text 3 Read the text. Choose the best word to fill in each gap Sociology as a Science

Sociology is a science – or at least it strives to be 1___________ scientific as possible. This means that sociologists collect information 2_________ social reality following a 3__________ specific set of research procedures that are designed to ensure that their conclusions are as 4___________ as humanly possible. This does not mean that sociologists are always 5___________, but it does mean that, for example, if you hear from your roommate that welfare mothers usually have large families 6_________ order to maximize their benefits and you hear the 7___________ from your sociology professor, you would be wise to 8___________ your professor, because in most 9____________ sociologists base their claims on systematic, scientific 10__________, not on casual observation, stereotypes, hearsay, or tradition.

1. a) so b) as c) that

2. a) about b) for c) of

3. a) too b) much c) rather

4. a) special b) interesting c) accurate

5. a) true b) right c) clear

6. a) - b) in c) at

7. a) opposite b) outside c) inside

8. a) think b) explain c) believe

9. a) parts b) rules c) cases

10. a) area b) research c) information

Unit 2

Lead-in

You are going to do a research on parents-children relationship. Start with the family next-door who have two children, a girl aged 16 and a boy aged 12. What are you going to do?

Text 1

1. Scan the text and answer the following questions:

1) What are the four major methods of collecting data?

2) Give the definition of closed-ended questions and open-ended questions.

Collecting Data

Armed with operational definition of variables, a researcher is ready to start collecting data. Sociologists rely on four major methods of data collections: written questionnaires filled out by respondents; interviews conducted by the researcher or trained interviewers; the researcher’s observations of behavior; and documentary resources. These methods can be used singly, but when they are used in combination the quality of measurement is enhanced. Also validity is increased through triangulation, the use of multiple data collection methods. As triangulation demonstrates, more valid data are obtained when questionnaires are supplemented by interviews.

Let’s look at two major methods – questionnaires and interviews.

Questionnaires. Questionnaires are data collection devices that are filled out by the respondent and returned directly or by mail. They contain items based on operational definitions of all the variables of interest to the researcher – independent, and control.

Questionnaire items may ask respondents to check boxes on years of schooling, gross annual household income and whether they work in white-collar job. These are called closed- ended questions because they offer choices to issues the researcher already believes to be important.

Closed-ended questions increase the questionnaire’s return rate because they are also easy to answer. The answers to these questions are also easy to summarize for analysis, and they tend to be reliable measures in that people would give similar answers if asked the same questions again.

But the problem with closed-ended questions is the limited choices they offer, which can make it hard for researchers to learn all that respondents think about a subject. Sometimes the choices seem so limited that people refuse to answer the question.

The most important rule important rule in constructing closed-ended items for questionnaires is that the list of possible responses must be both mutually exclusive and exhaustive. There should be no overlap in the alternatives, and all possible alternatives should be listed. Each respondent should be able to mark only one appropriate item. In asking about religious preference, for instance, most Americans could comfortably respond to the categories of Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim, since they represent the country’s major religious groups. But the categories are not exhaustive, because there are also Hindus, Buddhists, and many other smaller religious groupings. And what about people who have no religious preference? Adding the categories of “other” and “none” makes the religious preference item both mutually exclusive and exhaustive.

Open-ended questions ask respondents to provide their own answers to a question, rather than having to choose from a list of answers. This makes them more flexible than closed-ended question and allows the researcher to ask for more or less complete response. In assessing marital satisfaction, for example, commonly asked open-ended questions include, “What do you believe is the major strength of your marriage?” and “What is the one issue about which you and your spouse disagree most strongly?” A more extensive response is called for when follow-up questions are asked, such as “Provide a specific example of how the issue you identified has affected your marriage.” Because respondents bring their own understanding to such questions, and are free to answer as they see fit, validity is enhanced. But this advantage leads to a disadvantage in terms of reliability. It is more difficult to code and summarize data from open-ended questions. In addition, people may not write out long or detailed responses. Too much blank space on a questionnaire is likely to lead to answered or half-answered questions and a lower return rate.

Follow-up letters to respondents offering them incentives increase response rates considerably, but people who must be enticed* to finally answer a questionnaire may be different from those who respond early without any tangible incentives.

* entice – to persuade someone to do something by offering them something if they do it

Comprehension Check

Answer the following questions:

1. Which of the methods of collecting data is the most effective?

2. What is one of the ways of increasing validity?

3. What are the advantages of closed-ended questions? What are the disadvantages?

4. What are the advantages of open-ended questions? What are the disadvantages?

5) How can response rate be increased?