SCS 2150 Chapter Notes - Chapter 0: Nomothetic, Social Forces, Dependent And Independent Variables
27 Feb 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Small n"s and big conclusions: an examination of the reasoning in comparative studies based on a small number of cases. social forces. Methods of agreement and difference to determine causality -- mill"s causal analyses. Results from small n studies cannot translate to large n studies (not generalizable) Problematic for social sciences -- conclusions are drawn off correlation, which we know is not always accurate or generalizable. No controls for other causation -- many things we need to account for. Conclusions drawn from a small sample/number of experiences may be misleading (i. e. shunning an airline after two bad experiences may be better than the one you choose next, overall) Nichols: mill"s methods of difference/agreement make unrealistic assumptions. Method of difference: dependent variable differs among cases (outcome differs) -- looks at correlation between dependent and independent variables. Method of agreement: constant variable is seen as the cause.
