Chapter 1 Flashcards
(15 cards)
What is Theory?
An explanation of observed regularities and patterns. Theories are composed of interrelated and usually verifiable statements or propositions. The statements and propositions come in varying forms, and different types may be combined in the same theory.
What are the three components of theory?
- Definitions specify what the key terms in the theory mean
- Descriptions outline the characteristics of the phenomena of interest
- Relational Statements connect two or more variables , so that knowing the value of one variable conveys information about the other
Forms of Relational Statements
- Deterministic: two variables always go together in a particular way. If research uncovers an instance in which the variables are not related in this way, the relational statement must be modified.
- Probabilistic: Two variables go together with some degree of regularity, but the relationship is not inevitable.. Finding a case that does not fit the pattern does not mean that the theory must be modified; this could simply be one of the times when the variables are not related n the usual way.
What are the different types of theories?
- Theories of the middle range (Merton 1967).
2. Grand Theories
Explain theories of the middle range.
Theories of the middle range are more limited in scope and can be tested directly by gathering empirical evidence. For example, Durkheim’s 1952 theory of suicide which maintains that suicide is a function of the level of social integration, is a theory of the middle range. Merton’s 1938 anomie theory, which suggests that crime is more common when a society instils a desire for wealth in everyone but provides insufficient means for all to achieve it, is another theory of the middle range.
Such theories represent attempts to understand and explain a limited aspect of social life.
Explain Grand theories
Grand theories are general and abstract. They include theories such as structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism, critical theory, post-structuralism, feminism and so on. Grand theories generally offer few direct indications of how to collect evidence to test them, but they provide ways of looking at the world that can be the inspiration for a wide variety of research programs. For example, Standpoint Theory by Dorothy Smith (2004, 2005) and others from a general feminist perspective. This theory maintains that the way we view the world and make our way in it is largely determined by our placement in various hierarchies of statue and power.
What is non-theoretical research?
Although theory plays a crucial role in the social sciences, not all studies make reference to it. For example, some qualitative writers focus on providing a rich description of the experiences of a group of people without trying to come up with a comprehensive theory that would explain those experiences. however, some social scientists will reject research that has no direct connection to theory either the grand of the middle-range sense of the term. However, non-theoretical work can provide insights that are useful or revealing in their own right. McKeganey and Barnard’s (1996) research on British prostitutes and their clients is a case in point.
What are some ways to acquire knowledge?
- Deductive approach.
2. Inductive approach
What does the term iterative refer to?
The strategy of moving back and forth between data and theory is often described as iterative.
What is grounded theory?
The practise of deriving theories from qualitative data os sometimes referred to as grounded theory.
What are some epistemological considerations in research?
- Positivism
2. Interpretivism
Explain Positivism.
Affirms the importance of following the natural sciences.
- Ideas must be subjected to the rigours of empirical testing before they can be considered knowledge= empirical.
- Deductive Approach: generate hypotheses that can be tested and thereby allow explanations of observed laws to be assessed.
- Can also be Inudictive: knowledge can be arrived at through gathering of facts that provide the basis for generalizations of laws.
- Science must be “value-free.” / Intersubjectivity.
- No normative claims, only scientific statements.
Explain Interpretivism.
Grew out of the epistemological critique of positivism, and provides an alternate.
Interpretive scholars maintain that it is the role of social scientists to grasp the subjective meanings of people’s actions. They make the point that act on the basis of the meanings that they attribute to their acts and to acts of others.
Interpretivists claim that it is the job of the social scientist to gain access to the “common sense thinking” of the people they study, and hence to interpret people’s actions and their social world from the point of view of the actors.
What is the division between positivism and interpretivism?
Many interpretive social scientists argue that the subject matter of the social sciences (people, groups, and institutions) is fundamentally different from that of the natural sciences. For them, it follows that the study of the social world requires a different logic and research procedure, one that reflects what they see as the distinctiveness of humans as against other living things and inanimate objects.
This clash reflects a division between the positivist emphasis on the explanation of human behavior and the interpretevist preference for an empathetic understanding and interpretation of human behavior.
Verstehen
the division between positivism and interpretivism precedes the emergence of modern social science, finds expression in Max Weber’s (1864-1920) notion of verstehen (which means “empathetic understanding”)
