IPRES1

Question 1

induction

Answer 1

A process of reasoning that moves from specific observations to broader generalizations and theories.

Question 2

Deduction

Answer 2

A process of reasoning that begins with broad generalisations or theoretical propositions and then moves to specific observations.

Question 3

Verifability

Answer 3

The claim that the criterion for establishing truth claims, and thus the goal of social scientific inquiry, should be to verify statements or propositions.

Question 3

Retroduction

Answer 3

The interaction of induction and deduction in an evolving, dynamic process of discovery and hypothesis formation.

Question 4

Falsifiability

Answer 4

The claim that

(1) a scientific theory must be formulated in a way that
enables it to be disconfirmed or proven false; if it can’t be falsified it is not a theory but an ideology;

(2) when we ‘test’ a theory we should seek, not to verify, but to falsify it.

Question 5

Deductive-nomological
model

Answer 5

According to this model, something is explained when it is shown to be a member of a more general class of things, when it is deduced from a general law (nomos, in Greek) or set of laws.

Question 6

Hypothetico-deductive
model

Answer 6

According to the model, we confirm that a generalization is a law by treating it as a hypothesis, and then we test the hypothesis by deducing from it predictions of further phenomena that should be observable as a consequence of the hypothesis.

Question 6

Causal mechanism

Answer 6

Something that links a cause to its effect, that generates some type of ‘necessary connection’ between two events (the cause and the effect).