Reminder

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Reminder

• Next week email and bring copy of HW1
• Use Rebelmail

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Chapter 2

• Paradigms, Theory, And Research

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Theory and Research

• Theory functions three ways in research
• Theories prevent our being taken in by flukes.
• Theories make sense of observed patterns in ways
  that can suggest other possibilities and causal
  connections.
• Theories can direct research efforts, pointing
  toward likely discoveries through empirical
  observation.

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Paradigms

• Frames of reference we use to organize our
  observations and reasoning.
• Often implicit, assumed, taken for granted.
• We can see new ways of seeing and explaining
  things when we step outside our paradigm.

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Paradigms
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Social Science Paradigms

• Positivism
• Post-positivism
• Conflict
• Symbolic interaction
• Ethnomethodology
• Structural Functionalism
• Feminist
• Race

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Social Science Paradigms Macrotheory

• Macrotheory deals with large, aggregate entities
  of society or whole societies.
• Struggle between economic classes, international
  relations

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Social Science Paradigms Microtheory

• Microtheory deals with issues at the level of
  individuals and small groups.
• Dating behavior, jury deliberations, student
  faculty interactions

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Social Science Paradigms Conflict

• Marx suggested social behavior could be seen as
  the process of conflict
• Attempt to dominate others.
• Attempt to avoid domination.

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Social Science Paradigms Ethnomethodology

• People are continuously trying to make sense of
  the life they experience.
• One technique is to break the rules and violate
  peoples expectations.

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Social Science Paradigms Structural Functionalism

• A social entity, such as an organization, can be
  viewed as an organism.
• A social system is made up of parts, each of
  which contributes to the functioning of the
  whole.
• This view looks for the functions served by the
  various components of society.

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Social Science Paradigms Feminism

• Focuses on gender differences and how they relate
  to the rest of social organization.
• Draws attention to the oppression of women in
  many societies, and sheds light on all kinds of
  oppression.

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Paradigm v. Theory

• Whats the difference?
• Theories tend to be much more narrow and specific
• The theory of distributive justice may fit in a
  larger paradigm (i.e. conflict paradigm)
• Conflict over wealth is based on both actual
  wealth of an individual but also relative or
  comparable wealth.
• Not always obvious Realism Rational Choice

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Examples of Theories

• Modernization
• Social Capital

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Rational Choice Theory

• In choosing lines of behavior, humans make
  rational calculations with respect to
• the utility of an action in reference to the
  preference hierarchy
• For example, congress members want good policy,
  but their primary preference is to get reelected
  (Mayhew 1974).
• the costs of each alternative action in terms of
  utilities foregone
• i.e. cost/benefit analysis
• Utility maximization

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Rational Choice Theory

• Emergent social phenomena -- social structures,
  collective decisions, and collective behavior --
  are ultimately the result of rational choices
  made by utility-maximizing individuals.
• Emergent social phenomena that arise from
  rational choices constitute a set of parameters
  (e.g. incentives and constraints) for subsequent
  rational choices of individuals in the sense that
  they determine
• the distribution of resources among
  individuals
• the distribution of opportunities for various
  lines of behavior
• the distribution nature of norms
  obligations in a situation.

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Reductionism

• Jumping ahead a little (see chapter 4)
• Two meanings
• 1. suggesting a phenomenon can be explained in
  terms of a single factor or type of factors (i.e.
  biological)
• 2. explaining a phenomenon in terms of
  lower-order concepts (opposite of ecological
  fallacy)
• Social science wants to produce a parsimonious
  model of the complex world, but we dont want to
  be reductionists. Finding the balance of
  parsimony and realistic model and/or explanation.

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Induction v. deduction
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Research Design (paper)

• Deductive
• Because you will have to choose a theory before
  actually collecting any data/observations
• Dont have to mention any paradigms
• Not going to invent a new theory. Instead, borrow
  one that you uncover in your readings/literature
  review.