Social Research Methods 2206 Test 1
Theory -
a system of ideas that are used to explain the causes and/or consequences of social
phenomena
Theory is made up of -
Definitions, Descriptions of Phenomena of Interest, Relational Statements
Relational Statements: Deterministic -
2 concepts or variables always go together
Relational Statements: Probabilistic -
2 concepts regularly but not always go together
Grand Theory -
all encompassing with regards to time and space, tends to be difficult to link with
real world in a directly testable way
Middle-Range Theory -
more limited in scope and less abstract, tend to refer to more specific time/place
Research -
a mixture of observations and interpretations that either she light on existing theory
and/or help us build new theories
Deductive Approach -
Theory-->observations/findings
6 Steps in Deductive Approach (The huge duck finds himself pale) -
Theory, Hypothesis, Data Collection, Findings, hypothesis confirmed/ rejected,
possible revision of theory
Inductive Approach -
Observations-->theory
3 Steps in Inductive Approach (Give Mom Donuts) -
Gather data, make statements and generalizations, derive explanatory theory from
these statements
Epistemology -
What is knowledge? We construct and define as human beings, we socially decide
what is acceptable. How do we come to know something? It comes from experience and
authority
Positivism -
Explanation of social behaviour, evidence based on the senses, knowledge in the
social sciences should be gathered in the same way as in the natural sciences
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