The Practice of Social Research

1. The Practice of Social Research Chapter 2 – Paradigms, Theory, and Social Research Earl Babbie, The Practice of Social Research

2. Chapter Outline • Some Social Science Paradigms • Elements of Social Theory • Two Logical Systems Revisited • Deductive Theory Construction • Inductive Theory Construction • The Links between Theory and Research • Research Ethics and Theory • Quick Quiz

3. Paradigms – a model or frame of reference through which to observe and understand. • “Patterns happen.” • Logical explanations are what theories seek to provide. • Theories prevent our being taken in by flukes. • Theories makes sense of observed patterns. • Theories shape and direct research efforts.

4. Social Science Paradigms • When we recognize that we are operating within a paradigm, two benefits accrue. • We can better understand seemingly bizarre views and actions of others who are operating under different paradigms. • We can profit from stepping outside of our paradigm.

5. Social Science Paradigms • Paradigms play a fundamental role in science. • Paradigms are neither true nor false.

6. Social Science Paradigms • Macrotheory – a theory aimed at understanding the “big picture” of institutions, whole societies, and the interactions among societies. • Examples: class struggles, international relations, and interrelations between social institutions • Microtheory – a theory aimed at understanding social life at the intimate level of individuals and their interactions. • Examples: dating behavior, jury deliberations, student-faculty interactions

7. Social Science Paradigms • Mesotheory – referencing an intermediate level between macro and micro. • Examples: studying organizations, communities, and social categories

8. Social Science Paradigms • Early Positivism • Comte: Society is a phenomenon that can be studied scientifically. • “Positive Philosophy” • Theological Stage • Metaphysical Stage • Positivist Stage

9. Social Science Paradigms • Social Darwinism • Darwin (1858): evolution through natural selection • Translation of Darwin’s theory into societies: over time, societies are improving.

10. Social Science Paradigms • Conflict Paradigm • Marx: social behavior is best explained as the process of conflict – the attempt to dominate others and to avoid being dominated. • Simmel: focused on small-scale conflict. • Chossudovsky (1997): international and global competition.

11. Social Science Paradigms • Symbolic Interactionism • Simmel – interested in how individuals interacted with one another, a micro approach. • Mead: “taking the role of the other” • Cooley: “looking-glass self,” primary groups

12. Social Science Paradigms • Ethnomethodology • Garfinkel: People are continually creating social structure through their actions and interactions, creating their realities. • Ethnomethology – methodology of the people.

13. Social Science Paradigms • Structural Functionalism • A social entity can be viewed as an organism. A social system is made up of parts, each of which contributes to the functioning of the whole.

14. Social Science Paradigms • Feminist Paradigms • Feminists call attention to aspects of social life that other paradigms do not reveal. • Concerned with the treatment of women and the experience of oppression.

15. Social Science Paradigms • Women’s Ways of Knowing • Silence • Received Knowledge • Subjective Knowledge • Procedural Knowledge • Constructed Knowledge

16. Social Science Paradigms • Feminist Standpoint Theory – women have knowledge about their status and experience that is not available to men.

17. Social Science Paradigms • Critical Race Theory • W.E.B. DuBois: roots in the civil rights movement • African Americans lived their lives through a “dual consciousness:” as Americans and as Black people. • Bell (1980) • Interest Convergence – majority group members will only support the interests of minorities when those actions also support the interests of the majority group.

18. Social Science Paradigms • Rational Objectivity • Comte: society can be studied rationally and objectively.

19. Social Science Paradigms • Asch Experiment (1958) • A group of subjects is present with a set of lines on a screen and asked to identify the two lines that are equal in length. • Others in the group identify A or C as the correct answer, while you know that B is the correct answer.

20. Elements of Social Theory • Observation – seeing, hearing, touching. • Fact – a phenomenon that has been observed. • Laws – universal generalization about classes of facts. • Theory – a systematic explanation for observations that relate to a particular aspect of life. • Concepts – abstract elements representing classes of phenomena within the field of study. • Variable – a set of attributes.

21. Elements of Social Theory • Axioms or Postulates – fundamental assertions on which a theory is grounded. • Propositions – specific conclusions, derived from the axiomatic groundwork, about the relationships among concepts. • Hypothesis – a specified, testable expectation about the empirical reality that follows from a more general proposition.

22. Two Logical Systems Revisited • The Traditional Model of Science • Theory • Operationalization – developing operational definitions, or specifying the exact operations involved in measuring a variable. • Operational Definition – the concrete and specific definition of something in terms of the operations by which observations are to be categorized. • Observation – specifying the exact operations involved in measuring a variable.

23. Two Logical Systems Revisited • The Traditional Image of Science • The deductive model of scientific inquiry begins with a sometimes vague or general question, which is subjected to a process of specification, resulting in hypotheses that can be tested through empirical observations.

24. Two Logical Systems Revisited • Deductive and Inductive Reasoning • Deductive = Traditional Model of Science • A Case Illustration (Glock, Ringer, and Babbie, 1967) • Comfort Hypothesis • Null Hypothesis

26. Deductive Theory Construction • Specify the topic. • Specify the range of phenomena your theory addresses. • Identify and specify your major concepts and variables. • Find out what is known about the relationships among those variables. • Reason logically from those propositions to the specific topic you are examining.

27. Inductive Theory Construction • Observe aspects of social life and seek to discover patterns that may point to relatively universal principles. • Grounded Theory • Field Research

28. The Links Between Theory and Research • Deductive Model – research is used to test theories. • Inductive Model – theories are developed from analysis of data.

29. Quick Quiz

30. Chapter 2 Quiz • The three main elements of the traditional model of science are: • theory, operationalization, observation. • operationalization, hypothesis testing, theory. • observation, experimentation, operationalization. • theory, observation, hypothesis testing. • experimentation, hypothesis testing, theory.

31. Chapter 2 Quiz Answer: A. The three main elements of the traditional model of science are theory, operationalization, observation.

32. Chapter 2 Quiz 2. Which of the following is the best example of a hypothesis? • The greater the level of education, the greater the tolerance for alternative lifestyles. • Socialization in childhood has a significant impact on adolescent gender-role identify. • There are more female than male college students. • Religiosity equals frequency of church attendance and praying. • Actions are based on perceived costs and rewards.

33. Chapter 2 Quiz Answer: A. The following is the best example of a hypothesis: The greater the level of education, the greater the tolerance for alternative lifestyles.

34. Chapter 2 Quiz 3. The paradigm that accounts for the impact of economic conditions on family structures is: • symbolic interactionism. • structural functionalism. • positivism. • conflict. • exchange.

35. Chapter 2 Quiz ANSWER: B. The paradigm that accounts for the impact of economic conditions on family structures is structural functionalism.

36. Chapter 2 Quiz 4. Which of the following is not a step in deductive theory construction? • Specify the topic • Identify the major concepts and variables • Identify propositions about the relationships among those variables • Reason logically from those propositions to the specific topic one is examining

37. Chapter 2 Quiz ANSWER: B. The following is not a step in deductive theory construction: identify the major concepts and variables.