SOC222H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Social Class, Empirical Relationship, Descriptive Statistics
Document Summary
Chapter 1 - what and why of statistics. Statistics - set of procedures used by social scientists to organize, summarize and communicate information. Data - information represented by numbers, which can be the subject of statistical analysis (2) the research process - set of activities in which social scientists engage so they can answer questions, ideas, test theories. Empirical research - based on evidence that can be verified by using out direct experience. Theory - explanation of the relationship between 2+ observable attributed of individuals/groups. Connection between what we observe (data) and conceptual thinking. Hypothesis - tentative answer to a research problem (relationship between x and y) Variable - property of people/objects that takes on 2+ variables. Must have exhaustive (enough variables for every observation) and mutually exclusive categories (distinct) Unit of analysis - level of social life on which social scientists focus. Cause has to precede the effect in time.
