SOC222H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Dependent And Independent Variables
Document Summary
Provide quantitative evidence to a hypothesis/theory in the world. Empirical: observable, things that can be measured, easy to measure (temperature- water boil-observable) There are things that aren"t easily observable (racism, inequality, power-concepts, many definitions) Plug them into a spreadsheet-can be qualitative. Concept: unlimited to things that we can see. Concept can be measured in multiple ways -power-abstract concept. Why variable change across units-people, countries, organizations, the relationship between variables, variables have to vary. How variable relate to each other, they are interesting as other variable cause the change in the other variable. Dependent and independent variable: causal variable, causing a change in the other variable. A statement that describes the relationship between an independent and dependent variable, it is not a statement. Hypothesis provide a direction to the relationship, how they are related. High levels of inequality contribute to crime rates. Categorical variables and numerical variables: have both advantages and limitations.
