SOC 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Research, Stanford Prison Experiment, Scientific Theory

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1101
• Professor: Sam Alvaro

Document Summary

Number of methods and perspectives employed to study people. Several important concepts are used in almost all research projects including tings like: theories, hypotheses, variables. Social theories refer to organized sets of propositions about how various elements of social life are related to one another. Theories have 3 components: general statements about social relationships, statements about the causes of those relationships, general prediction, based on these reasons, about how people will react to certain events or experiences or conditions. Specific statements about how variables will relate to one another in a research study. Research projects generally do not test theories but hypotheses. Positive findings regarding hypothesis simply provides support for a theory; it doesn"t prove a theory to be correct. Sociological knowledge is based on science, a logical organized method of obtaining info through direct, systematic observation. Scientific knowledge is based on empirical evidence, information that is directly verifiable. Research method strategy for systematically conducting research.