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Notes on Methodologies
Social Philosphy, Science and Studies

Sociology is just one of many approaches to understanding social matters; history, political science, economics, anthropology are some academic approaches. But much of theology, film-making, drama, literature, jurisprudence, politics and governance also are fields that reflect mightily social concerns and contribute immensely to our knowledge about ourselves, our customs, our ways, our powers, and the ways of others than ourselves.

Sociology, as a particular disciplined way of studying, defines the object its interest closely, and is committed to a scientific methodology in discovering new social facts, and to a scientific approach to organizing, publishing, curating those facts and explanations.

Sociology has its own branch of mathematics - statistics - as useful in uncovering correlations and patterns in human group activities, as geometry is at rigorously articulating relations in and between spaces. Statistics, originally called state arithmetic, used by governing to tax/manage/serve their subjects.

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

Mean, Median Mode

One is average, the other is most common, the third is the value in the center
Exercise

Epistemology - philosopical study of what constitutes truth or true statements

Hermeneutics - philosophical study of interpretations and the quality of explanations.

Max Weber- 1) Verstehen 2) Ideal Type.

Types of Researching

1) Field work

participant observation,
observation,
interviewing,
polling.

2) Exploration/Critique of Literature that exists on a topic.

3) Analysis of data- census info, market info, 'battle damage estimates'. Using techniques - statistical and critical - to uncover patterns and processes that may be revealed by studying extant information.

Validity of data - a rating of how closely info or measurement truly reflects phenomenon being studied.
Reliablity - how well a measurement produces consistent results ( don't use a rubber band to measure your shoe size)
Sampling - a subset of object under study which can be generalized to represent the larger object (group) being studied.
random sample
Variables - something that can be measured, and is subject to change
Independent variable - dependent variable. The dependent one changes under influence of the independent one.

Drownings, Sales of Ice Cream, and Temperature all rise and fall together.

Which are dependent and which independent of each other? Ice Cream Sales and Drownings increase in summer and decrease in winter - both are dependent on how hot it is. Summer temperatures vary from winter temperatures, but temperatures are not dependent of the number of ice cream cones sold, or the increased frequency of people jumping into pools!. Temperature would be the independent variable in this study.

 

Hawthorne Effect - observing causes changes in observed. At Hawthorne factory, every time efficiency experts made a change in workes conditions, worker productivity increased. Didn't much matter what they did - raise pay, lower pay; increase lighting levels, decrease lighting levels. Seems that if you pay attention to people, any kind of attention, they change. We are connected to one another. In modern physics, The Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty.