Alabama Social Studies SS24.S.2

SS24.S.2 is a cluster heading. These are the individual standards under it.

• SS24.S.2a

  Differentiate between qualitative and quantitative research methods, giving examples of each.*

• SS24.S.2b

  Explain the usefulness of discerning and sharing insights into human behavior of individuals and groups.*

01

What Students Need to Do

Students explain how sociologists use surveys, interviews, and observation to study people in groups. They tell numerical results from descriptions and explain how sharing findings can help people make decisions.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

A student can choose a stopwatch to measure lunch-line waits and an interview question to learn how students experience the wait. They can label the wait times as quantitative and the answers as qualitative, then explain how both could help the school change lunch schedules.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may assume every survey is quantitative and every interview is qualitative, even when the questions produce different kinds of answers. They may treat one person's story as proof of what a whole group thinks. They may mistake a pattern for a cause.

04

How to Assess It

Exit ticket: A principal wants to know why some students skip lunch. Write one survey question that gives a number, one interview question that gives a description, and how sharing both answers could help.

1. 01

   Pairs time a short classroom line with a stopwatch, then ask two classmates what waiting felt like and compare the results.

2. 02

   Ask, 'What could lunch-line wait times show that student comments might miss, and what could the comments show that times might miss?'

3. 03

   Teams sort cards reading '23 students ride the bus' and 'I ride because my parent works,' then name each data type and a possible tool.

4. 04

   Post mock cafeteria meal counts and two student comments; have students write one recommendation for the lunch manager based on both.

• SS24.HS.6

  Compare historical methods utilized for research and evaluate how these methods yield information regarding the selected historical subject.

• SS24.P.2

  Describe methodologies, research tools, and strategies used by researchers in psychological studies.*

• SS24.S.3a

  Apply the major sociological theories to a situation and evaluate the differences in interpretations.

• SS24.S.1

  Describe the development of sociology as a social science field of study.*