POLS 3180 Chapter 1: Social Research Methods Chapter 1

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 3180
• Professor: Edward Koning

Document Summary

Social research does not exist in a vacuum. Social research can be driven by a variety of motives: To assess the adequacy of a particular social theory. Theory: an explanation of observed regularities or patterns. Components of a theory: definitions specify what the key terms in the theory mean, descriptions outline the characteristics of the phenomena of interest, relational statements connect to or more variables. Types of theories: mid-range attempt to understand/ explain a limited aspect of social life, grand theories general and abstract. Comes up with a theory that seeks to explain a particular phenomenon and then deduces specific hypotheses. Positivism entails: only phenomena confirmed by the senses can be accepted as knowledge (empiricism, deduction. Induction: science must be value-free or objective , meaning it can be repeated and will result in the same thing, distinction between scientific statements and nominative statements. Uses numbers and statistics in the collection and the analysis of data.