SOC 0230 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Nomothetic, Big Data, Operationalization
Document Summary
Agree(cid:373)e(cid:374)t reality: those thi(cid:374)gs (cid:449)e (cid:862)k(cid:374)o(cid:449)(cid:863) as part a(cid:374)d par(cid:272)el of the (cid:272)ulture (cid:449)e share with those around us. Tradition: by accepting what everybody knows, we avoid the overwhelming task of starting from scratch in our search for regularities and understanding, in the same way, tradition can hinder human inquiry. Authority: can both assist and hinder human inquiry, we trust experts because they have special training but authorities can make mistakes and get things wrong when they speak outside their realm of expertise. Overgeneralization: when we assume that a few similar events provide evidence for a general pattern, large and representative samples as well as replication of the study safeguards against overgeneralization. Selective observation: once we find a pattern, we tend to focus on future events and situations that fit the patter(cid:374) a(cid:374)d ig(cid:374)ore those that do(cid:374)"t. There are always exceptions to any social regularity but this does not mean that the regularity is then unreal or unimportant.
