SOCA01H3 Lecture : Lecture 4
Document Summary
Lecture 4 applying methods to violence and the media. While the question of whether the media causes increased violence seems easy to answer, it is not! Science works by refuting weaker theories rather than proving a specific theory e. g. all doves are purple , you just need to find one dove that is not purple to refute the theory. Science and economics don"t predict well to the real world. Only one person predicted the collapse of the. Soviet union (everyone else thought they were fine). It is harder predicting about the real world. Methodology: way of assessing validity and confidence in our knowledge. You start with a question: e. g. does violence in the media causes increased violent behaviour: review literature, select a theoretical approach - select method. It specifies a relationship between two or more variables. It is a testable statement. e. g. observed aggressive behavior on tv leads to increased violence in children.
