SOCI 1F90 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Role Theory, Participant Observation, Ethnography
6 Nov 2014
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Document Summary
Research methods: what is social research, goal: learn something about the social world, a systematic process: Social research paradigms: quantitative, uses numbers, social life converted into numbers, numbers manipulated statistically to find patterns, determines cause/effect or probability, large groups of people. Positivism: philosophy of research 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. Stressed because there are too many roles (hypothesis) Jobs were not the cause of stress, they enjoyed the empowerment of their job. Benefits/characteristics: holistic gives a complete picture of the social problem, its context, subjective aspects of life everyday experiences, meaning. Challenges: gathering data takes time, a large set of data collection skills required, difficult to learn analytical skills: interpretation. Quantitative data do we like to listen to music, what music and how many like to listen to certain music.
