Chapter 1 We live in Two Realities 1 Experimental Reality Things we know form Direct Experience 2 Agreement Reality things we consider real because we ve been told they are real product of what people have told us Kansas City Preventtive Patrol Experiment a study with three levels of preventive patrol 1 control beats one car per beat 2 proactive beat two or three cars per beat 3 reactive beats no routinge preventative patrol The result was that all three had the same effect on crime which challenged the agreement reality that crime is more preventable with more police patrol Empirical Research production of knowledge based on experience or observation Role of Science an assertion must have Logical and Empirical support make sense and agree with actual observations Epistimology Study of science of knowing methodology science of finding out Personal Human Inquiry 1 Future circumstances are somehow caused or cinditoned by present ones 2 Cause effect are probablisitc When we study we get good grades This does not happen all the time though probabilistic 3 Sources of agreement reality are tradition and authority Tradition Born into societies with agreed upon realities saves us having to start from scratch with each new generation knowledge is cumulative Authority acceptance of knowledge is based on the status of the person who says it hindered by errors of professionals hindered by authorities speaking outside their expertise area political scientist talking about pot being a dangerous drug Errors in Personal Human Inquiry every inquiry has the potential for human biases Inacurate Observation Cornerstone of inquiry is observation sometimes we record inaccurately or simply do not know what to look for until it is too late or the moment has passed Simple and complex measurement devices help prevent this Overgeneralization We tend to try to find trends when observing overgeneralization and looking for trends that don t exist leads to misrepresentation and simplification of the data We try to not overgeneralize by giving ourselves a large sample size Replication repeating a study and checking to see whether similar results are obtained each time guards against overgenerlization Selective Observation once a particular pattern exists we will be likely to pay attention to the future events that correspond to that pattern and ignore the ones that don t Illogical Reasoning When people see results that contradict the norm They try to explain these by exception that proves the rule Gamblers Fallacy A gambler will feel that a streak of bad luck will be foreshadowed by a streak of good luck the next day even though there is no evidence of such Ideology and Politics Politics and beliefs overshadow empirical research faith triumphs over facts To Err is Human Social science inquiry differs from daily inquiries in 2 ways 1 Social science observation is a conscious decision 2 More careful planned out process But they still make errors Foundations of Social Science Two pillars of science 1 logic rationality 2 Observation Both are needed and are related to 3 scientific aspects 1 Theory 2 Data collection 3 Data analysis Social Science Theory Data Collection Data Analysis Theory Theory a systematic explanation for the observed facts and laws that relate to a particular aspect of life a structure that is intended to represent or model something about the world Grounded Theory Contraction of a theory by observing aspects of social life seeking to discover patterns that may point to more or less universal principles field research is the direct observation of events in progress and used to develop theories Hypothesis specified expectation about empirical reality theory might contain the hypothesis Theoretical Understanding how a number of concepts may be related to one another Notation used is Y f X meaning that Y is a direct result of the actions of X lowercase x is a general indicator like units with garages Upper Case X is the number of cars parked on the street This can then be translated into Number of cars stolen in terms of certain areas of town hypothesis testing observations aimed at finding out an answer to the hypothesis Regularities Social science tires to find patterns of regularity in social life assumes life is regular not chaotic regularity is produced by social rules and norms i e National hockey league only men participate Other regularities like Judges have higher salaries than police officers Men generally kill other men Exceptions to Regularities There are always exceptions to regularities but do not invalidate the regularity Social regularities are probabilistic patterns but these regularities do not have to happen 100 of the time Aggregates Not Individuals Social scientists study groups not particular cases though particular cases might benefit from the research social science doesn t seek to explain people but understand the systems that explain why people do what they do Variable Language The way people say things are different based on their age race and gender The way people say things are dependent upon these variables Variables and Attributes attributes characteristics or qualities that describe some object examples are old fashioned married intoxicated etc Variables Logical groupings of attributes male female is an attribute gender is the variable describing the attribute The relationship between attributes and variables is the description and explanation of science this relationship becomes more complicated as we try to explain how concepts are related to each other Variables and Relationships dependent variable is caused or is the outcome of the actions of the independent variable independent variable is the variable that causes the result or the dependent variable the theory is constructed in terms of these variables Purpose of Research Description exploration application Exploration explore a scientific problem Exploratory project collects data on a measure to establish a base line for future changes to be compared focus on developing a preliminary understanding about a new unusual problem Important when a policy change is being considered Description used to describe the scope of the crime problem or policy responses to the problem concerned with counting or documenting observations Explanation An exploratory purpose for research A researcher wants to know why something occurs as opposed to just observing the data Application applied research stems from a need for specific
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