《社会研究方法》艾尔巴比英文pptCh3.ppt

The Practice of Social Research,Earl Babbie Chapman University,Part 1,An Introduction to Inquiry,Chapter 1,Human Inquiry and Science,Chapter Outline,Looking for Reality The Foundations of Social Science Some Dialectics of Social Research The Ethics of Social Research,How We Know What We Know,Direct Experience and Observation Personal Inquiry Tradition Authority,Looking for Reality,Our attempts to learn about the world are only partly linked to direct, personal inquiry or experience. A larger part comes from agreed-on knowledge that others give us, things “everyone knows.” This agreement reality both assists and hinders our attempts to find out for ourselves.,Sources of Secondhand Knowledge,Both provide a starting point for inquiry, but can lead us to start at the wrong point and push us in the wrong direction. Tradition Authority,Science and Inquiry,Epistemology is the science of knowing. Methodology (a subfield of epistemology) might be called the science of finding out.,Question,How do individuals learn all they need to know? personal experience Discovery from what others tell us all of these choices,Answer: D,Individuals learn all they need to know from personal experience, discovery and from what others tell us.,Ordinary Human Inquiry,Humans recognize that future circumstances are caused by present ones. Humans learn that patterns of cause and effect are probabilistic in nature. Humans aim to answer “what” and “why” questions, and pursue these goals by observing and figuring out.,Inquiry: Errors and Solutions,Inaccurate observations Measurement devices add precision. Overgeneralization Repeat a study to make sure the same results are produced each time.,Inquiry: Errors and Solutions,Selective observation Make an effort to find cases that do not fit the general pattern. Illogical Reasoning Use systems of logic explicitly.,Views of Reality,Premodern - Things are as they seem to be. Modern - Acknowledgment of human subjectivity. Postmodern -There is no objective reality to be observed.,A Book,All of these are the same book, but it looks different when viewed from different locations, perspectives, or “points of view.”,Point of View,Wifes Point of View. There is no question in the wifes mind as to who is right and rational and who is out of control.,Point of View,Husbands Point of View. The husband has a very different perception of the same set of events, of course.,Question,In your discussion of measurement with a friend, she argues that what you are trying to measure does not exist and your own point of view will determine what you perceive in measuring. She has which view of reality? correct premodern modern postmodern Scientific,Answer: D,In your discussion of measurement with a friend, she argues that what you are trying to measure does not exist and your own point of view will determine what you perceive in measuring. She has the postmodern view of reality.,Question,Youve gotten As on the last three tests. You have a research project due the last day of class and youre sure youre going to flunk because something has to break this streak of good luck. Youve fallen prey to: illogical reasoning. inaccurate observation. selective observation. over-emphasis on tradition. overgeneralization.,Answer: A,Youve gotten As on the last three tests. You have a research project due the last day of class and youre sure youre going to flunk because something has to break this streak of good luck. Youve fallen prey to illogical reasoning.,Foundations of Social Science,The foundations of social science are logic and observation. A scientific understanding of the world must make sense and correspond to what we observe. Both are essential to science and relate to the three major aspects of social scientific enterprise: theory, data collection, and data analysis.,Foundations of Social Science,Theory - Systematic explanation for the observations that relate to a particular aspect of life. Data collection - observation Data Analysis - the comparison of what is logically expected with what is actually observed.,Social Regularities,Examples of Patterns in social life: Only people 18 and older can vote. Only people with a license can drive.,Aggregates,The collective actions and situations of many individuals. Focus of social science is to explain why aggregated patterns of behavior are regular even when individuals change over time.,Birthrates,United States: 1980 2002,1982 15.9 1983 15.6 1984 15.6 1985 15.8 1986 15.6 1987 15.7 1988 16.0 1989 16.4 1990 16.7 1991 16.2 1992 15.8,1993 15.4 1994 15.0 1995 14.6 1996 14.4 1997 14.2 1998 14.3 1999 14.2 2000 14.4 2001 14.1 2002 13.9,Question,Social research aims to find _ in social life. answers knowledge practicality regularity truth,Answer: D,Social research aims to find regularity in social life.,A Variable Language,Variable Logical groupings of attributes. Attribute Characteristics or qualities that describe an object.,A Variable Language,Independent variable A variable that is presumed to cause or determine a dependent variable. Dependent variable A variable that is assumed to depend on or is caused by another variable.,Variable Language,Relationship Between Two Variables,Education and Racial Prejudice,Question,Professor Fremler examined the following categories of marital status: married, never married, widowed, separated, and divorced. These categories are known as variables. attributes. variable categories. units of analysis. theoretical elements.,Answer: B,Professor Fremler examined the following categories of marital status: married, never married, widowed, separated, and divorced. These categories are known as attributes.,Approaches to Social Research,Idiographic -Seeks to fully understand the causes of what happened in a single instance. NomotheticSeeks to explain a class of situations or events rather than a single one.,Idiographic and Nomothetic Reasoning in Everyday Life,Idiographic: “Hes like that because his father and mother kept giving him mixed signals.The fact that his family moved seven times by the time he was 12 years old didnt help. Moreover, his older brother is exactly the same and probably served as a role model.” Nomothetic:“Teenage boys are like that.”,Approaches to Social Research,Induction From specific observations to the discovery of a pattern among all the given events. Deduction - From a pattern that might be logically expected to observations that test whether the pattern occurs.,The Wheel of Science,Approaches to Social Research,Qualitative Data Nonnumerical data. Quantitative Data -Numerical data. Makes observations more explicit and makes it easier to aggregate, compare, and summarize data.,Approaches to Social Research,Pure Research - Sometimes justified in terms of gaining “knowledge for knowledges sake.” Applied Research Putting research into practice.,Ethical Guidelines of Social Research,Two Basic Guidelines: Participation should be voluntary. Social research must bring no harm to research subjects.,Quick Quiz,1. The two foundations of science are tradition and observation. observation and logic. logic and theory. theory and observation. logic and generalization.,Answer: B,The two foundations of science are observation and logic.,2. Science deals with what should be and not with what is. can settle debates on value. is exclusively descriptive. has to do with disproving philosophical beliefs. has to do with how things are and why.,Answer: E,Science has to do with how things are and why.,3. When social scientists study var