Social Research Methods - Midterm
1. epistemology the science of knowing; systems of knowledge
2. methodology the science of finding out; procedures for scientific investigation
3. agreement those things we "know" as part and parcel of the culture we share
reali- ty
with those around us (tradition, authority) rather than direct
experiences
4. replication repeating a research study to test and either confirm or question the
findings of an earlier study
5. errors in 1. inaccurate observations
human inquiry
2. overgeneralization
3. selective observation
4. illogical reasoning
6. theory a systematic explanation for the observations that relate to a particular
aspect of life (ex. juvenile delinquency, social stratification, political
revolution)
-seek to provide logical explanations
-attempts to discuss and explain what is, not what should be
-describe the relationships we might logically expect between variables
(expecta- tion involves the idea of causation - one's attributes on one
variable are expected to cause a particular attribute on another
variable)
-function in 3 ways in research:
1. helps avoid flukes
2. making sense of observed patterns
3. shaping and directing research ettorts
7. social research aims to find patterns of regularity and looks for regularities in social life
-create theories about the nature of a group (aggregates), rather than
individual life (what goes on between them, instead of inside them)
8. aggregates groups, organizations, collectives
, Social Research Methods - Midterm
9. variables logical sets of attributes (sex: variable = attributes: male, female)
-social research: involves the study of variables and their relationships
-people get involved only as the "carrier" of those variables
-logical sets of attributes
10. attributes characteristics of people or things (categories or values)
(ex. female, Asian, alienated, conservative, farmer)
11. independen a variable with values that are not problematic in an analysis but are taken
t variable
as simply given.
- presumed to cause/determine a dependent variable
12. dependent
vari- able
a variable assumed to depend on/be caused by another (independent)
13. 3 purposes of variable
so- cial
research
(studies may aim to serve more than one)
1. exploratory: research that does not have previously conducted
research or knowledge
2. descriptive: describing the state of social attairs through scientific
14. 4 dialectics of so- observation (what)
cial research 3. explanatory: providing reasons for phenomena in the form of
casual relation- ships (why)
broad and interrelated distinctions that underlie the variety of research
approach- es
15. idiographic ex-
planation 1. idiographic and nomothetic explanation
2. inductive and deductive theory
3. determinism vs. agency
4. Qualitative and Quantitative date
an approach to explanation in which we seek to exhaust the idiosyncratic
(unique) causes of a particular/specific condition/event
, Social Research Methods - Midterm
- the scope of explanation is limited to the single case at hand
, Social Research Methods - Midterm
16. nomothetic
ex- planation an approach to explanation in which we seek to identify a few casual
factors that generally impact a class of conditions/events (rather than
just one)
-criteria for nomothetic casualty:
1.the variables must be correlated
2.the cause takes place before the ettect
3.the variables are nonspurious
17. inductive theory the logical model in which general principles are developed from
specific obser- vations to general patterns (usually qualitative)
-moves from the particular to the general, from a set of specific
observations to the discovery of a pattern that represents some
degree of order among all the given events (whether -> why)
-ex. noting that Jews and Catholics are more likely to vote Democratic than
Protestants are, you might conclude that religious minorities in the US
are more aflliated with the Democratic party and then your task is to
explain why
-steps: (wheel of science)
1. empirical generalizations (statement)
2. theories
3. hypotheses (prediction)
4. observations (collecting data)
18. wheel of science
19. deductive theory the logical model in which specific expectations of hypotheses are
developed on the basis of general statements/principles and predict
specific observations
-moves from the general to the specific
-it moves from a pattern that might be logically/theoretically expected to
obser- vations that test whether the expected pattern actually occurs
1. epistemology the science of knowing; systems of knowledge
2. methodology the science of finding out; procedures for scientific investigation
3. agreement those things we "know" as part and parcel of the culture we share
reali- ty
with those around us (tradition, authority) rather than direct
experiences
4. replication repeating a research study to test and either confirm or question the
findings of an earlier study
5. errors in 1. inaccurate observations
human inquiry
2. overgeneralization
3. selective observation
4. illogical reasoning
6. theory a systematic explanation for the observations that relate to a particular
aspect of life (ex. juvenile delinquency, social stratification, political
revolution)
-seek to provide logical explanations
-attempts to discuss and explain what is, not what should be
-describe the relationships we might logically expect between variables
(expecta- tion involves the idea of causation - one's attributes on one
variable are expected to cause a particular attribute on another
variable)
-function in 3 ways in research:
1. helps avoid flukes
2. making sense of observed patterns
3. shaping and directing research ettorts
7. social research aims to find patterns of regularity and looks for regularities in social life
-create theories about the nature of a group (aggregates), rather than
individual life (what goes on between them, instead of inside them)
8. aggregates groups, organizations, collectives
, Social Research Methods - Midterm
9. variables logical sets of attributes (sex: variable = attributes: male, female)
-social research: involves the study of variables and their relationships
-people get involved only as the "carrier" of those variables
-logical sets of attributes
10. attributes characteristics of people or things (categories or values)
(ex. female, Asian, alienated, conservative, farmer)
11. independen a variable with values that are not problematic in an analysis but are taken
t variable
as simply given.
- presumed to cause/determine a dependent variable
12. dependent
vari- able
a variable assumed to depend on/be caused by another (independent)
13. 3 purposes of variable
so- cial
research
(studies may aim to serve more than one)
1. exploratory: research that does not have previously conducted
research or knowledge
2. descriptive: describing the state of social attairs through scientific
14. 4 dialectics of so- observation (what)
cial research 3. explanatory: providing reasons for phenomena in the form of
casual relation- ships (why)
broad and interrelated distinctions that underlie the variety of research
approach- es
15. idiographic ex-
planation 1. idiographic and nomothetic explanation
2. inductive and deductive theory
3. determinism vs. agency
4. Qualitative and Quantitative date
an approach to explanation in which we seek to exhaust the idiosyncratic
(unique) causes of a particular/specific condition/event
, Social Research Methods - Midterm
- the scope of explanation is limited to the single case at hand
, Social Research Methods - Midterm
16. nomothetic
ex- planation an approach to explanation in which we seek to identify a few casual
factors that generally impact a class of conditions/events (rather than
just one)
-criteria for nomothetic casualty:
1.the variables must be correlated
2.the cause takes place before the ettect
3.the variables are nonspurious
17. inductive theory the logical model in which general principles are developed from
specific obser- vations to general patterns (usually qualitative)
-moves from the particular to the general, from a set of specific
observations to the discovery of a pattern that represents some
degree of order among all the given events (whether -> why)
-ex. noting that Jews and Catholics are more likely to vote Democratic than
Protestants are, you might conclude that religious minorities in the US
are more aflliated with the Democratic party and then your task is to
explain why
-steps: (wheel of science)
1. empirical generalizations (statement)
2. theories
3. hypotheses (prediction)
4. observations (collecting data)
18. wheel of science
19. deductive theory the logical model in which specific expectations of hypotheses are
developed on the basis of general statements/principles and predict
specific observations
-moves from the general to the specific
-it moves from a pattern that might be logically/theoretically expected to
obser- vations that test whether the expected pattern actually occurs
