CH2 Research Foundations Flashcards
a sequential argument consisting of a series of logically related statements put forward to illuminate some element of social life; an explanation that develops a logical story for social phenomena
theory
the idea that the world can be subjected to observation, the use of the senses to gather data about social phenomena
empiricism
the broadest way of thinking about social life, focusing on the structure, composition and processes of society
macro level
the most intimate way of thinking about social life that focuses on face-to-face interactions and small group processes
micro level
when theories can be quantitatively or qualitatively examined
testable
when theories can be proved wrong
falsifiable
when theories can explain a broad class of events
generalizable
when theories refer to what is likely, not what is definite
probabilistic
to observe patterns and build up to an explanation (specific to general, abstract to concrete, bottom to top)
inductive
to create an argument and organize and guide empirical activities (general to specific, concrete to abstract, top to bottom)
deductive
a broad set of taken-for-granted and often unacknowledged assumptions about how social reality is to be defined; used to develop theories
paradigm
paradigm that holds that all knowledge can be confirmed or refuted through empirical observation; an approach in sociology that believes in studying things scientifically, relying on empirical evidence and observable facts rather than opinions or feelings.
positivism
a macro level framework that views society as a collection of interrelated parts, each with a unique role, that come together to form a whole; sees society as made up of different parts that work together to keep things stable and functional.
structural functionalism
a macro level perspective that contends that the struggle between the powerful and the less powerful is the key element in understanding society (Marx); society is a collection of competing interests
conflict perspective
a paradigm that views human behavior as attempts to dominate others and to avoid being dominated
conflict theory
(strengths and limitations?)
focused on small-scale conflict and believed that conflict is necessary for unity and social change
Georg Simmel
believe social behavior is best explained as the process of conflict and that the capitalistic system would eventually destroy itself
Karl Marx
paradigm that views and understands society through the experiences of women, examines the generally deprived status of women in society, and is concerned with the treatment of women and experience of opression
Feminist paradigms of conflict theory (Feminist standpoint theory - Nancy Hartsock)
paradigm grounded in race awareness and an intention to achieve racial justice
Critical Race Theory
Theorist rooted in Civil Rights movement who believed African Americans lived their lives through “dual consciousness”
W.E.B DuBois
Theorist associated with interest convergence (majority group members will only support interests of minority groups when it also benefits majority group)
Derrick Bell
Theorist who introduced and developed intersectional theory (study of overlapping or intersecting social identities)
Kimberle Crenshaw
theory that applies economic principles to the study of social life; belief that life trajectories are under our control and social institutions will behave in predictable ways; It assumes individuals make logical decisions to maximize their own interests.
Rational choice theory
(strengths and limitations?)
theory that posits humans communicate through symbolic exchange in the form of spoken and unspoken communication; focuses on how societal issues play out among individuals
symbolic interactionism
a paradigm that views human behavior as the creation of meaning through social interactions, with those meaning conditioning subsequent interaction; focuses on how people create meaning through interactions and symbols like words and gestures.
symbolic interactionism
(strengths and limitations?)
paradigm characterized by significant skepticism of claims about general truths, facts, or principles
postmodernism
variables whose attributes are merely different; they are exhaustive and mutually exclusive; no natural ordering;
nominal
variables with attributes we can logically rank in order; can determine the order of categories but there is no quantifiable distance between the categories
ordinal
variables whose attributes are rank-ordered and have equal distances between adjacent attributes; zero represents an additional point of measurement (no true zero)
interval
variable whose attributes meet the requirements of an interval measure, but have a true zero point
ratio
