ANTHRO 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Human Relations Area Files, Contingency Table, Photon
Document Summary
Tautology: the thing to be explained (the taboo) is being explained by itself, by its prior existence. In science, investigators try to achieve two kinds of explanations: associations and theories. One way of explaining it to explain a relationship or association between two variables, things or quantities that vary. In the physical sciences, such relationships are called laws when almost all scientists accept them. In the social sciences, associations are stated probabilistically: two or more variables tend to be related in a predictable way, which means there are some exceptions. Statistical association: the observed relationship is unlikely due to chance. Scientists try to formulate theories that will explain the observed relationships (laws and statistical associations) Theories: explanations of laws and statistical associations, are more complicated than the observed relationships they are intended to explain. No theory can be said to be unquestionable proved. Many concepts are and ideas in theories are not directly observable and therefore are not directly verifiable.
