SOCI 2P00 Chapter 8: Chapter 8.docx
Document Summary
Chapter 8: how good is the evidence: personal observation, research. Research varies greatly in quality and verifiability. Research uses control to minimize extraneous factors. Scientific research is precise and consistent in the use of language artificiality. Research findings often contradict one another and facts can change over time. Scientific research is a human activity; it can be distorted and is not free of subjectivity. Impossibly certainty fallacy assuming that a research conclusion should be rejected if it is not absolutely certain. Sample needs to be large enough to justify the generalization or conclusion. The sample must possess as much breadth, o diversity, as the types of events about which conclusions are to be drawn. The more random the sample, the better. **we can generalize only to people and events that are like those that we have studied in the research. **you cannot assume that survey responses accurately reflect true attitudes.
