INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL
SCIENCE METHODS
Amira .
[COMPANY NAME] [Company address]
, Lecture 1
Collecting information in a systematic way.
Two major subgroups, forms:
1. Qualitive research: interpreting stuff
2. Quantify research: measure, counting. Calculate averages.
Deduction
Expectation (hypothesis)
Testing: confirmation, falsification
Induction
Make sense of data. Moving from data to more abstract forms of patterns > grounded theory
What is social reality > ontology
How can we understand social reality > epistemology
- Ontology
Is there such thing as social reality?
o Objectivism
Yes there is such a thing. It has an impact on us but is beyond our grasps.
o Constructionism
Intersubjective. Constructed through interaction. Many people involved> act on that.
Reality is constructed in peoples minds.
- Epistemology
What is knowledge about. What type of knowledge is considered scientific. What is the
proper way of doing research.
o Positivism
Explaining human behavior by finding its causes
Studying it to test regularities and find patterns.
Social physics.
Transforming human behavior in things you can count or measure.
o Interpretivism
People are constantly making a interpretation of their surroundings.
Interpreting, interpretations.
Verstehen
Hermeneutic phenomenology
Symbolic interactionism
Understanding behavior, not about finding causes. About how are people
motivated to do certain things. It is about meaning rather than causes.
Scientific reviews free of values. Not take in account your personal position and attitude.
SCIENCE METHODS
Amira .
[COMPANY NAME] [Company address]
, Lecture 1
Collecting information in a systematic way.
Two major subgroups, forms:
1. Qualitive research: interpreting stuff
2. Quantify research: measure, counting. Calculate averages.
Deduction
Expectation (hypothesis)
Testing: confirmation, falsification
Induction
Make sense of data. Moving from data to more abstract forms of patterns > grounded theory
What is social reality > ontology
How can we understand social reality > epistemology
- Ontology
Is there such thing as social reality?
o Objectivism
Yes there is such a thing. It has an impact on us but is beyond our grasps.
o Constructionism
Intersubjective. Constructed through interaction. Many people involved> act on that.
Reality is constructed in peoples minds.
- Epistemology
What is knowledge about. What type of knowledge is considered scientific. What is the
proper way of doing research.
o Positivism
Explaining human behavior by finding its causes
Studying it to test regularities and find patterns.
Social physics.
Transforming human behavior in things you can count or measure.
o Interpretivism
People are constantly making a interpretation of their surroundings.
Interpreting, interpretations.
Verstehen
Hermeneutic phenomenology
Symbolic interactionism
Understanding behavior, not about finding causes. About how are people
motivated to do certain things. It is about meaning rather than causes.
Scientific reviews free of values. Not take in account your personal position and attitude.
