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Part I – The Study of Sociology Chapter 2: 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-for-granted.” So that we are able to discover something new in the routines of everyday life.

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Part I – The Study of Sociology Chapter 2: Asking and Answering Sociological Questions

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  1. Part I – The Study of SociologyChapter 2: Asking and Answering Sociological Questions Lecture #3

  2. Sociological Questions “Sociological Imagination” To remove yourself from the “world-taken-for-granted.” So that we are able to discover something new in the routines of everyday life.

  3. Sociological Questions “Sociological Imagination” Asking questions How? What? Why?

  4. Sociological Questions Knowledge ≠ Commonsense belief • Beliefs or propositions with no scientific ground Stereotypes

  5. Sociological Questions What are “sociological” questions? What kinds of question do sociologists have to ask?

  6. Sociological Questions • Factual (Descriptive) questions “What happened?” “How did (do) things happen?”

  7. 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?”

  8. 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?”

  9. Sociological Questions 4. Theoretical questions Generalization • Why do things happen? • What factor brings this about? • What underlies this phenomenon?

  10. Sociological Questions Questions / Research Problems How are you gonna answer your question? Systematic scientific procedure

  11. Asking question / Defining research problem To specify the question you are trying to answer

  12. 2. Reviewing the evidence To familiarize yourself to the research problem • Literature review • Initial observations etc.

  13. 3. A clear formulation of the research problem • Setting up hypotheses Hypotheses “Educated guesses about what is going on” (P.34) Temporary conclusions

  14. 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

  15. 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.

  16. Understanding Cause and Effect Correlation The “existence of a regular relationship between variables” (p. 35) Correlation ≠ Causation

  17. 4. Research design • to decide “how” the data are collected • Select methods • Research subjects • Duration of the research etc.

  18. Major Research Methods

  19. 5. Carry out the research • Collect data by applying the suitable methods

  20. 6. Analyze your data / Interpret your results

  21. 7. Reporting the findings

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