Sociology 3307F/G Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Scientific Law, Null Hypothesis, Statistical Significance
8 Apr 2016
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Three main concerns as the researcher narrows in on researchable questions: What entities are to be studied (people, groups, organizations, nations) What aspects of characteristics of these entities are of interest. What kinds of relationships among the characteristics are anticipated. There are 5 factors that explain the origins of most topics. Social problems: interest in the basic problems of human condition , research meant to try and solve these social problems. Personal values of the researcher: they choose topics that interest them personally, certain group members study certain topics (women for women rights) Social premiums: social premiums are placed on different topics during different times, depends on funding, popularity/prestige of topics at time, pressures within discipline. Practical considerations: research requires time, money and personnel--- provides limitations. It is important to understand what the formulation of a researchable problem or question boils down to deciding what relationships among what variables of what units are to be studied.
