Introduction to Sociology, Midterm definitions | Quizlet

explain

come up with scientific explanations for social phenomena.

scientific questions (types)

questions that do not entail value judgement. There are three types of scientific questions: descriptive, theoretical, application questions.

Question ingredients (precision)

1. The Human behaviour interested in.

2. The social context

3. The period

4. The population

common sense

everyday thinking, intuitions, beliefs, perceptions.

individual perspective

A type of explanation of human behaviour which focuses on individual causes.

social context

Social environment in which people are embedded.

Sociological imagination (sociological perspective)

Type of explanation of human behaviour which focuses on social causes.

Social Phenomenon

human behaviour's results from shared contextual conditions. // (collective human behaviour.)

Proximate causes

causes, which are close to phenomena sociologists try to explain.

ultimate factors

factors that underlie proximate causes (deeper hidden in the background of sight).

micro level

the level at which individuals operate.

Meso Level

social contexts at the intermediate level. (i.e. families, neighbourhoods, schools, orgnisations...)

macro level

social contexts that are broader than meso level units. (i.e. nations, groups of nations, continents...)

Durkheim's Suicide (1897)

studied connections between contextual conditions and suicide rates in states.

social problem (public issue) (2)

goes beyond the personal troubles of the individual, many people are concerned about these problems.

personal trouble

problem related to the personal life of an individual.

Three Aims of Sociology

describe, explain, apply

describe

give an accurate description fo social phenomena

apply

apply the scientific explanations in real life and share the insights.

social interventions

Social policy measure.

societal relevance

relevance of sociological work for the understanding of social problems.

normative questions

questions that entail value judgements (should we reduce...)

Descriptive Questions

Type of scientific question targeted towards describing a phenomena

Theoretical Questions

Type of scientific question targeted towards understanding a phenomena

Application Questions

type of scientific question targeted towards applying scientific knowledge.

ill-defined question

vague and ambiguous question

Precise question

question which has clear interpretation

scientific relevance

relevance of sociological work for the accumulation of sociological knowledge

Literature Review

systematic overview of the theories and observations that are known, typically in a certain field of research.

False theoretical question (Why did church attendance increase in 2010?)

theoretical question which aims to explain something that doesn't exist

comparative-case questions

question which includes a comparison of cases.

relevant questions have two ingredients

societal relevance + scientific relevance

private sociologists

the way human beings, in daily life, make sense of the social world with mostly common sense.

Academic Sociology

the way academic institutions describe and explain the social world, with theoretising, testing, explanations, and gathering knowledge.

cummulative science

the practice that theories and observations of earlier studies are incorporated in the work of successive studies.

Background Knowledge

the theories and observations that are known before a study commences.

proposition

universal statement; i.e. about the causal relationship between two or more concepts.

theory schema

type of theory tool in which propositions, conditions, hypotheses and observations are written out as a coherent set of verbal statements.

conditions

assumption about the specific setting which relates propositions to observations any hypotheses.

deductive-nomological explanation

form of explanation of phenomena using proposition(s) and conditions

relative age effect

Phenomenon in which members of an age-normative group who are born early in a given year are more often selected for the best sports team

Hypothesis

Testable prediction derived from a theory.

Modus Tollens

logic rule which states that if it is hypothesised that A leads to be, and it is observed that B is untrue, then A can't be true either.

Theory

Coherent set of propositions and assumptions about conditions which can explain certain phenomena and which generate hypotheses (predictions) on other (hypothetical) phenomena

empirical success

The degree of empirical confirmation of a theory.

Information Content

The degree of theoretical precision and theoretical scope of a theory.

Theoretical precision

The degree to which the theory excludes possibilities of what could happen with respect to a particular case.

Theoretical Scope

The degree to which the theory is applicable to a wider range of cases: phenomena, populations, settings...

Deeper explanation

Type of explanation in which one proposition is explained by another, more general one.

Scope condition

set of conditions to which a certain theory is applicable

concept (theoretical variable)

Hypothetical abstraction that contains certain categories

Typology

A way of classifying reality, often done by combining concepts.

