Asking/answering questions

Goal: to be able to accurately describe, explain and predict human behavior.

Areas: accepted and not accepted

Debunking

Answers: Ways of explaining the world

 A. Theological - supernatural forces, god, evil spirits
 B.  Metaphysical - rational calculation and free decision
 C.  Scientific - positivist approach ­ reliance on data acquired by the scientific method

Methods of inquiry:  Scientific Method

 Observation
 Measurement
 Theory
 Testing
 Controlled conditions (laboratory)

 Development of Sociology

Auguste Comte: social statics (stability), social forces (change)

 Positivism - belief that knowledge can be derived only from peoples sensory perceptions; a rejection of intuition or speculation for attaining knowledge.

 Apply the methodology of the natural sciences to the study of society.

Emile Durkheim: social facts: external to individuals, constrain or influence individual behavior, shared by a number of people. Rejected reduction of human behavior to only biological or psychological explanations.  Predictable patterns of behavior.

 Suicide - behavior is described by different types, predictable patterns, related to social conditions.

 Controlled comparison

 
Theory:  a set of logically coherent interrelated concepts that attempt to explain, some observable phenomena or group of facts.
 
A.  Functionalist Theory- structural-functionalist
 Cohesiveness, collective benefits

B.  Conflict Theory - change, areas of conflict, differential  benefits

C.  Symbolic Interactionist - definition of the situation, dynamic involvement, creation of meaning.

 Methods of Reseach

Variables: an empirical object or phenomenon: yearly income, major, height, age, gender, ethnicity

 Non-empirical variables: constructs: religious beliefs, political values, emotional states. Not directly measureable.

 Operationalize - create a concrete way of studying the construct.
 
Hypothesis: a statement of a relationship between variables.

Reliability: ability of a measurement instrument of give the same results when repeated. consistency

Validity: ability of an instrument to measure what it is supposed to

Hawthorne effect - subjects often react to the study itself in ways that non-human subjects cannot.

Survey Research

Interview, questionnaire, representative sample

Observational Study

Neutral observation, participant observation

Return to Soc 105