Babbie Chapter 2
Early Positivism (Positivistic Paradigm): Assumes we can scientifically discover the rules governing social life.
Conflict Paradigm: Focuses on the attempt of one person or group to dominate others and to avoid being dominated.
Symbolic Interactionism (Symbolic Interactionist Paradigm): Examines how shared meanings and social patterns are developed in the course of social interactions.
Ethnomethodology: Focuses on the ways people make sense out of life in the process of living it, as though each were a researcher engaged in an inquiry.
Structural Functionalism (Social Systems Paradigm): Seeks to discover what functions the many elements of society perform for the whole system (e.g., functions of mothers, labor unions, radio talk shows).
Feminist Paradigms: Draw attention to the oppression of women in most societies and highlight how previous images of social reality have often come from and reinforced the experiences of men.
Critical Race Theory: Examines the disadvantaged position of a social group (e.g., African Americans) and offers a different vantage point from which to view and understand society.
Rational Objectivity Reconsidered: Refers to some contemporary theorists and researchers challenging the long-standing belief in an objective reality that abides by rational rules, pointing out that an “intersubjective” reality is possible.
The Traditional Model of Science: Depicts scientists proceeding from theory to operationalization to observation; however, the text states this is not an accurate picture of how scientific research is actually done.
Deductive Theory Construction: Involves the derivation of expectations or hypotheses from theories, as illustrated by Jasso’s theory of distributive justice.
Inductive Theory Construction: Involves the development of generalizations from specific observations, as illustrated by David Takeuchi’s study of marijuana smoking.
Links Between Theory and Research: In social scientific inquiry, research is used to test theories (deductive model) or theories are developed from the analysis of research data (inductive model). Social scientific inquiries show many variations in how theory and research interact.
The Importance of Theory in the Real World: A theoretical understanding
Main points
Introduction
Theories serve to offer logical explanations.
Social Science Paradigms
A paradigm is a foundational framework or model that shapes our perception of something.
Social scientists employ diverse paradigms to structure their understanding and investigation of social life.
Theories are categorized into macrotheory (concerning large-scale societal characteristics) and microtheory (focusing on smaller societal units or features), a distinction that applies across various paradigms.
The positivistic paradigm operates on the assumption that we can scientifically uncover the governing principles of social life.
The conflict paradigm focuses on how individuals or groups strive to dominate others and resist being dominated.
The symbolic interactionist paradigm explores the development of shared meanings and social patterns through social interactions.
Ethnomethodology investigates the methods people use to comprehend life as they live it, as if each individual were an active researcher in their own experience.
The structural functionalist (or social systems) paradigm aims to identify the functions that different societal components perform for the entire system (e.g., the roles of mothers, labor unions, radio talk shows).
Feminist paradigms not only highlight the oppression of women in most societies but also emphasize how historical understandings of social reality have often originated from and reinforced male experiences.
Similar to feminist paradigms, critical race theory examines the disadvantaged status of specific social groups (such as African Americans) and provides an alternative perspective for interpreting and understanding society.
Rational objectivity reconsidered refers to contemporary challenges by theorists and researchers to the traditional belief in an objective reality governed by rational rules, suggesting the possibility of an “intersubjective” reality.
Two Logical Systems Revisited
The conventional depiction of science, where scientists move from theory to operationalization to observation, does not accurately represent actual scientific research practices.
Social scientific theory and research are interconnected through two primary logical approaches:
Deduction: Involves deriving expectations or hypotheses from existing theories.
Induction: Encompasses developing broad generalizations from specific observations.
Science is a dynamic process characterized by an alternating interplay between deduction and induction.
Deductive Theory Construction
Guillermina Jasso’s theory of distributive justice exemplifies how formal logical reasoning can lead to various theoretical predictions that can be empirically tested.
Inductive Theory Construction
David Takeuchi’s study on factors influencing marijuana smoking among University of Hawaii students illustrates how gathering observations can lead to the formation of generalizations and an explanatory theory.
Links Between Theory and Research
In practice, there are numerous ways theory and research can be linked, and many different approaches to conducting social inquiry.
Utilizing theories to grasp how society functions is fundamental to developing effective solutions for societal issues.
Research Ethics and Theory
Researchers must conscientiously prevent their chosen