SOAN 2120 Chapter 1-5: Fundamentals of Social Research Chapters 1-5 .docx
15 Apr 2012
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Most of what we know is a matter of agreement and belief. Little is based on personal experience and discovery. We know that the dark side of the moon is cold. When our experience conflicts with what everyone else knows, there is a good chance that we"ll surrender our experience in favor of the agreement. A question that often comes up is: how can we know what is really real? and some people give the answer of science. A scientific assertion must have both logical and empirical support: it must make sense, and it must not contradict actual observation. Practically all people exhibit desire to predict their future circumstances. Humans are predisposition to realize that their future circumstances are somehow caused or conditioned through present ones. Science makes these concepts of probability and causality more explicit and provides techniques for dealing with them more rigorously then does human inquiry- it sharpens the skills we already have.
