Unit 1: Theories, models and descriptive inference Flashcards
Define “ontology”
The nature of the social world and its basic elements (“There’s no such thing as …”)
Define “epistemology”
What it is possible to know about the social world (“It’s impossible to know that …”)
“What can we know about social phenomena? What type or form of knowledge can we treat as legitimate knowledge about the social world?
What is “methodology”
How we obtain knowledge about the world (“You’ve used the wrong tool” or you’ve used the tool wrong”)
What are the means and methods that can provide us with legitimate knowledge of the political world?
“Ontology” and “Epistemology” (vs) “Methodology”
Ontology→ What exists?
Epistemology→ What sort of knowledge of it is possible?
Methodology→ What strategies can we use to GAIN that knowledge?
Define “positivism.”
A philosophy according to which the social world is amenable to the techniques and explanations of natural science.
What are the characteristic features of positivistm
o Naturalism
o Empiricism
o The goal of social science is to explain and predict social phenomena by means of laws: develop law-like generalizations about the world akin to laws of nature (gravity etc.)
o The pursuit of knowledge of the social world through application of the scientific methods used in the natural sciences it is possible to distinguish between facts and values, and to treat ‘facts’ as independent of the observer and the observer’s values.
What is naturalism
There’s no fundamental difference between natural and social sciences (ontology)
What is empiricism
What we know about the world originates in observation (epistemology)
While reading an academic article, what sorts of clues would you look for to identify the article as positivist?
Some clues you would look for to identify the article as positivist are: the use of theories or “covering laws” to explain the world, hypotheses or “observable implications are then derived from the covering law, hypotheses are then tested using empirical data (begin by establishing a theory to be tested, explicitly state hypotheses)
Define “interpretivism.”
Interpretivism is a philosophy according to which the social world is fundamentally different from the natural world, making the methods of natural science inapplicable to the study of social phenomena. The goal of social science is to interpret the meanings, beliefs, and ideas that give people reasons for acting.
What are the characteristic features of interpretivism?
o Human behavior is the product of the meanings and intentions that actors employ
o Social science must use interpretive methods to understand these meanings and intentions – treat everything as “text” to be interpreted
While reading an academic article, what sorts of clues would you look for to identify the article as interpretivist?
Some clues you would look for to identify the article as interpretivist are: the facts are not divorced from their context, all actions must be understood in terms of the beliefs and contexts of those who are engaging in them, an emphasis on qualitative, enthusiasm for ethnographic methods, emphasis on thick description, absence of hypothesis
Define “critical theory.”
An approach to social science in which practical, explanatory, and normative considerations are interwoven in an attempt to explain and challenge oppressive power structures.
What are the characteristic features of critical theory
o The goal of social science is not only to understand or explain society, it is to critique and ultimately change society. “Value-free” social science is nonsense.
o Emphasize a “democratic” approach to social science which focuses on the lived experiences of real people in context. Methodologically, some similarities here with interpretive theories.
o Make an explicit, conscious effort to fuse action and theory. Normative focus on bringing about change. Critical theorists align themselves normatively with the oppressed.
o Recent critical theory emphasizes multiple “ways of knowing”
While reading an academic article, what sorts of clues would you look for to identify the article as “critical theory”?
reflexivity and self-positioning, particularly in the early parts of work, explicitly normative, interpretivist and qualitative methodologies
What is the difference between “positivist interpretivism” and “critical interpretivism”?
The difference between positivist interpretivism and critical interpretivism is that in positivist interpretivism “value free” social science is possible when researching meaning whereas in critical interpretivism “value-free” social science is not possible
What is the relationship between different philosophies of science and political science methods? Are there particular methods (e.g. quantitative statistics, qualitative interviews) that are more common in some philosophical “schools” of thought than others?
Interpretivism has an emphasis on qualitative studies, ethnographic methods and descriptions (no hypotheses)
Positivists would use quantitative statistics and a more experimental approa
What is the difference between “normative questions” and “empirical questions”?
Empirical questions address events and political phenomena that we observe in the real world: questions about what is;
Normative questions address questions about what should or ought to be.
Do positivists believe the two (normative and empirical questions) can be separated from each other? What about interpretivists? What about critical theorists?
Positivists believe that we can acquire knowledge on the world only through empiricism. Legitimate knowledge is only what can be observed.
Interpretivists believe that the social world is fundamentally different from from the natural world. We cannot gain insight by employing methods used to explain the natural world (Empirical)
Critical theory questions are strictly normative
What is the difference between “grand theory” and “theory of the middle range”?
The definition of these types of theories, and the difference between them are based on their scope and level of generalizability.
Grand theory is what he characterized as ‘all-inclusive systematic efforts to develop a unified theory that will explain all the observed uniformities of social be- haviour, social organization, and social change’ (1968: 39). Merton argued that grand and abstract theories of society provided no basis for an empirical social science. He therefore called on theorists to apply themselves to the development of what he called ‘theories of the middle range’: theories that attempted to understand and explain a limited aspect of social life, a more restricted domain or set of social phenomena. These explanations could then be verified through empirical research and then perhaps systematized into theoretical systems of broader scope and content.
hat’s the difference between “empirical” and “normative” theory?
Empirical theory is concerned with questions that can be answered with empirical data (data gathered through observations of the world around us).
Normative theory is concerned with questions about what is right and wrong, desirable or undesirable, just or unjust in society
What are the three characteristic features of a theory?
Organizational
Predictive
Explanatory
Describe what is meant in saying that a theory is organizational, predictive, and explanatory.
o Theories are organizational — they provide “conceptual machinery”
o Theories are predictive — they enable expectations about what will happen
o Theories are explanatory — they implicitly or explicitly offer causal accounts of political action
Define “rational choice theory”
Pays little attention to differences across social, cultural, and historical settings. In explaining social outcomes, it assumes that, in any particular set of circumstances or strategic interactions, the rational choices of individuals will produce predictable, law-like outcomes.
Human behaviors reflect rational responses to situations.
Human behavior reflects a calculation of the expected benefits and costs of actions and an attempt to optimize utility
Outline the characteristic features of rational choice theory
The theory is organizational - conceptual machinery that includes “individuals,” social interaction as a form of “exchange”, the idea of utility
The theory is predictive - individuals respond to incentives, if we increase the utility of an option, people will take it (e.g vaccination lottery)
The theory is explanatory - explain events (revolutions, elections, peasant rebellions, even marriages and family) by decomposing and analyzing the actors and the options they have within specific situations
Describe the role of theory in Colin Kahl’s research, as described in the textbook and in class
Kahl uses the two prevailing theories to draw core hypotheses from each and the goes on to test them and propose his own hypothesis
What are the clues that a project begins with induction or deduction?
Some of the clues that a project begins with induction or deduction would be
if the project starts with an observation (induction) or a theory (deduction)
What is inductive reasoning?
Observation, Pattern, Tentative Hypothesis, Theory
Using inductive reasoning, you infer a purely correlational relationship where nothing causes the other thing to occur. Instead, one event may act as a “sign” that another event will occur or is currently occurring.
What is deductive reasoning
Theory, Hypothesis, Observation, Confirmation
Begins with an initial assumption
Then a second statement/premise is made about the first assumption
Then testing
Then conclusion
