intro to sociology

sociology

the science of society

Social facts

products of human interaction with persuasive or coercive power that exist externally to any individual

data

systematically collected sets of empirical observations

research questions

queries about the world that can be answered empirically

Sociological research methods

scientific strategies for collecting empirical data about social facts

Qualitative research methods

tools of sociological inquiry that involve careful consideration and discussion of the meaning of nonnumerical data

Quantitative research methods

tools of sociological inquiry that involve examining numerical data with mathematics

sociological sympathy

the skill of understanding others as they understand themselves

research ethics

the set of moral principles that guide empirical inquiry

sociological theory

empirically based explanations and predictions about relationships between social facts

Social patterns

explainable and foreseeable similarities and differences among people influenced by the social conditions in which they live

standpoints

points of view grounded in lived reality

public sociology

the work of using sociological theory to make societies bette

sociological imagination

the capacity to consider how people's lives -- including our own -- are shaped by the social facts that surround us

Emile durkheim

coined the term social facts