CJ 280 Lecture 1: CJ280Aug23

• School: University of Alabama
• Department: Criminal Justice
• Course: CJ 280
• Professor: Mark Lanier

Document Summary

How science differs from common sense : non-scientists use theories rather loosely, while a scientist uses theory very carefully. They systematically and empirically test and retest theories: replication: do and redo studies that have been done before, laypersons use little control to test their theories while scientists try to control the intervening variables, scientists disregard metaphysical explanations. Ideology- set of beliefs about how things should or ought to be (ex. Religion- set of beliefs that concern the dictates of some supernatural entity. Logic- system of reasoning in which specific rules are applied. Science- set of operations applied to create or understand what is going on around us. Knowledge can explain the workings of the natural, empirical world. Science creates knowledge for its own sake, not for support of policy or ideology. Theory- a set of two or more, logically interrelated empirically testable propositions for the purpose of explaining or predicting phenomena.