SOC 1101 Chapter 3: Soc Chapter 3

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1101
• Professor: Willow Scobie

Document Summary

Sociologic research is a scienti c endeavour - meaning is is based on or rooted in science. Science is the study of empirical evidence through observation and experiment. Empirical evidence is tangible evidence - is has been acquired through direct observation and can be veri ed. A research strategy is the general orientation or approach a sociologist takes in conduction research. When quantitative it has to do with data and can be expressed in numbers, percentages, or rates. When qualitative the data is rich in detailed description, not numbers. From this data (known facts and statistics) the sociologists make an explanation of some observed regularity - a theory. Inductive - a theory is an outcome of research rather than a starting point. Deductive - theory is used to generate a hypothesis which is then tested. Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that deals with nature, scope, and limitations of knowledge.