Transcript September 14, 2006 - Carleton University

SOCI 2003B:
Sociological Methods
September 14, 2006
Human Inquiry and
the Science of
Sociology
Colleen Anne Dell, Ph.D.
Carleton University, Department of
Sociology & Anthropology
Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse
OUTLINE
AN INTRODUCTION TO INQUIRY
1. Challenging the Everyday
2. Research Methodology: Why learn it?
3. What is Science, Sociology and Human Inquiry?
4. Human Inquiry
5. Social Scientific Inquiry
a. The Foundations of Social Science
b. Fundamental Characteristics of the Relationship
Between Social Science & Theory
6. Social Scientific Inquiry and Knowledge
7. Accounting for the Researcher: First 3 Stages of
the Research Process
WORKSHOP:

Distribute Research Proposal Assignment

Discuss Group Work
SUBMIT:

Three research topics of interest for
group work
SEPTEMBER 1, 2006 NEWS RELEASE:
No new injection sites for addicts until
questions answered says Minister Clement
OTTAWA - Initial research has raised new questions that must be
answered before Canada's new government can make an informed
decision about the future of Vancouver's drug injection site or
consider requests for any new injection sites says Federal Health
Minister Tony Clement.
"Do safe injection sites contribute to lowering drug use and fighting
addiction? Right now the only thing the research to date has proven
conclusively is drug addicts need more help to get off drugs," Minister
Clement says. "Given the need for more facts, I am unable to approve
the current request to extend the Vancouver site for another three and
a half years."
Minister Clement has deferred the decision on the Vancouver application
to December 31st, 2007, during which time additional studies will be
conducted into how supervised injection sites affect crime, prevention
and treatment. Insite operations will continue during this review.
1. CHALLENGING THE EVERYDAY
2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
WHY LEARN IT?
EXERCISES: CREATIVITY
1.
WHAT IS ONE OF THE MOST CREATIVE
THINGS THAT YOU HAVE EVER DONE?
2.
WHY DO YOU CONSIDER THIS CREATIVE
(WHAT PERSONAL SKILLS, TRAITS,
TALENTS, CHARACTERISTICS DID YOU
USE)?
3. WHAT IS SCIENCE, SOCIOLOGY
AND HUMAN INQUIRY?
QUICK REFERENCE DEFINITIONS

SCIENCE: Knowledge
AIM: To produce knowledge (process), to understand
and explain some aspect of the world around us.
Max Gluckman has observed, ‘a science is any
discipline in which the fool of this generation can go
beyond the point reached by the genius of the last
generation’ (Gluckman, 1965). A science, then, is a
cumulative thing – the product of the efforts of many
and not just the lucky or intuitive few.
D.P. Forcese and S. Richer (1973). Social Research Methods. NJ:
Prentice-Hall, p. 6.

SOCIOLOGY:
The scientific study of the patterns and
processes of human social relations. Primary
subject matter is the group, not the individual.

HUMAN INQUIRY: To question (and predict).
4. HUMAN INQUIRY

Prediction
(1) Causal
(2) Probabilistic

Second-hand knowledge
(1) Tradition
(2) Authority
Errors in Human Causal Inquiry
1. Inaccurate observations
2. Overgeneralization
3. Selective observation
4. Illogical Reasoning
5. Ideology/Faith
5. SOCIAL SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY
Science
An objective, accurate, systematic analysis of
empirical data in order to discover recurring
relations and advance human knowledge.
A.
THE FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
B.
FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL
SCIENCE & THEORY
Social scientific theory is based
on…
1.
2.
3.
Social regularities
Aggregates
A variable language
- Attributes
- Variables
6. SOCIAL SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY
AND KNOWLEDGE
Kirby & McKenna, 1989
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Knowledge is socially constructed
Social interactions form the basis of social knowledge
Different people experience the world differently
People have different knowledge because they have
different experiences
Knowledge changes over time
Differences in power have resulted in a monopoly on
knowledge production.
7.
ACCOUNTING FOR THE
RESEARCHER: FIRST 3 STAGES OF
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
First 3 Stages of the Research Process
1. Identifying your research interest
2. Identifying your specific question
3. Recording your conceptual baggage
CONCEPTUAL BAGGAGE
Conceptual baggage is a record of your thoughts and ideas
about the research question at the beginning and
throughout the research process. It is the process by which
you can state your personal assumptions about the topic of
the research process. Recording your conceptual baggage
will add another dimension to the data, one that is always
present, but rarely acknowledged. By making your thoughts
and experience explicit, another layer of data is revealed for
investigation. The researcher becomes another subject in
the research process and is left vulnerable in a way that
changes the traditional power dynamics / hierarchy that
existed between the researcher and those who are
researched.
Kirby and McKenna, 1989
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
ASSIGNMENT
GROUP WORK
SUBMIT

IDENTIFY 3 AREAS OF SOCIOLOGICAL
INTEREST