Sociology 2206A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Arson, Post-Structuralism, Symbolic Interactionism
19 Oct 2013
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Three components to theory: definitions: specify what key term is, description: outline the characteristics of the phenomenon of interest, rational statements: connect two or more variables. Rational statements come in two or more forms: Deterministic: two variables always go together in specific way. Example: as economy shrinks 1% arson increases 5% Probabilistic: two variables go together with some degree of regularity. Regions of country with growing economies are more likely to experience a decrease in arson rate than others. Two types of theories: theories of middle range: Are more limited in scope and can be tested directly by gathering empirical evidence. For example durkheim"s theory of suicide in which maintains that suicide is a function of the level of social integration. One way to test it would be to compare suicide rates for married people with those for single divorced, or widowed individuals. Deductive approach: theories and the hypothesis derived from them are tested by gathering data.
