SOAN 2120 Midterm: Midterm Review
14 Dec 2011
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Document Summary
Requires 3 attributes: curiosity of the motivating force behind scientific inquiry, scepticism means not taking things for granted, critical thinking is productive and creative. To improve our theories we look for information that can falsify our theory: research ideas come from: theory, experience, interest/curiosity, observation, thoughts, questions and questions from reading other people"s observations. Social scientists: qualitative social scientist involved in lengthy field studies, in-depth interviews and intense case analysis, quantitative social scientist makes generalizations, indentifies various hypotheses and tests them. What is science: a set of logical empirical methods i. e. drawing inferences from hypotheses, systematic observation, experimentation, methodology, epistemology science of knowing. What is pseudo-science: set of ideas based on theories put forth as scientific when they aren"t, based on authority, text, myths and legends, can"t be tested. 2 pillars of science are logic and observation. 3 major aspects are: theory, data collection and data analysis. Dialectics of social research: quantitative v s. qualitative approaches.
