Week 3

Question 1

what is politics?

Answer 1

Activities associated with governance of a country other area, especially debate or conflict among individuals, or parties having hope to achieve power

Question 2

What is political science

Answer 2

looking for patterns, data, in multiple instances and how that helps us generalize and predict future outcomes
systematic study of governance by application of empirical and scientific methods of analysis
four major areas
American politics
comparative politics
international relations
policy theory

Question 3

Public policy

Answer 3

looking at individual instances, policies, and how they are affecting a specific area
related field that focuses on specific problems and policy areas, such as health, education, transportation, natural resources, and foreign policy

Question 4

Scientific Knowledge: How do we know things

Answer 4

nature vs nurture

Question 5

how do social scientists know things

Answer 5

scientific method is the way PS know things,
look at data to produce theory

Question 6

Systematic

Answer 6

based on careful and comprehensive observatino of thw data

Question 7

replicable

Answer 7

collected and analyzed un such a away that others can reporduce or analyze

Question 8

cumalitve

Answer 8

often revolves over time as multiple methodologies are being used and new data is being examined

Question 9

falsiable

Answer 9

open to questioning and the possibility of being disproven by new data

Question 10

why did trump win?

Answer 10

study #1: displaced workers voted for trump the economy displaced workers in the new company found trumps message of protectionism and brining back jobs appealing
study #2: fears raised by the perceived erosion of the stature and identity especially among tradition l white voters by increasing immigration perceived loosing of traditional moral values and policies promoting gender and marriage equality
study #3: racial resentment the feeling that black people and other minorities were given unfair advantages better predicts support for trump than do economic concerns
minorities were given more resources than white people

Question 11

What is true

Answer 11

false truth: often correlation and not causation
margin of error: difference between a sample and the population when only a sample of people are surveyed

Question 12

Normative argument

Answer 12

what should be, “norms”, theorizing about how things should be rather than on understanding how things actually are

Question 13

positivist argument

Answer 13

describing things as they actually are based on our observations