SOC200 - Introduction

Question 1

Agreement Reality

Answer 1

known through culture

we accept reality that people believe is true, true in our culture

Question 2

Experiential Reality

Answer 2

known through personal experience + discovery

Question 3

Agreement: Ways of knowing

Answer 3

Tradition
Authority
•Inherited knowledge
•Experts, leaders, parents – dangerous when outside of expertise

Question 4

Experiential: Ways of knowing

Answer 4

Personal Inquiry & Experience
•Both necessary, one not truer than other
•Can’t experience everything, easier to accept some things are true

Question 5

OVERGENERALIZATION

Answer 5

assuming few similar events evidence of a pattern
•Researchers say it’s a gateway drug
•But assuming all marijuana consumers will move onto harder drugs + criminal life is overgeneralization
•Replication: repeating experiment to see if you get the same results

Question 6

SELECTIVE OBSERVATION

Answer 6

focus on events/situations that agree with pattern

Question 7

INACCURATE OBSERVATIONS

Answer 7

aren’t engaged in consciously, methodically/with proper tools can be misrepresented
•Asking parents if kid smoke pot + not kid

Question 8

ILLOGICAL REASONING

Answer 8

no basis in logic
•Gateway theory seems logical
•It doesn’t make sense if they go from hard drugs to softer drugs
•Gamblers fallacy: assume that a consistent run of good luck or bad luck foreshadows it’s opposite

Question 9

SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING MUST

Answer 9

Make sense (be logical)

Correspond to what we observe

Question 10

ASPECTS OF SOCIAL “SCIENCE”: Social Theory

Answer 10

Reasoning about the workings of the social world

Question 11

ASPECTS OF SOCIAL “SCIENCE”: Data Collection (observation)

Answer 11

-in methodical + systemic way

Question 12

ASPECTS OF SOCIAL “SCIENCE”: Data Analysis

Do the observations correspond to the theory? (or vice versa)

Answer 12

Do the observations correspond to the theory? (or vice versa)
•Bidirectional – can go either way
looks for patterns + observations + compares what is logically expected with what is actually observed

Question 13

SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

Answer 13

Follows a logical method of inquiry and observation
-Driven by theory + logic, not belief/philosophy
-Stresses what “is” NOT what “should be”
•Must substantiate subjective view, would have to be balanced against evidence

Question 14

SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

Answer 14

Finds patterns in social life, or patterns in behaviour attributed to social phenomena
•Social regularities
•Why + when ppl act in predictable/nonpredictable manner

Question 15

SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

Answer 15

individual NOT generally the primary focus
•Individual usually source of info, but aggregates focus
Draws on a language of agreed upon concepts +
terms for doing research
why aggregate patterns of behavior are regular even when individuals change

Question 16

Data

Answer 16

the information for your research

Question 17

Quantitative

Answer 17

numeric data
•Easier to aggregate, compare, and summarize data
•Statistical analysis
•Lose richness of meaning by converting it into a number

Question 18

Qualitative

Answer 18

non-numeric data
•Relies on verbal
•Case studies
•Rich description
•Ambiguous explanation: You don’t know exactly what someone else means by the expression and vice versa

Question 19

Quantitative Variable

Answer 19

logical groupings of attributes

age, years of education, IQ score, score on a happiness scale

Question 20

Qualitative Variable

Answer 20

old, an educated person intelligent, happy

Question 21

Attributes

Answer 21

characteristics of people or things 35, over 65, grey hair
18, a university professor 165, smooth talker
80 out of 100, smiling person

Question 22

Independent + Dependent Variable

Answer 22

Independent: presumed to cause/determine a Dependent
Dependent: variable assumed to be caused by another

Question 23

Inductive Reasoning

Answer 23

General principles developed from specific observations

Specific Observations to General Principle

Question 24

Deductive Reasoning

Answer 24

Specific hypotheses developed from general principles

General Principle to Specific Hypothesis

Question 25

Relationships

Answer 25

• Never a single cause

* Lots of factors can be an independent variable

Question 26

Pure research

Answer 26

knowledge for knowledge’s sake

Question 27

Applied research

Answer 27

Social scientists are committed to seeing their knowledge of society put into action