Objectivity & Rigour.
Not anecdotal.
Logical validity.
Empiricism.
Reliability.
Always Remember...
It is possible to go from the general to the specific.
It is not possible to go from the specific to the general.
Evidence/ proof, and it must be reliable.
Definitions of words, (jargon)
Social Problems or Sociological Problems?
Which of the following sentences is a Sociologist must likely to say.
A. The crime rate in Singapore is very low.
B. How does the crime rate in Singapore manage to be so low?
Descriptive Sociology
What is the actual rate of crime in Singapore?
The research would be describing a state of affairs. How things look.
Describe what you see?
Like drawing a picture.
Descriptive Sociology is concerned with observations? the observable effect.
Descriptive
Explanatory Sociology
Its similar to the usual use of the word ?explain?.
"Explain to me why you hit the police officer."
Because?
Explanatory research looks for the causes.
Explanatory
Concepts & Indicators
When a common notion or idea is used in a precisely defined way it becomes a concept
In order to further define a concept, indicators are required.
*Operationalisation
In order to link theory with method, the notion of operationalisation is key.
The indicators that are used to define the concept will limit the scope of the research.
It is also the indicators that facilitate the ability to research a given topic.
The notion of paradigms may help in understanding the above linkage of theory to method.
Reliability
This does not refer to the idea of common English usage.
It does not mean trusting someone.
It refers to the reproducibility of the research. Getting the same results from using the same method.
Others should be able to produce the same results, independently.
Validity
How does the information being gathered relate directly to the argument being made?
Misunderstanding and misinterpretation.
Does the research truly reflect what actually happened?
If there is high validity can there be high reliability?
Quantitative Data
Numerical - if you carry out quantitative research you will have a lot of numbers and statistics.
Descriptive approaches in sociology will result in quantitative data.
How big is the difference in crime, in Singapore and Indonesia?
Qualitative Data
Non-numerical data.
Explanatory research results in a level of qualitative data.
Why is there a difference in crime rates between Singapore and Indonesia?
Primary & Secondary Data
Primary data is gathered by the researcher or research team.
Secondary data is gathered by someone else and then used by a second researcher or team of researchers.
Quantitative Data
Quantitative data is looking for causal correlation.
A correlation refers to two things appearing together.
A causal correlation refers to the notion that they appear together because one causes the other.
Dependent and Independent Variables
If A causes a change in B, then B is the dependent variable.
And A is the independent variable.
Example:
An increase in social change A, whether that change is good or bad, increases the rate of suicide B.
Why?