Causality

An independent variable (X), having an effect on a dependent variable (Y).

independent variable

Variable which has an effect on another variable.

dependent variable

Variable, which is affected by another variable.

theory tool (3 known tools)

Tool which helps to systematically present a theory (known tools: conceptual model; theory schema; formal model)

conceptual model

Type of theory tool in which the causal relationship between concepts is visualised.

Direct causal relationship

A relationship between two variables X and Y, such that changes in X have a direct effect on changes in Y.

Mediator

a variable (Z) that mediates the relationship between (X) and (Y), so that any change in (X), impacts changes in (Z), and that leads to changes in (Y).

Complete Mediation

The impact of (X) on (Y) is completely accounted for through a third variable (Z), such that there is no other way that (X) affects (Y) than via (Z)

Partial mediation

The impact of X on Y is only partially accounted for by a third variable Z, so that changes in X affect Y thorugh Z and also other variables.

bidirectional (feedback) relation

relation between two variables, so that changes in X cause changes in Y, but also the other way around.

Moderation Effect (interaction effect)

the relationship between (X) and (Y) is dependent on variable (Z).

formal model

Type of theory tool, in which theories are expressed in formalised language.

Descriptive Research

research whose purpose is to come up with accurate descriptions of social phenomena

Explanatory Research

research whose purpose is to rigourously test hypotheses.

Exploratory Research

Research whose purpose it is to discover new phenomena and come up with new theories.

measurement quality

quality of the measures, this depends on the validity and reliability of the measures.

Measurement Validity

the degree to which measures reflect the theoretical concept that they are intended to measure.

measure (indicator, proxy, empirical variable)

variable used in empirical research

operationalisation

translation of theoretical variables (concepts) into empirical variables (indicators)

simple concept

theoretical concept that can be easily measured with empirical evidence.

complex concepts

theoretical concept that consists of different dimensions

dimension

aspect of theory variables

conceptualisation

The differentiation of various dimensions of theoretical variables. Relevant for complex concepts.

measurement reliability

the degree to which the measurement instrument gives the same results when repeating the observation of the same phenomena.

standardisation

process of making identical procedures, questions, answer categories and other aspects of the measurement instrument.

external validity

A validity of inferences, whether the results of the study can be generalised beyond a specific study.

population

the entire set of cases about which the researcher wants to draw conclusions.

Sample

A small set of cases a researcher selects as the population

biased sample

A sample for which observations in the study can not be generalised to the population.

representative sample

A sample for which observations in the study can be generalised to the population.

Probability sample

A sample drawn by giving individuals in the population equal chance to participate in the study

stratified sample

sample based on dividing the population into subpopulations (strata).

Internal validity

the validity of inferences about whether an observed association between dependent variable (X) and independent variable (Y) reflects a causal relationship between (X) and (Y)

Determine internal validity (Causality) (3 steps)

- X preceeds Y

- Causality is indeed the case (they have a relationship)

- non-spuriousness

induction

inferences that are made from observations of only a limited number of cases to a more general, universal pattern.

case-study research

research that is an in-depth examination of an extensive amout of information about a very few units or cases.

Thick Description

a detailed description of people, their behaviours, motivations, social processes and personal relationships within a well-defined case.

administrative research

research in which the researcher uses data on human populations that are provided by official institiutions like governments, schools, hospitals etc...

survey research

research in which the researcher uses questionaires to collect data from respondents.

Big data research

research in which the researcher usues (unstructured) data from the internet digital communications, and digital cases.

Experimental research

research in which the researcher manipulates research conditions for participants (experiment g.), but not to others (control g.) then compares group responses to see whether doing so made a difference.

observational research

research in which the researcher relies on non-experimental observations.

WEIRD people

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic. People in lab experiments, that challenge the external validity of lab research.

Replication

redoing study on the same topic, theory, hypothesisusing different data methods, measures.

false positive

a research finding which suggests the hypothesis is true whereas in reality it is false.

False Negative

A research finding that suggest the hypothesis is false, whereas it is actually true.

perspective (framework, paradigm)

a certain way of looking at things

sociological topic

A specific subject matter in sociology. Examples: crime, ethnicity, globalization, gender.