Course Reflection Paper----social science
Social Sciences and the Scientific Method
Chapter 2
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Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, students will be able to:
Explain the purpose of the scientific method.
Describe some of the difficulties that social scientists from each discipline face in applying the scientific method to the study of social problems.
Describe methods that social scientists use to conduct research
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Science and the Scientific Method
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Explaining Relationships
Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Developing and Testing Hypotheses
Dealing with Observable Phenomena
Developing Theory
What Is a “Fact”?
Maintaining a Scientific Attitude
SCIENCE AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Science: any organized body of knowledge.
Scientific method: a method of explanation that develops and tests theories about how observable facts are related.
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Explaining Relationships
The scientific method seeks to explain why human beings behave as they do.
Hypotheses: assert some relationship between observable facts or events.
Are two or more events or behaviors related?
Does either event or behavior cause the other?
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Inferring from a general theory to a particular case
All X are Y
All Y are Z
Hence, all X are Z
Reasoning from the specific to general
Socrates is mortal
Other men also are mortal
All men are mortal
Deductive Reasoning
Inductive Reasoning
Deductive and inductive
reasoning
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Developing and testing Hypotheses
Scientific tests are exercises in deductive and inductive logic.
Correlation: a significant statistical relationship.
Statistical techniques cannot guarantee that a relationship is causal.
Social scientists deal with probabilities, rather than absolutes.
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Dealing with observable phenomena
The scientific method deals only with observable—empirical—facts and events.
The scientific method deals with what is through description and explanation of human behavior.
Normative methods prescribe how humans “ought” and “should” behave.
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Developing theory
The scientific method strives to develop a systematic body of theory.
Theory: verifiable statements about relationships among facts and events.
Theories are developed at different levels of generality.
Low levels of generality explain only a small or narrow range of behaviors.
Higher levels of generality explain a greater or wider range of behavior.
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Maintaining a scientific attitude
The scientific method is an attitude of doubt or skepticism that insists on:
Careful collection of data
Systematic testing of ideas
Commitment to bias-free work
Collection and recording of all relevant facts
Rational interpretation of data without regard to researcher feelings
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What is a “fact”?
Fact: A universal statement that applies to every circumstance.
A probabilistic statement applies to some proportion of circumstances.
The “facts” of the social sciences are seldom absolute.
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The Classic Scientific Research Design
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The Classic Scientific Research Design
The Classic Scientific Research Design:
Problems in Applying to Social Science Research
The Classic Scientific Research Design
Experiment: a scientific test controlled by the researcher and designed to observe the effect of a program or treatment.
The classic research design compares specific changes to two or more groups identical except that one receives the treatment and the other does not.
Experimental group: will participate or undergo treatment
Control group: will not participate or undergo treatment
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Members of experimental group may respond differently if they know it is an experiment.
If experimental groups is only part of a larger group, the response may be different than if all parts were receiving the program.
If group includes volunteers, they may not be representative of the population as a whole.
If everyone thinks the program is beneficial before the experiment begins, no one will want to be in the control group.
The Classic Scientific Research Design: Problems in Applying to Social Science Research
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Gathering Data: Survey Research
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Survey Research
Problems in Survey Research
Assessing Public Opinion
Field Research
Most surveys ask questions of a representative sample of the population.
Random sampling: each person in the universe has an equal chance of being selected for interviewing.
Sampling error: the range of response in which a 95% chance exists that the sample reflects the universe.
SURVEY RESEARCH
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Well constructed polls can be inaccurate because public opinion is unformed, weakly held, or changing rapidly.
No national polling organization regularly polls cell phone subscribers.
Struggle to find accurate representative samples.
Problems in survey research
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Public opinion: the aggregate of opinions of individuals on topics in survey research.
Salient issues: those that people think about most and about which they hold strong and stable opinions.
The wording or phrasing of questions can often determine the outcome of a poll.
Many people believe that they should provide an answer even if they have little interest in the topic itself.
The halo effect: the tendency of respondents to give “good citizen” responses, whether truthful or not.
Assessing Public Opinion
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Field research: study by direct, personal observation of people, events, and societies.
Participant observation: the researcher both observes and participates in the society being studied.
Ethnography: the systematic description of a society’s customary behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes
Case study: an in-depth investigation of a particular event in order to understand it as fully as possible.
Field Research
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