Transcript Asking and Answering Sociological Questions

Part I – The Study of Sociology
Chapter 2: Asking and Answering
Sociological Questions
Lecture #3
Sociological Questions
“Sociological Imagination”
To remove yourself from the “world-taken-forgranted.”
So that we are able to discover something new in
the routines of everyday life.
Sociological Questions
“Sociological Imagination”
Asking questions
How?
What?
Why?
Sociological Questions
Knowledge ≠ Commonsense belief
- Beliefs or propositions with no scientific
ground
Stereotypes
Sociological Questions
What are “sociological” questions?
What kinds of question do sociologists have to ask?
Sociological Questions
1. Factual (Descriptive) questions
“What happened?”
“How did (do) things happen?”
Sociological Questions
2. Comparative questions
Questions asked when one social context within a
society is related to another, or examples drawn
from different societies are contrasted.
- Space
“Did this happen everywhere?”
- Time
“How different are a phenomenon in a period and
one in another?”
Sociological Questions
3. Developmental questions
Questions asked in order to understand the main
direction that processes of change have taken.
“What has happened over time?”
Sociological Questions
4. Theoretical questions
Generalization
-
Why do things happen?
- What factor brings this about?
- What underlies this phenomenon?
Sociological Questions
Questions / Research Problems
How are you gonna answer your question?
Systematic scientific procedure
1.
Asking question /
Defining research
problem
To specify the question you
are trying to answer
2. Reviewing the evidence
To familiarize yourself to the
research problem
-
Literature review
Initial observations etc.
3. A clear formulation of the
research problem
-
Setting up hypotheses
Hypotheses
“Educated guesses about
what is going on”
(P.34)
Temporary conclusions
Understanding Cause and Effect
“All events have causes.” (P.35)
One of the main tasks of sociological research is to identify
causes and effects.
“What brings it about?”
= “Causal relationship (Causation)
An event or situation causes or produces another
Understanding Cause and Effect
Variables
= “Any dimensions along which individuals and groups
vary.” (p.32)
- Factors telling an individual or group from another
- Criteria based on which an individual or group is
categorized
- Age
- Income
- Educational attainment
- Social class
- Race/ethnicity etc.
Understanding Cause and Effect
Correlation
The “existence of a regular relationship between
variables” (p. 35)
Correlation ≠ Causation
4. Research design
to decide “how” the
data are collected
-
Select methods
Research subjects
Duration of the
research etc.
Major Research Methods
5. Carry out the research
-
Collect data by
applying the suitable
methods
6. Analyze your data /
Interpret your results
7. Reporting the findings