1. Social Sciences: An Introduction

3. “Social” Science VS. “Regular” Science
NATURAL SCIENTISTS
Example Questions:
How does that tree grow?
What is the effect of sunlight on plants?
*STUDY THE PHYSICAL WORLD
SOCIAL SCIENTISTS
Example Questions:
Why do some people get tattoos?
Why are people marrying later in life?
*STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

4. The Humanities (PRODUCTS OF HUMAN CULTURE)
Art
Literature
Philosophy
Religion
Drama
Film Studies

5. Natural Sciences (PHYSICAL WORLD)
Chemistry
Biology
Physics
Geography

6. SOCIAL SCIENCES (HUMAN BEHAVIOUR)
Examine human behaviour that is observable and measurable
Social Science is the most closely related to our lives as individuals
What we eat, our customs, activities, etc.
SUBJECTS:
Economics
Political
Science
History
Urban
Geography
Family Studies
Anthropology
Psychology
Sociology

7. The “ologies”
During this course you are going to learn about 3 branches of social science:
ANTHROPOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
‘Ology’ is a Latin phrase that translates to ‘study of’

8. THINK OF IT THIS WAY…
Like a prism, each of the big 3 ‘ologies’ can examine the same aspect of human behaviour, but cast a different light on it…each discipline poses different questions and arrives at different conclusions

9. A HOT DATE
Imagine you had a hot date last night! How would you describe it to:
Your best friend?
Your Mom?
Your Grandma?
You would likely
focus on different
aspects…ah, ha!
Just like the 3
different disciplines.

10. A BRIEF OVERVIEW
ANTHROPOLOGY: the study of humankind and their origins and culture
PSYCHOLOGY: the study of the human mind and individual sources of behaviour, ex. mental and emotional processes, motivation, learning, perception
SOCIOLOGY: the study of how groups and society shape people, including patterns of social relationships and social interaction

11. THE HOT DATE ANALYZED FROM EACH DISCIPLINE
Anthropology
What are North American dating customs & traditions?
What is the purpose of dating?
What symbols reflect dating?
What type of body language and/or dialect takes place on a date?

12. THE HOT DATE ANALYZED FROM EACH DISCIPLINE
Psychology
Did the date meet the person’s expectations?
Was there physical chemistry?
What was the person on the date thinking and feeling?
What motives did the person have?

13. THE HOT DATE ANALYZED FROM EACH DISCIPLINE
Sociology
What are the roles of each person on a date?
How does a person’s socialization affect dating? Ex. religion, school, family, media
Is dating different for people from different age groups, socio-economic backgrounds, etc.

14. Anthro, Soc, Psych Examples
Anthropology
Sociology
Psychology

15. All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them Galileo Galilei ( )

16. The Inquiry Process No matter which aspect of human
behaviour you are studying a social
scientist goes through the same 5
steps to research it:
1: Pose a Question
2: Develop a Hypothesis
3: Gather Data
4: Analyze Data
5: Form Conclusions

17. THE INQUIRY PROCESS STEP 1
IDENTIFY A PROBLEM;
POSE A QUESTION
Example:
The problem – if a student does not eat breakfast it can interfere with learning
The question – what do teenagers eat for breakfast?

18. THE INQUIRY PROCESS STEP 2
Develop a hypothesis (a predicted answer to your question)
It does not have to be right – if you knew the answer, you wouldn’t need to do the research!
EXAMPLE HYPOTHESIS:
The majority of teenagers eat nothing for breakfast

19. THE INQUIRY PROCESS STEP 3
GATHER DATA
Use one of the following methods:
Survey
Experiment
Observation
Interview
Case Study
To research what students eat for breakfast a survey would be best…

20. EXAMPLE SURVEY QUESTION
What do you most
often eat for breakfast?
Check one of the
following:
Toast
Cereal
Eggs
Pancakes
Muffin
Cereal bar
Leftovers
Nothing
Other

21. THE INQUIRY PROCESS STEP 4
ANALYZE THE DATA
Sample size = 20
# of responses/sample size x 100 = %
Example:
10 people answered that they eat nothing for breakfast
10/20x100=50%

22. THE INQUIRY PROCESS STEP 5
COMMUNICATE THE FINDINGS

23. STEP 5 Con’t
Half of the students sampled (50%) ate nothing for breakfast. This is different than the original hypothesis, which stated the majority would eat nothing. This is significant to social scientists because it means that half of students are not getting their learning off to a good start in the morning. Future research should consider the reasons why they are not eating breakfast and look at the specific effects.