Paradigms, Theory, And Research

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Chapter 2

• Paradigms Theory And Research

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Chapter Outline

• Introduction
• Some Social Science Paradigms
• Elements of Social Theory
• Two Logical Systems Revisited
• Deductive Theory Construction
• Inductive Theory Construction
• The Links Between Theory and Research

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Theory and Research

• Theory functions three ways in research
• Theories prevent our being taken in by flukes.
• Theories make sense of observed patterns in ways
  that can suggest other possibilities.
• Theories can direct research efforts pointing
  toward likely discoveries through empirical
  observation.

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Question

• Which of the following do theories seek to
  provide
• personal experience
• discovery
• correlations
• logical explanations

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Answer D

• Theories seek to provide logical explanations.

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Paradigms

• A model or framework for observation and
  understanding which shapes both what we see and
  how we understand it.
• The conflict paradigm causes us to see social
  behavior one way the interactionist paradigm
  causes us to see it differently.
• We can see new ways of seeing and explaining
  things when we step outside our paradigm.

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Social Science Paradigms Macrotheory

• Macrotheory deals with large aggregate entities
  of society or whole societies.
• Struggle between economic classes international
  relations

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Social Science Paradigms Microtheory

• Microtheory deals with issues at the level of
  individuals and small groups.
• Dating behavior jury deliberations student
  faculty interactions

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Social Science Paradigms Social Darwinism

• Comtes view that science would replace religion
  and metaphysics by basing knowledge on
  observations.
• Comte coined positivism in contrast to what he
  regarded as negative elements in the
  Enlightenment.

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Social Science Paradigms Conflict

• Marx suggested social behavior could be seen as
  the process of conflict
• Attempt to dominate others.
• Attempt to avoid domination.

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Social Science Paradigms Symbolic Interactionism

• Interactions revolve around individuals reaching
  understanding through language and other systems.
• Can lend insights into the nature of interactions
  in ordinary social life.

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Social Science Paradigms Ethnomethodology

• People are continuously trying to make sense of
  the life they experience.
• One technique is to break the rules and violate
  peoples expectations.

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Social Science Paradigms Structural Functionalism

• A social entity such as an organization can be
  viewed as an organism.
• A social system is made up of parts each of
  which contributes to the functioning of the
  whole.
• This view looks for the functions served by the
  various components of society.

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Social Science Paradigms Feminism

• Focuses on gender differences and how they relate
  to the rest of social organization.
• Draws attention to the oppression of women in
  many societies and sheds light on all kinds of
  oppression.

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Question

• ___________ are fundamental frames of reference.
• perspectives
• theories
• paradigms
• methods

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Answer C

• Paradigms are fundamental frames of reference.

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Question

• _______________ can lend insights into the nature
  of interactions in ordinary social life.
• symbolic interactionism
• conflict theory
• structural functionalism
• feminist theory
• none of these choices

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Answer A

• Symbolic interactionism can lend insights into
  the nature of interactions in ordinary social
  life.

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Womens Ways of Knowing

• 5 perspectives on knowing that challenge the view
  of inquiry as straightforward
• Silence Some women feel isolated from knowledge
  their lives are largely determined by external
  authorities.

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Womens Ways of Knowing

• Received knowledge Women feel comfortable taking
  in knowledge from external authorities.
• Subjective knowledge Open to the possibility of
  personal subjective knowledge including
  intuition.

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Womens Ways of Knowing

• Procedural knowledge Learning how to gain
  knowledge through objective procedures.
• Constructed knowledge Women view knowledge as
  contextual experience themselves as creators of
  knowledge and value subjective and objective ways
  of knowing.

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Social Science Paradigms Critical Race Theory

• In the mid-1970s civil rights activists and
  social scientists began the codification of a
  paradigm based on a commitment to racial justice.
• The concept of interest convergence suggests that
  laws will only be changed to benefit African
  Americans if those changes further the interests
  of whites.

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Asch Experiment

• Purpose was to see whether subjects were swayed
  by pressure to go along with an incorrect answer.
• Initial experiments found that a little over 1/3
  of subjects were.

