SOC 150 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Operationalization, Informed Consent, Social Forces
Document Summary
General study of sociology allow us to see how our individual lives are related to the social forces that exist beyond us. Deductive approach: start with a theory, forms a hypothesis, makes empirical observations, then analyzes the data to confirm/reject/modify original theory. Inductive approach: start with empirical observation and then works to form a theory. Correlation exists between income and health (ex: poorer health can"t work lose job low income) Or vice versa (lower income spend on other things poorer health) 3 things to establish causality: correlation, time order, and ruling out alternative explanations. Reverse causality: hen you think a is causing b, but b is really causing a. Validity: an instrument measure what it is intended to measure. Reliability: likelihood of obtaining consistent results using the same measure. Generalizability: extent to which we can claim our findings. Placebos: white coat effect (ex: sugar pill)
