PARADIGMS

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PARADIGMS

• These are frames of reference that are used for
  understanding things
• Different paradigms suggest different theories
  that in turn inspire different types of research

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• Different Paradigms
• Interactionist--- holds that social life consists
  of interactions through which individuals create
  meanings
• Structural Functionalism- treats society and
  social groups as integrated whole composed of
  parts, with each performing functions within the
  whole
• Conflict social life is a struggle for
  domination

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Write the answers to the following questions in
your notebooks.

• How would a fundamentalist Christian interpret
  the world? How would they view sex education in
  schools?
• How do Marxists view the world? How would they
  explain the fact that your pencil broke while
  writing?

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• Remember that no paradigm is better or truer than
  the other. They are different ways of seeing
  reality.

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Theory --- Who Cares?

• Theories are general explanations that help us
  make sense of many interrelated things
  (description and explanation). They also help
  develop expectations about the social world
  (prediction).

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Elements of Social Theory

• Axioms fundamental assertions taken to be true
  on which theory is grounded. E.g. most economics
  is based on the axiom that people are rational.
• Proposition conclusions drawn about the
  relationship among concepts derived from axioms
• Hypotheses specific expectations about
  empirical reality derived from propositions.
  These are testable through empirical observation.

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Why have Theories?

• Help guide action Theories help us decide what
  to do when we are uncertain about a situation.
• Help guide research Theories help us comprehend
  reality.

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What makes a theory good?

• Parsimony a theory that explains phenomena with
  the fewest variables possible.
• Generality we seek to establish general laws
  which hold for all people.
• Utility seek theories that are testable and
  useful.

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Deductive vs. Inductive theory

• Inductive implies starting with general question,
  gathering large amounts of data and moving
  towards more specific general conclusion
• Deductive implies starting with specific question
  that is based.

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Inductive research

• Often call their theory Grounded Theory. why?
• Involves
• Asking general questions
• Recognize conventional wisdom
• Eliminate conventional wisdom
• Start over by observing data objectively
• General findings emerge
• Explain patterns and build theory

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Deductive Research

• Data serves to test theories
• Involves
• Picking topic and reading everything on topic
• Specify range of phenomena theory applies to
• Find propositions that are known about how
  concepts relate to one another
• Deduce testable hypothesis that identify
  specifically with proposition of general theory
• Observe data and reject or accept hypothesis

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Group Exercise

• Constitute into groups of fives and address the
  following question
• Construct a theory to explain why there is high
  likelihood of stepchildren being battered by
  their step parents.
• Construct a theory to explain why obesity is so
  prevalent nowadays.

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The Seven Main Goals of Social Research

• 1. Identifying general patterns and
  relationships
• 2. Testing and refining theories
• 3. Making predictions
• 4. Interpreting culturally or historically
  significant phenomena
• 5. Exploring diversity
• 6. Giving voice
• 7. Advancing new theories

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CAUSATION

• Determinism
• Is your behavior the product of free will?
• Social science research takes the model that
  human behavior is determined by forces beyond the
  individuals control.
• Social science operates on the basis of causal
  model that is probabilistic in nature.

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• What is not part of the deterministic model
• Social scientists do not have to believe that all
  human actions, thoughts, and feelings are
  pre-determined. But when we seek to explain
  things that lend themselves to social science
  research, then we have to use the ideas of cause
  and effect.

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• Derterministic model does not assume that causal
  patterns are simple. Nor are we all controlled by
  the same factors and forces.
• Derterministic model does not suggest we have
  answers to all questions about what causes what.

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Types of Causality

• Idiographic Singularizing approach
• Explanations are like stories apply to single
  cases or individuals in specific time periods.
• Nomothetic A very broad or generalizing
  approach to causality.
• Designed to discover those considerations that
  are most important in explaining general classes
  of events.

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Establishing Causality

• Association An empirical association between the
  dependent and independent variable must exist
• Time order the independent variable must come
  before the dependent variable.
• Non-Spuriousness if two variables (X and Y)
  happen to be related to a common extraneous
  variable Z, then there can be a statistical
  relationship between X and Y even though there is
  no causal link between the two variables. In this
  case the relationship between X and Y is spurious.

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• Defining intervening mechanism if you can
  explain the process by which X causes Y, it
  increases the confidence we have in our
  conclusions.