4 ways of Scientific method - answer1. Invention- preparation or research design.
Produces plan of action and defines a problem.
2. Discovery- observation, measurement, and data collection. Produces info
3. Interpretation- evaluation and analysis. produces understanding
4. Explanation- communication and packaging. produces a message
Auguste Comte - answer concerned with social order. Applied scientific method to the
social world and social life called positivism.
Karl Marx - answer founder of conflict perspective, believed the primary feature of every
society is class conflict.
Herbert Spencer - answer believed sociology shouldn't guide social reform and that we
should let society evolve with intervention
Emile Durkheim - answerwanted sociology to be recognized as a separate academic
discipline, concerned with large social problems.
Georg Simmel - answerbelieved sociologists should focus on small group research, and
was interested in how group size affects people's behavior
Max Weber - answerbelieved sociology should be value free. 1st sociologist to talk
about research methods and how to apply the scientific method to social problems
applied sociology - answerwant to gain knowledge and understanding of society and
social problems to use it to better or change situations, will only study something that is
deemed problematic or in need or fixing.
theoretical sociology - answerThe academics. They analyze and describe social
situations, social problems and society for the purpose of knowledge, can study virtually
anything without limits
Research types - answerQuantitative- research using numerical data to analyze
statistics or crunch numbers.
Qualitative- non-numeric research & analysis. Describing, observing, and interpreting
people's behavior.
3 purposes of research - answerDescription: Purpose is to describe what is going on in
a social situation. A person observes, and then describes what was observed.
Exploration: Purpose is to explore a topic or gain a beginning familiarity with a topic, or
to satisfy a curiosity.
, Explanation: Purpose is to explain why, what or how something happens, occurs, or is
the way it is. Also to explain why things vary.
3 focuses of research - answerOrientation: The attitudes, beliefs, prejudices,
predisposition, and personality traits of the Unit of Analysis we are studying.
Characteristics: The characteristics, such as age, gender, race, religion, social class,
sex of the Unit of Analysis, or their state of being.
Actions: The social actions of the Unit of Analysis as the focus of research. You focus
and collect data on social behaviors.
Reliability - answerThis is whether a particular technique applied repeatedly to the same
object will yield the same results each time.
Validity - answerThis refers to the accuracy of your research findings. How close does
your conclusions or understanding of the thing researched come to the actual real life
meaning of it?
Types of culture - answerMaterial-tangible, physical objects produced or valued by a
culture.
Non material-intangible aspects of culture.
knowledge, customs, beliefs, norms, values, signs, symbols and language.
Folkways - answerweak norms that specify expectations about proper behavior. These
are customs or desirable behaviors. These are not such a big deal if we violate them
Mores - answerStrong norms that specify normal behavior, they must be obeyed or the
offender will be severely punished.EX: murder, car theft, rape
Taboo - answerA very strong norm that brings extreme sanctions and revulsion if
violated. They concern actions considered unthinkable or unspeakable in the culture
(eating human flesh, parents and children having sex, infant rape, animal rape)
Types of Sanctions - answerPositive Sanction- Rewards and approval for following and
conformity to norms. Encouragement that you are doing the right thing.
Negative Sanction- showing disapproval or punishment for violation of norms, a signal
that you are not supposed to do something.
Ethnocentrism - answerthe attitude and belief that one's own culture is superior to
others. A tendency to use our own group's way of doing things and viewing things to
judge others ways of doing and viewing things.
Cultural Relativism - answerthe belief that a culture must be understood by looking at it
from its own perspective. You must gain enough understanding from the point of view of
the culture being studied, and their meaning for things.
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