Human Inquiry and Science

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Chapter 1

• Human Inquiry and Science

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• There is a difference between
• casual observation vs.
• systematic observation.

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• Casual observation
• You are just looking around.

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• Systematic observation
• You have a purpose on what you are looking at.
  You are specific.

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Scientific Assertion

• Must be logical
• It must make sense
• Must have empirical support
• must not contradict actual observation

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Knowledge from Tradition

• Knowledge that is gotten from your cultural make
  up through socialization
• Dont have to start from scratch

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Authority

• Knowledge from our peers
• Can help and hinder
• Cant be dependent on all authority knowledge

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Common Problems in Inquiry

• Inaccurate Observation
• Overgeneralization
• Selective Observation
• Illogical Reasoning

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Three Views of Reality

• Premodern people saw things as they really were
• Modern different strokes for different folks
• Postmodern all thats real are the images we get
  through out points of view

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The Pillars of Science

• Logic
• Observation

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Social Regularities

• Social research aims to find patterns of
  regularity in social life.

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Aggregates

• Social scientific theories usually deals with
  this
• Explain aggregate patterns of behaviour

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Variable

• A concept
• Attributes or values characteristics or
  qualities that describe an object
• Eg. sex male/female

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Independent Variable

• A variable that causes a change to another
  variable.

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Dependent Variable

• A variable that changes because of another
  variable.

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Inductive Theory

• Particular to the general
• Observation and data will lead to a theory being
  developed

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Deductive Theory

• General to specific
• Start with a theory, then go to hypothesis and
  then prove the hypothesis
• A causes B

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Pure Research

• Finds justification in knowledge for knowledge
  sake.

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Applied Research

• Put their research into practice.

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The Research Process

1. Interest -gt Idea -gt Theory
2. Conceptualization and Operationalization
3. Choice of research method
4. Population and sampling
5. Observation
6. Data processing
7. Analysis
8. Application
9. Start all over again

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QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
HARD RANDOM SAMPLING GENERALIZABLE DEDUCTIVE OBJECTIVE NUMBERS QUESTIONNAIRES SCIENTIFIC SOFT NON-RANDOM SAMPLING NOT GENERALIZABLE INDUCTIVE SUBJECTIVE NO NUMBERS INTERVIEWS NOT SCIENTIFIC