Theory And Methods-Soc And Science

Question 1

Outline the Enlightenment(Positivist) view of science

Answer 1

• Inductive reasoning; particular cases to generalisations
• Verificationism; Prove the truth of the theory without using evidence
• Objective; the way the world is, independent of human perception
• Quantiative research links to causes
• Science finds laws by observing patterns in nature and using inductive reasoning

Question 2

Why would Positivists like TEV?

Answer 2

• Generalisations
• “Evidence”= social facts(social causes of behaviour)
• Objective; no personal influence

Question 3

Why do Interpretivists dislike TEV?

Answer 3

• Lacks meaning; uses quantitative data
• Can’t generalise society; reject inductive reasoning
• There’s a difference in what you study in sociology and science; can’t be done the same way. Human society isn’t like that

Question 4

Outline Popper’s view of science

Answer 4

• Pseudoscience; confirms beliefs and makes evidence fit
• Science; disconfirms beliefs by making risky predictions
• Fallacy of induction; inductive reasoning can always be wrong
• Falsificationism; disprove theory to prove it eg boiling water
• Truth; don’t say the theory is true say it hasn’t been falsified

Question 5

How can soc be considered a science according to Popper?

How can it not?

Explain criticism and open society

Answer 5

1. Capable of producing a hypothesis that can be falsified
2. Theory can’t be put to the test with the possibility that it can be falsified
3. People can challenge the theory and we need an open society in order to criticise eg. East Germany did not have that freedom of speech

Question 6

What is revolutionary science?

Answer 6

Challenging normal science in order to make ground breaking discoveries

Question 7

What is normal science?

Answer 7

Following the rules of science.

Problem solving within a paradigm eg solving a puzzle

Question 8

What is a paradigm shift?

Answer 8

Evidence clashes with theory so it shifts to another paradigm eg. Geocentric model

There is no progress of science, just different paradigms because the rules change

*Basic framework of concepts for theories about the natural world

Question 9

(Realism, science and sociology)

Explain Keat and Urry’s open and closed systems

Answer 9

Closed systems: Researcher can control and measure all relevant variables and therefore can make precise predictions

• often lab experiments
• quantiative

Open systems: Researcher cannot control and measure relevant variables. It is difficult to make precise predictions.
-qualitative