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Elements of Social Theory

• Theories are systematic sets of interrelated
  statements intended to explain some aspect of
  social life.
• A paradigm offers a way of looking a theory aims
  at explaining what we see.
• In social research observation refers to seeing
  hearing andless commonlytouching.

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Elements of Social Theory

• Social scientists use fact to refer to a
  phenomenon that has been observed.
• Scientists organize many facts under rules
  called laws.
• A variable is a special kind of concept.
• Axioms or postulates are assertions taken to be
  true on which a theory is grounded.

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Elements of Social Theory

• Propositions are specific conclusions derived
  from the axiomatic groundwork about the
  relationships among concepts.
• A hypothesis is a specified testable expectation
  about empirical reality that follows from a more
  general proposition.
• Research is designed to test hypotheses.

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Question

• __________ is/are systematic sets of
  interrelated statements intended to explain some
  aspect of social life.
• answers
• knowledge
• practicality
• theories
• truth

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Answer D

• Theories are systematic sets of interrelated
  statements intended to explain some aspect of
  social life.

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Traditional Model of Science

• There are three main elements in the traditional
  model of science
• Theory
• Operationalization - Developing operational
  definitions or specifying the exact operations
  involved in measuring a variable.
• Observation - Looking at the world and making
  measurements of what is seen.

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Operational Definition

• The concrete and specific definition of something
  in terms of the operations by which observations
  are to be categorized.

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The Traditional Image of Science

• The deductive model of scientific inquiry begins
  with a sometimes vague or general question which
  is subjected to a process of specification
  resulting in hypotheses that can be tested
  through empirical observations.

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Null Hypothesis

• In connection with hypothesis testing and tests
  of statistical significance that hypothesis that
  suggests there is no relationship among the
  variables under study.
• You may conclude that the variables are related
  after having statistically rejected the null
  hypothesis.

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Linking Social Scientific Theory and Research

• Deduction - Deriving expectations or hypotheses
  from theories.
• Induction - Developing generalizations from
  specific observations.

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Deductive Theory Construction

• Pick a topic.
• Specify a range Will your theory apply to all of
  human social life only certain ages
• Identify major concerns and variables.
• Find out what is known about the relationships
  among the variables.
• Reason from those propositions to the topic you
  are interested in.

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Inductive Theory Construction

• social scientists construct a theory through the
  inductive method by observing aspects of social
  life and seeking to discover patterns that point
  to relatively universal principles.
• Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss (1967) used the
  term grounded theory for this method.
• Field research direct observation of events in
  progress is frequently used to develop theories
  through observation.

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Quick Quiz
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• 1. The three main elements of the traditional
  model of science are
• theory operationalization observation.
• operationalization hypothesis testing theory.
• observation experimentation operationalization.
• theory observation hypothesis testing.
• experimentation hypothesis testing theory.

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Answer A

• The three main elements of the traditional model
  of science are theory operationalization
  observation.

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• 2. Which of the following is the best example of
  a hypothesis
• The greater the level of education the greater
  the tolerance for alternative lifestyles.
• Socialization in childhood has a significant
  impact on adolescent gender-role identity.
• There are more female than male college students.
• Religiosity equals frequency of church attendance
  and praying.
• Actions are based on perceived costs and rewards.

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Answer A

• The following is the best example of a
  hypothesis The greater the level of education
  the greater the tolerance for alternative
  lifestyles.

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• 3. The paradigm that accounts for the impact of
  economic conditions on family structures is
• symbolic interactionism.
• structural functionalism.
• positivism.
• conflict.
• Exchange

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Answer B

• The paradigm that accounts for the impact of
  economic conditions on family structures is
  structural functionalism.

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• 4. Which of the following is not a step in
  deductive theory construction Or are they all
  steps
• specify the topic
• identify the major concepts and variables
• identify propositions about the relationships
  among those variables
• reason logically from those propositions to the
  specific topic one is examining
• all are steps

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Answer B

• The following is not a step in deductive theory
  construction identify the major concepts and
  variables.