Chapter 2

Question 1

Explain the pre-modern, modern, and postmodern views of reality

Answer 1

Pre-modern:
- very black and white - things weren’t questioned
- only one reality

Modern:
- emerged out of the enlightenment (1800s)
- rejection of supernatural means as the cause of certain events –> growth of literacy and science and an understanding of other points of view
- emergence of logical positivism –> still one reality but our challenge was to discover it

Postmodern view:
- popularized after WWII
- reality is in the eye of the beholder
- questioning reality/madness is seen as the defiance of social norms

Question 2

What is a paradigm?

Answer 2

A theoretical perspective including a set of assumptions about reality that guide research questions

• they’re not true or false - they’re simply ways of looking that are more or less useful

Question 3

What are macro and micro theories?

Answer 3

Macro –> theoretical perspectives aimed at understanding the big picture of institutions, whole societies, and the interactions among societies

Micro –> theoretical perspectives aimed at understanding social life at the intimate level of individuals and their interactions

Question 4

What are the four sociological paradigms/theoretical models? (+which are macro and micro)

Answer 4

1. Structural Functionalism (macro) - concerns VALUES
   - durkheims study of suicide
   - social change and solidarity - shared values considered good and if you lose those those values it’s dysfunctional
   - how do the institutions of society contribute to social stability
2. Conflict theory (macro) - concerns INEQUALITY
   - fundamentally exploitative relationship - upper class keeping control over the lower class
3. Symbolic interactionism (micro) - concerns MEANING
   - there are multiple realities
   - how do individuals communicate so as to make their social settings meaningful?
4. Feminist theory (micro and macro) - concerns PATRIARCHY
   - which social structures and interaction processes maintain male dominance and female subordination

Question 5

What is bias and what is objectivity?

Answer 5

bias = a systematic predisposition to reach a certain conclusion

objectivity = the absence of bias (if enough people agree on something, there’s probably something to it)

Question 6

What are propositions?

Answer 6

Statements expressing relationships between abstract concepts
ex. expressing how does social inequality relate to health

Question 7

since concepts are abstract, propositions are abstract, and therefore, theories are ______

Answer 7

abstract

Question 8

What is operationalization?

Answer 8

The process of translating abstract concepts into variables that indicate the concepts

• deciding how to measure a concept
• the concepts “national inequality” and “community health”, while meaningful, are abstract, and they need to be clarified by using a variable to indicate what they “mean”

Question 9

What is empirical deduction?

Answer 9

The logical process for transforming a theoretical proposition into a research hypothesis

Question 10

What is a hypothesis? What is they key to it?

Answer 10

A theoretically informed expectation about empirical patterns expressed as a relationship between variables
ALSO
- testable form of a proposition
- tentative answer to a research problem
- clearly states an expected relationship between an IV and DV
- must be testable and falsifiable

KEY:
- form an unambiguous statement about a relationship between 2 variables, so you can test it

Question 11

What are the three main elements in the traditional model of science?

Answer 11

1. Theory
   - propositions
   - abstract concepts
2. Operationalization
   - concepts
   - variables
3. Observation

Question 12

What is a two tailed hypotheses and a one tailed hypotheses?

Answer 12

two tailed = non directional
- ex. SES is related to crime

one tailed = directional
- you add a level of specificity (the higher your SES, the less likely you are to be convicted of a crime
- ex. SES is negatively related to criminality
- you can only have a directional relationship when both variables are numeric / quantitative

Question 13

3 functions of theories in research

Answer 13

1. they prevent out being taken in by flukes
2. make sense of observed patterns in ways that can suggest other possibilities
3. can shape and direct research efforts, pointing toward likely discoveries through empirical observation

Question 14

What is rationality and reasonableness?

Answer 14

rationality = refers to quality of thinking ; specifically, rationality refers to logical consistency, to a lack of contradiction in linking thoughts together

reasonableness = a quality of mind that is open to new ideas and evidence

Question 15

Describe a dogmatic person

Answer 15

An individual who has an internally consistent set of views that they stubbornly cling to no matter what - they have no doubts about their beliefs

Question 16

Describe positivism

Answer 16

The view of positivism rested on the belief in an independent reality waiting to be discovered - if only scientists could put aside their biases and see it objectively
- for the most part, this view was held as The Truth
- has generally represented the belief in a logically ordered, objective reality that we can come to know better and better through science

Question 17

how are paradigms and theories different

Answer 17

paradigms offer ways of looking

theories aim at explaining what we see

Question 18

Describe the Comfort Hypothesis
What kind of model did this research example follow?

Answer 18

• the textbook first framed that it followed the deductive model BUT in reality they followed an inductive model - started with surveys asking people about the variables and their church involvement and then ended up with the theory

Glock, Ringer, and Babbie - set out with a questionnaire to collect information from parishioners that might shed light on why some people participate in the church more than others

• chose variables that have a wide impact on people’s lives (gender, age, SES, and family status)
• and chose 3 measures of religious involvement : ritual, organizational, and intellectual

1: men enjoyed more status than women in our society - and found that women were more religious than men (50% higher)

2: older people would be more deprived of gratification in a youth-oriented society - and found that oldies were more religious

3: low SES = more religious

4. lacking family components like marriage and children = more religious

Finally: those with all of these 4 factors were the absolute most religious

*this led them to their theory that each variable reflected differential status in the secular society

Question 19

What are the three basic steps of an inductive research model and a deductive one

Answer 19

inductive: observations, find a pattern, tentative conclusion (tentative because the observations we have made cannot be taken as a test of the pattern - they are the source of the pattern we’ve created

deductive: hypothesis, observations, accept or reject hypothesis

Question 20

What is distributive justice?

Answer 20

People’s perceptions of whether they’re being treated fairly by life - whether they’re getting “their share”

Question 21

What are axioms?

Answer 21

theoretical propositions that are assumed to be true

Question 22

What is field research?

Answer 22

The direct observation of events in progress

Question 23

What are some common characteristics in indigenous research methods?

Answer 23

• contextual reflection : researchers must situate themselves and the indigenous peoples with whom they are collaborating in the research process
• Inclusion of indigenous peoples in the research process in a way that is respectful and reciprocal as well as decolonizing and preserves self-determination
• prioritization of indigenous ways of knowing

Question 24

What are the four “R’s” involved in Indigenous research methodologies

Answer 24

1. Respect
   - egalitarian relationships between researcher and participants
   - voluntary participation
   - respect shown to the natural world
2. Responsibility
   - researcher takes responsibility for the knowledge shared through the research
3. Relevance
   - relevance of research should be determined by the community
4. Reciprocity
   - importance of serving the community and of maintaining balance in research relationships (mutual and equitable sharing of knowledge and power)