Unit 2. Doing Sociology (Social Research Methods). Mini Lectures.
Be sure to scroll down to watch the video.
In natural sciences, certain patterns of relationships occur with such regularity that they are deemed LAWS. While there are no laws in social sciences, there are patterns – and a purpose of social scientific research is to find and make sense of these patterns. This is done by creating, examining, testing and refining theory.
What is THEORY? Theory is a set of statements that describe different aspects of some phenomenon. Theories are interrelated ideas about various patterns, concepts, or relationships. Theory is a system of logical statements that explain the relationship between two or more objects, or concepts. Theory helps to explain reality and it classifies and organizes events. Theories are built on smaller components called CONCEPTS. Concepts are symbolic or abstract elements representing a generalization. For example: Delinquent/delinquency – is a concept describing a youth who is involved in drugs, crime or truancy. Concepts have two parts – SYMBOLIC element (a word like delinquent) and an associated DEFINITIONAL element. Concepts need to have a shared understanding to make sense. Sometimes a concept can have multiple meanings. This creates problems. So in order for us to develop theory (or examine theory) or conduct research, we must specify our concept so we all understand the same thing. A series of concepts that are connected are PROPOSITIONS. (a statement of relationships between concepts. Propositions are the statements that make up theories. Let’s look at research. How do we begin? Every research project starts with an idea. The idea comes from your readings, everyday life, experiences. Just look around. Where do you work, what do you do with your day? The world around us is our research laboratory. How are research and theory related? 1) THEORY BEFORE RESEARCH One has an idea, develops a theory and then tests it (that’s the research OR, there is an existing theory -- and one tests it. 2) RESEARCH BEFORE THEORY Looking at the world helps one to develop theory. BUT really, both happen, its iterative. |
Part of being sociologically mindful is seeing that the social world works in patterned ways. Many of the patterns are easy to see. Millions of people get up in the morning, go to work for 8 hours, come home, eat, sleep, and then get up and do it again. That is one kind of pattern, which exists because many people do things together in the same way, over and again. In fact, that is what a pattern is: regularity in the way the world works. It often takes a lot of work to discover patterns in social life, because some kinds of events don’t happen every day. Some of the patterned ways in which the social world works are obvious; some are not. Being sociologically mindful means paying attention in a disciplined way, so that we can begin to see patterns that are no so obvious.
One reason to be mindful of patterns is that if we want to change the world we must be aware of the patterns that make the world what it is. If we would like to prevent rape, for example, it is helpful to know what conditions, thoughts, and actions typically lead to rape. This awareness can help us to see which conditions, thoughts, and actions we should try to change, so as to disrupt the pattern that produces rape. We can apply this principle-the need to grasp the pattern that produces a particular result- to anything we might like to change. To stop the spread of a disease, for example, we must know how it is spread, and to find this out we must look for a pattern. Where do cases pop up? Among which people? What do these people have in common? Have they all been to the same place, engaged in the same activity, or eaten the same food? By answering these questions we can figure out what the pattern is and how to keep the disease from spreading. Welcome to the
|