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15 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Definition of science?
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Trying to systematically observe, directly or indirectly, empirical reality.
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Differences between social science and natural science
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1. 'Reactive problem' - molecules don't blush
2. More alternative explanations 3. more opportunity for selective perception and bias 4. few true laws |
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Reactive problem
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'molecules don't blush
influences how we ask questions even anonymous polling gets false responses most statistics are too low |
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Law of reciprocity
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we respond accordingly to whatever people do for us - good for good and bad for bad
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Three observables: who and what?
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Abraham Kaplan
directly observable: things we can directly observe indirectly observable: asking someone what their race is over the phone Construct: theoretical - can't be observed at all, either directly or indirectly (like intelligence, conservatism, etc.) |
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Four (4) tasks of social science
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Description
(Interpretation: what do the facts mean?) Exploration: pilot studies, getting a general idea about something, initial look Explanation: has to do with cause and effect - the other two point us here - it all has to do with probability: what is 'most likely' to occur 4.Prediction! |
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Is sociological explanation deterministic?
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Social science is not like natural science - we can't predict with 100% accuracy what will or will not happen
People are predictable, but not perfectly so Cause and effect don't always work because people have free agency |
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multicausal/multidirectional
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Most effects in social science have more than one cause
The causal arrows may go both ways in many cases as well i.e. church attendance and divorce rate/suicide rate |
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Ideographic vs. Nomothetic
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Ideographic: tries to find all causes for an effect
Nomothetic: tries to find the most important for an effect |
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Does social research deal with individuals or aggregates?
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Aggregates
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Inductive vs. Deductive Reasoning
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Inductive: starts with empirical observations and develops a theory - used in criminology to construct criminal profiles
Deductive: theory constructed by abstract reasoning - fact gathering used to determine whether or not the theory is true |
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Theory vs. hypothesis
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Theory: complex - involves lots of concepts and propositions
Hypothesis: specific prediction usually only consisting of 2 variables |
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Three parts of a theory
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concepts: theories can be very different depending on how these are defined (i.e. Weber and Marx on stratification) - definitons are never perfect, but you must define them as clearly as possible
Propositions: general statements regarding relationships between concepts - related to each other by systems Systems: relationships between propositions and concepts on a general level |
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Paradigms
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Theories exist within them
Theories within a paradigm may conflict i.e. social behaviorism, social factism, etc. different paradigms are related with different kinds of research |
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Micro vs. Macro
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Micro: focuses on interaction between individuals and small groups - directly observable - experiments, field research, interviews, etc.
Macro: functioning of larger entities, like economies, governments, counties, etc. - not directly observable - uses historical trends and ecological data |