SOSC 1000

I. Overview of Social Science (Chapter 1)

Definition and Core Focus

• Social science is defined as the study of human behaviour and the resulting outcomes [1-3].

• It focuses on society, referring to the way people live together in communities and interact [1, 4].

• Human behavior studied includes people’s:

  • Preferences and choices (e.g., selecting political parties or food).

  • Actions (e.g., volunteering or litter-picking).

  • Interactions (e.g., cooperation or competition) [3].

• Social scientists generally focus on observing and understanding the behaviour of groups, as individuals are too complicated to theorize about representatively [4, 5].

• Social science can be applied to different types of social actors or units of analysis, such as:

  • Individuals

  • Families

  • Organizations

  • Firms

  • Nation-states [6].

Importance and Application

• Social science provides sources of evidence that inform decision-making across business, government, and society [5].

• Insights from social science can persuade policy-makers, chief executives, and citizens to change their behaviour, aiding in:

  • Addressing climate change

  • Fighting pandemics

  • Alleviating poverty [7].

• Any social question can be explored using social science tools, such as:

  • How countries get richer

  • What determines educational outcomes

  • Why people vote for particular political parties [5].

Distinctions from Other Fields

• Social science is positioned on a spectrum between the humanities and the natural sciences [8, 9].

• Humanities subjects (like philosophy, history, and literature):

  • Focus on making sense of human experience, culture, and values, generally seeking to interpret the unique rather than seeking systematic generalization [8, 10, 11].

• Natural Sciences examine the physical or natural world [12].

• Social science is distinct from natural science because it examines the human-constructed world, making concepts like power or identity more challenging to specify and measure than concepts like gravity or time [12].

• Furthermore, the social science researcher is part of society, which alters the scope for objectivity [13].

• What distinguishes social science from mere speculation or journalism is the attempt to answer questions using systematic and rigorous methods [14]. This involves:

  • Describing and explaining how people behave and why [14].

Foundational Thinkers and Paradigms

• Early social scientists sought to reconcile scientific ambition with the unique nature of the social world, leading to three contrasting perspectives [15]:

  1. Auguste Comte (Positivism):

  • Coined the term "social science" and argued society could be studied scientifically, similar to the laws of nature [15, 16].

  • Positivism: Refers to the belief that the social world can be objectively understood through scientific methods, focusing solely on observable and measurable phenomena [16, 17].

  1. Max Weber (Interpretive):

  • Advocated that while society should be studied as a science, it requires a distinctive interpretive approach to comprehend people’s subjective social realities [17].

  • This method involves verstehen (understanding), encompassing:

    • Observational understanding

    • Empathetic understanding of meaning and motive [18].

  1. Karl Marx (Critical Theory):

  • Proposed the feasibility of a general theory of society aimed at unveiling how power operates and facilitates social transformation [19].

  • His theory centers on class conflict in relation to the mode of production, proposing that the economic base shapes the cultural superstructure [19, 20].

• All three pioneers aimed to create general social theories and acknowledged the necessity of underpinning their assertions with evidence (data, archives, interviews) [21].

Scientific Method and Falsification

• Karl Popper criticized inductive research (inferring theory from observation) and advocated for deductive research, which tests theory through observation [22].

• The Falsification Principle is critical to the scientific method: for a theory to be termed scientific, it must be testable and theoretically possible to disprove it [23].

• Following Popper's philosophy, "good" social science necessitates a clear progression that includes:

  • Starting with a theory

  • Positing a falsifiable hypothesis

  • Testing it with systematic data

  • Rejecting or accepting the hypothesis

  • Iterating the foundational theory [23, 24].

• The iterative scientific method cycle involves:

  • Asking a clear question

  • Constructing a preliminary theory

  • Formulating an explanatory and falsifiable hypothesis (typically in an "if…then" format)

  • Testing through data collection

  • Analyzing data

  • Publishing results

  • Iterating [25].

Social Science Disciplines

• Social science typically comprises disciplines including:

  • Anthropology

  • Political Science

  • Economics

  • Sociology

  • Geography

  • Social Psychology

  • Law [26].

• Each discipline has its own object of study, methods, theories, and concepts, while they often borrow from one another [27].

• Interdisciplinary social science is on the rise due to the complexity of societal issues (e.g., pandemics, climate change) that exceed single disciplinary viewpoints [8, 28, 29].

II. Doing Social Science: Research Design (Chapter 2)

The Building Blocks of Research

• Social research comprises four primary building blocks [32, 33]:

  1. Questions:

  • A query aiming to derive knowledge, typically starting with the prompts "why," "how," or "under what conditions" [33].

  1. Theory:

  • A systematic explanation for observed behaviour or outcomes, usually informed by existing academic literature [33].

  1. Methods:

  • Tools and techniques employed to collect and analyze data [34].

  1. Empirical Evidence (Empirics):

  • Outcomes derived from data collection (e.g., statistical datasets, case studies) [34].

• These components must be coherent, with the question being the most crucial starting point [35].

Paradigms for Research Design

• Three broad paradigms for social science research design have emerged: positivist, interpretive, and critical, inspired by the traditions of Comte, Weber, and Marx [32, 36].

A. Positivist Research Design

• Dominant Paradigm: Views itself as fundamentally "scientific" due to its emulation of the scientific method [38].

• Aims at explaining variation in behaviour or outcomes by investigating the causal relationship among variables [39].

• Leverages deductive research, testing theories through evidence [40].

• Requires a falsifiable hypothesis (an informed guess, generally stated as "if X then Y") that could be potentially disproved [41].

• Essential components of testing include:

  • Dependent Variable: The variable being explained.

  • Independent Variables: The causes or predictors.

  • Control Variables.

• Data analysis strives to determine correlations (variables co-vary) or, more ambitiously, establish causation (demonstrating that X causes Y, implying Y would not occur without X) [43, 44].

B. Interpretive Research Design

• Concentrates on understanding individuals' lived experiences through their lenses [45].

• Relies predominantly on inductive reasoning, typically not beginning with predefined concepts or theories [45, 46].

• Considers social knowledge as historically and culturally contingent, hence generalization beyond context is usually disallowed [46].

• Primarily employs fieldwork and qualitative methods (e.g., ethnography, participant observation) for collecting thick description [47, 48].

• Theory generally arises from the data, recognized as a grounded theory approach [49].

C. Critical Research Design

• Aims to problematize knowledge and unveil existing power structures [50].

• Its ultimate aim is social transformation, seeking to contest institutions and ideas that contribute to oppression and exclusion [51].

• Disavows the notion of objectively comprehending social realities, proposing that claims of