Chapter 2 Review Flashcards
What is a Theory
A set of statements
It is unconfirmed so you can find a set of statements
A system on interconnected concepts that condenses and organizes
knowledge about the social world
Why is theory important to Social Scientists?
They are good for explaining:
- recurring patters
- aggregate Behaviour
- And making problistic Statement
What are the parts of the Theory?
Concept
Concept Clusters
Scope
Assumption
What are concepts
All theory is made up of concepts
They have 2 parts a symbol and a definition
What are Concept Clusters
They are a collection of shared concepts
The Positivist Approach
Assumes that there is an objective reality that we know
They often use quantitative methods
Sees social world as the natural world\
Interpretive Approach
How people define the world and how they place meaning on things
Necessary to create a special type of science, one based on the uniqueness of humans that can really capture human social life
The 5 Aspects of Theory
- Direction of its reasoning
- Range of Theory
- Level of social reality
- Overall Framework of concepts/assumption
Direction of theorizing
Deductive
- Most often used in qualitative studies
- Hypothesis testing
Inductive
- Opposite Direction
Range of theory
Theoretical Framework
- Positivism
Middle range theories
Empirical generalization
Levels of social reality
Macro
- Whole Societies
Meso
- Organizations
Micro
-Small Slices
The framework of concepts/approaches
Positivist Approach
- Assumes that there is an objective reality that we know
- They often use quantitative methods
Interpretive Approach
- How people define the world and how they place meaning on things
- Necessary to create a special type of science, one based on the uniqueness of humans that can really capture human social life
Critical approach
- They tend to approach social science with a particular goal
- They want to be able to change things
Benefit some group
Scope
Concepts vary by scope. Some are highly abstract, some are at a middle level of abstraction, and some are at a concrete level
Assumptions
All theories contain assumptions refer to the nature of things that may be obervable and testable - they are foundational and allow us to build theory on them
