The Practice of Social Research Earl Babbie Chapman University

Part 1 An Introduction to Inquiry

Chapter 1 Human Inquiry and Science

Chapter Outline An Opening Quandary Introduction The Foundations of Social Science Some Dialectics of Social Research A Quandary Revisited

How We Know What We Know Direct Experience and Observation Personal Inquiry Tradition Authority

Looking for Reality Two Criteria Logical support - must make sense Empirical support - must not contradict actual observation

Ordinary Human Inquiry Humans recognize that future circumstances are caused by present ones. Humans learn that patterns of cause and effect are probabilistic in nature. Humans aim to answer “what” and “why” questions, and pursue these goals by observing and figuring out.

Sources of Secondhand Knowledge Both provide a starting point for inquiry, but can lead us to start at the wrong point and push us in the wrong direction. 1.Tradition 2.Authority

Inquiry: Errors and Solutions 1.Inaccurate observations Measurement devices add precision. 2.Overgeneralization Repeat a study to make sure the same results are produced each time.

Inquiry: Errors and Solutions 3.Selective observation Make an effort to find cases that do not fit the general pattern. 4.Illogical Reasoning Use systems of logic explicitly.

Views of Reality Premodern - Things are as they seem to be. Modern - Acknowledgment of human subjectivity. Postmodern -There is no objective reality to be observed.

Foundations of Social Science Theory - logic Data collection - observation Data Analysis - the comparison of what is logically expected with what is actually observed.

Social Regularities Examples of Patterns in social life: Only people 18 and older can vote. Only people with a license can drive.

Aggregates The collective actions and situations of many individuals. Focus of social science is to explain why aggregated patterns of behavior are regular even when individuals change over time.

Education and Racial Prejudice Level of Education % saying Black- Americans have less ability to learn Less than high school graduate 27% High school graduate13% Junior college 9% Bachelor’s degree5% Graduate degree2%

Approaches to Social Research Idiographic -Seeks to fully understand the causes of what happened in a single instance. Nomothetic—Seeks to explain a class of situations or events rather than a single one.

Approaches to Social Research Induction – From specific observations to the discovery of a pattern among all the given events. Deduction - From a pattern that might be logically expected to observations that test whether the pattern occurs.

Approaches to Social Research Qualitative Data – Nonnumerical data. Quantitative Data -Numerical data. Makes observations more explicit and makes it easier to aggregate, compare, and summarize data.

Approaches to Social Research Pure Research - Sometimes justified in terms of gaining “knowledge for knowledge’s sake.” Applied Research – Putting research into practice.