SOCI 1F90 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Participant Observation, Qualitative Property, Ethnography
3 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Theories: explanations developed from careful observations of the social world we call. Tuesday, november 2, 2016 these observations empirical data. Research: systematic processes by which we gather empirical data. Goal of social research: learn something about the social world. Social research paradigms (2: quantitative, uses numbers, social life converted into numbers, numbers manipulated statistically to find patterns, used to, determine cause/effect, probability-examples, large groups of people. Philosophy or quantitative research borrowed from physical sciences. 4 tenets: a single objective truth can be discovered, right and wrong answers, numbers don"t lie, research can be objective, unbiased. Not: revise theory and test again: develop a theory from other research, develop hypotheses (logical extensions of the theory), sample, design, collect data and conduct statistical analyses, e. g. phyllis moen"s study. Says too little about too much of social life. Can"t explain complicated processes in the context of everyday life.
