Scientific Inquiry in (Social) Science

How do we learn about things?

-we create theories about how things work everyday
-why certain people act the way we do

-if we experience these theories then they become assumptions

-when we have assumptions we apply it

-knowledge gained from these forms of learning may not always be incorrect but they can have
flaws

“newspaper quoted a doctor as saying that weak amgnests can be used to heal many illnesses so I
went to costco and bought 12 packs last night”
-Specialist/Authority knowledge

-Authorities at time can produce knowledge that has flaws with it

-we rely on authority for knowledge
-authority figures can overstep what their specialization entails
-dont go to an eye doctor for a colonoscopy

“what do you eat when you’re sick? Chicken soup”

-Traditional Knowledge

-have to be careful because this knowledge tends to come with bias

-what applied to people in the past may not to present

“last night I was going for a walk and I saw the accident. The car hit the cyclist. The car was dark
brown and now I’m afraid of brown cars”
-Generalization/Personal Experience

-this kind of knowledge can lead to over generalization

-you saw one thing happened in one circumstance so you believe it will happen all the time

-Selective observation
-You only notice things when you choose to
-ignore all the other times

-Premature Closure
-premature assumption
-you make a conclusion before it comes
-occurs when you have the answer but don’t feel the need to seek further knowledge or ask
question
-Halo Effect
-letting the reputation or acclaim of one thing rub off on that of another
-I like JK Rowling so I pick up all of her books but not all of them are good

“I heard Jenny McCarthy say that the MMR vaccine causes autism!”
-Media myth
-the findings of the study she was quoting were false but the media still ran with it

“If you work hard, you can get ahead.”

-common sense/culutral ideology

-allows logical fallacies to slip into thinking

-gambler’s fallacy
-gambler loses a bunch of times, thinks the next time will be more likely to win

Epistemology - “How you know, what you know”; the science of knowing; systems of
knowledge

Epistemological Positions: Positivism

Belief: Social scientists should use the same methods of inquiry that are used in the natural
sciences

-Positivism: Scientific method is viewed as objective because its aim is to produce trustworthy
knowledge based on empirical observation that can be repeated and tested by other researchers
-vast majority of researchers try to keep emotions out of their work, separate their colleagues
from
who they are researching

-Researchers seek Objectivity: is the belief that a researcher can remain detached and hold an
impartial attitude when conducting scientific inquiry

They believe human actions can be explained

-reproducible circumstances

Interpretivism
Belief: Researchers should use try to understand people’s actions from the point of view of the
social actors, i.e., the people studied

-Interpretivists: believe that reality is relative and multiple

-Subjectivity: is the belief that a researcher cannot remain detached and hold an impartial
attitude
when conducting scientific inquiry

-they believe reality is relative

-everyone’s experiences are different, there are multiple realities
-multiple understandings of a particular phenomenon
-everyone comes from a very different perspective

-Researchers follow a more flexible research structure than positivism

-they enter the field with some prior interest in the research topic but know that this interest is
insufficient
in understanding it

-the data from this is not very replicable

-time and context

-the goal is to understand and interpret human behaviour instead of generalize

The integration of Theory into Research

-One way to conduct social scientific inquiry is through deduction

-you use a theory and you find facts

Theory->Hypothesis->Data Collection->Findings->Hypotheses confirmed or rejected

->Revision of theory

-Here one begins by gathering or examining data, and then tries to derive a theory or explanation
from
the data

Deductive Approach -Positivism

Theory -> Observation/FIndings

Inductive Approach -Interpitivism

Observations/Findings -> Theory

Deductive vs Inductive

Deductive
Step one - Hypothesis
Step two - Observations
Step three - Accept/reject hypothesis

-Going into something with a hypothesis could lead to bias

-Prioritizes you and your university/whatever

Inductive
Step one - Observations
Step two - Find a pattern
Step three - Tentative conclusion

-possible to not find a pattern

-find a new pattern would have to have a new study
-you can’t make generalizations with it so theres that disconnect from science
-prioritizes the participants

-Sometimes inductive research is iterative: - repeats itself

-The researcher goes back and forth from the data to the theory or explanation

-a process that tries to get as close to reality as possible

-Deriving theories or explanations from qualitative data is sometimes called grounded theory
-Building from the ground up