SOAN 2120 Chapter 4: chapter 4 summary
19 Jan 2012
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Exploration [explore a topic to familiarize it, appropriate for more persistent phenomena] Done for 3 purposes [to satisfy researchers curiosity for better understanding, test the feasibility of undertaking a more extensive study, develop methods to be employed] Essential when a researcher is exploring new ground, source of grounded theory. They seldom give satisfactory answers, but hint at them. Description [observe then describe what was observed, more accurate than casual observation] Causation in ideographic & nomothetic models of explanation. Ideographic model often used in daily life and social research. Nomothetic model is designed to discover those considerations that are most important in explaining general classes of actions/events. Nomothetic model involves isolation of those relatively few considerations that will provide explanations for many/all. Nomothetic model is probabilistic in its approach to causation. Logic suggests the observed relationships are not casual by nature. 3 main criteria for nomothetic casual relationships [variables must be correlated, cause takes place before effect, variables are nonspurious]
