Science

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Science

• Respond to the following...
• When I think about a scientist, I think of
• If I were going to be a scientist, I should like
  to be the kind of scientist who
• If I were going to be a scientist, I would like
  to be the kind of scientist who
• When I think of a social scientist, I think of

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• Science is an objective, logical, and systematic
  method of analyzing phenomena, devised to permit
  the accumulation of reliable knowledge..

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• Premises of science are
• empiricism
• objectivity
• control
• The product of science is knowledge

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Science and Common Sense

• Science
• Systematically builds theories, examines their
  logical consistency and subjects them to
  empirical test
• Conducts rigorous test of theories and hypotheses

• Common Sense
• Uses theories and concepts loosely often blandly
  accepts fanciful explanations
• Selectively perceives instances that support ones
  theories

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• Incorporates controls in tests of theories asks
  if other causes may explain phenomena
• Consciously and systematically indentifies and
  tests patterns

• Makes little effort to control for extraneous
  influences tends to accept preconceived
  explanations
• Loose preoccupation with patterned relations
  leads to illusions of cause and effect

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• Addresses empirically testable questions and
  explanations

• May address nontestable issues and metaphysical
  explanations

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IDIOGRAPHIC AND NOMOTHETIC EXPLANATIONS

• Idiographic explanation accounts for the facts in
  a single case
• nomothetic explanation accounts for the facts in
  many cases

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SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

• Importance of social research
• Help solve social problems by understanding how
  they come about, and why they persist.
• Makes clear an aspect of the social world that
  has been confused by commonsense arguments

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• Research Methods is the science of knowing things
  about the world around us.

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• SOCIAL SCIENTIFIC APPROACH
• answers questions about the social world.
• relies on logical and systematic methods to
  answer questions.
• For any scientific enterpriseit must
• a) make sense
• b) correspond to what we observe