1. The Social Sciences

2. Social Sciences Social Science – A term for any or all of the branches of study that deal with humans in their social relations. These studies are often referred to in the plural as the Social Sciences. Although human social behavior has been studied since antiquity, the modern social sciences as disciplines rooted in the scientific method date only from the 18th century Enlightenment.

3. The Scientific Method The scientific method is a logical procedure for gathering and testing ideas. ◦1◦1 st - Begins with a problem or question arising from an observation. ◦2◦2 nd - A hypothesis is formed (unproven assumption). ◦3◦3 rd - The hypothesis is then tested in an experiment. ◦4◦4 th - Data is analyzed and interpreted to reach a new conclusion. ◦5◦5 th - The conclusion either confirms or disproves the hypothesis.

4. Social Sciences Interest in the social sciences at first centered on economics, but by the 19th century separate disciplines had been developed in: ◦ Anthropology ◦ Political Science ◦ Psychology ◦ Sociology ◦ Geography