·
What
is ontology? What is epistemology? What are the different ways of organizing
social scientific knowledge?
·
According
to Babbie, the foundation of science is that scientists study patterns of
things and events, or what are called regularities,
and that scientists study collections of things, or aggregates.
·
As
we have seen, drawing conclusions from limited observations is the error of overgeneralization,
while ignoring those cases that do not fit our predetermined pattern of
thinking/opinion is the error of selective observation. What
are other errors of human inquiry?
·
An
exhaustive study of the inner workings of a gang is an example of the idiographic
method. What are examples of the nomothetic
method?
·
When
the logic of data analysis moves from the particular/concrete
to the general/abstract, we call this
the inductive method. What
is the procedure of the deductive method?
·
What
is “strong objectivity,” according to Sandra Harding? What is her basic argument concerning the depoliticization of science?
·
Be
prepared to diagram and explain (1) the wheel
of science, (2) the two-by-two table
of intersecting domains of knowledge (be
prepared to provide examples), and (3) the steps from theory to hypothesis
testing through operationalization.
·
According
to Babbie, the use of deception in
social science research, although not automatically ruled out, is always to be
carefully considered. There are serious ethical questions with the use
of deception. If deception is used, what must followed? What are other ethical concerns? What is
·
According
to Diesing, the internalist view of social science argues that social science is an
autonomous institution with its own values of objectivity and neutrality.
Hence, political influences come from outside the institution. How is this different from the externalist view?
·
Technocratic
science is that type
of science that Diesing claims benefits corporations, the state, and the
military. What is the other type of
science Diesing identifies? What would it take to make this possible?
·
Babbie
says that a researcher observes confidentiality when the identity of the
participant is known to her/him but kept secret from the public. How is this different from anonymity?
·
According
to Babbie, ethical standards refer not
only to physical harm but also to mental (and emotional) harm.
·
A
paradigm
is a fundamental model or frame of reference used to organize our observations
and reasoning. What is the difference
between a paradigm and a theory? What do
we mean when we say paradigms shift and why does this happen?
·
A
variable
is a special kind of concept
comprised of a set of attributes.
·
According
to structural functionalism, a social entity, such as an organization, is viewed as an
organism, in that it is made up of parts, each of which contributes to the
working of the whole. What are the other major sociological “paradigms”?
What are their key elements?
·
A
hypothesis
is a specified testable expectation about empirical reality that follows from a
more general proposition. How is this different from an axiom?
·
The
procedure where a researcher constructs a theory by observing aspects of social
life and searching for patterns that may point to universal principles is the inductive
method. Grounded theory is a type of inductive method. What
are some of the other ones types of inductive methods?
·
The
empirical case/unit a researcher observes and measures is the unit
of analysis. What is the unit of observation? It is always the same as the unit of
analysis? If not, what would an
exception look like?
·
There
are three types of longitudinal studies
identified by Babbie: trend, panel, and cohort. What is the difference between these methods?
·
It
is faulty reasoning to draw conclusions about individuals from aggregate
(group-level) data. This error is called the ecological fallacy.
What is the reverse of this error?
·
The
following error in causal reasoning involves interpreting individual behavior
only in terms of the researcher’s point of view: Provincialism.
What are other errors of causal reasoning?
·
Of
the observer roles, the only one that potentially leaves a social situation
unaffected by the researcher is the complete observer. What are
other observer roles?
·
In
the method of ethnomethodology, breaching experiments are used to test
hypotheses about the tenacity of the social order.
·
Of
the qualitative methods, content
analysis relies most heavily on recorded human communications. What are other the other major qualitative
research methods?
·
According
to Skocpol, among the three logics of comparative
history, the method of contrast of context is least
associated with causal analysis. What
are the other logics of comparative history?
·
According
to Babbie, qualitative research answers
questions that escape the scope of survey techniques or laboratory observation. Is this a true statement?
·
According
to Babbie, qualitative analysis is the
nonnumerical examination and interpretation of observations. Is this a true statement?
·
According
to Babbie, qualitative analysis
involves a continual interplay between theory and analysis. Is this a true statement?
·
Grounded
theory rests on the constant comparative method. What is the analytic induction method?
What is domain analysis?
·
What is sufficient
and necessary causation? What is the difference?