SOCI 1F90 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Deductive Reasoning, Qualitative Sociology, Antipositivism
1 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
Contemporary social theories concluded (overviews posted sept 23) Theoretical perspective & research questions: methodology and method, quantitative research (positivism and anti-positivism, quantitative sociology: definitions, operational definition, objectivity, errors and bias. Theory: a statement that tries to explain how certain facts or variables are related to predict future events. Theory does not happen in isolation from research. It can inform the research process and it can develop from it. Research: systematic approach to gathering data using an agreed upon set of methods (from textbook) Deductive logic is a top-down theory-driven approach that concludes with generalizations based on research findings theory to data. You express a hypothesis, create or observe instances as the theory goes on, and you think of things that could make the theory better or change it to make it work. Inductive logic is a bottom-up approach that begins with observations and characteristically ends with theory construction data to theory.
