SOC 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Uptodate, Quasi, Stanford Prison Experiment

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

Document Summary

Epistimological questions: how we know what we know. Although there are a number of methods and perspectives employed to study people, several important concepts are used in almost all research projects including things like: theories, hypotheses, variables. Social theories refer to organized sets of propositions about how various elements of social life are related to one another. General predictions, based on these reasons, about how people will react to certain events or experiences or conditions. Research projects generally do not test theories but hypotheses, specific statemetns about how variables will relate to one another in a research study. Positive findings regarding a hypothesis simply provides support for a theory; it does not prove a theory to be correct. Sociological knowledge is based on science, a logical organized method of obtaining information through direct, systematic observation. Scientific knowledge is based on empirical evidence, information that is directly verifiable. A research method is a strategy for systematically conducting research.