Quote for Science
logical system that bases knowledge on direct, systematic observation
Science is a way of
knowing something or body of knowledge itself
Common sense vs. Scientific evidence
Sociologists apply science in much the same way that natural scientists do
concept of science quote
Mental construct that represent some part of the world, inevitably in a simplified form
The concept is
society, religion, economy, sex, race, social class
Variable of science quote
a concept whose value changes from case to case
variable is
Independent variable and dependent variable
measurement
the process of determining the value of a variable in a specific way; social class by income per month
Operationalization
specifying exactly what one is to measure in assigning a value to variable
reliability of measurement
the quality of consistent measurement
validity
quality of measuring precisely what one intends to measure (religiosity & attendance of church service)
Independent & dependent variable correlation
two variables are related in some way
spurious correlation means an apparent although false
association between two variables caused by some other variable
to see if it is spurious or not we need to
control, which means neutralization of the effect of one or other variable
the difference between social and natural science in controlling
limitation of scientific knowledge
(1) human behavior is too complex to predict
individuals actions
(2) The mere presence of researcher may affect the
behavior ( 1930 western electric co. lighting and productivity)
(3) social pattern change
constantly
(4) sociologists are part of
society, difficult to secure objectivity
Method examples:
-Experiment
-Survey research
-national political survey
-participant observation
-secondary analysis
Experiment
-logic of science is expressed
-investigate the cause and effect under controlled condition
-test is usually a specific hypothesis
Survey Research
-subjects respond to series of items in questionnaire
-population; people who are the focus of our research
-samples a part of population who researcher select to represent the whole population
-random sampling; each elements in the population has the same chance to be selected
National Political Survey
1936 literary digest wrong prediction Franklin Roosevelt's defeat from wrong sampling Gallup
Participant Observation
-systematically observe people while joining in their routine activities (fieldwork) anthropology in qualitative method
-ex) street corner society by William whyte study on first and second generation of Italian immigrant living
secondary analysis
method using data collected by other, organizations
-ex) population reports or study by US census bureau, GSS for social science (show them)