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| Those things we "know" as part and parcel of the culture we share with those around us. |
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| A characteristic of a person or a thing. |
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| The logical model in which specific expectations of hyptheses are developed on the basis of general principles. Starting from the general principle that all deans are meanies, you might anticipate that this one won't let you change courses. This anticipation would be the result of deduction. |
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| A variable assumed to depend on or be caused by another (called the independent variable). If you find that income is partly a function of amount of formal education, income is being treated as a dependent variable. |
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| The science of knowing; systems of knowledge. |
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| An approach to explanation in which we seek to exhaust the idiosyncratic causes of a particular condition or even. Imagine trying to list all the reason why you chose to attend your particular college. Given all those reasons, it's difficult to imagine your making any other choice. |
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| The logical model in which general principles are developed from specific observations. Having noted that Jews and Catholics are more likely to vote Democratic than are Protestants, you might conclude that religious minorities in the United States are more affiliated with the Democratic party, and then your task is to explain why. |
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| The science of finding out; procedures of scientific investigation. |
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| An approach to explanation in which we seek to identify a few casual factors that generally impact a class of conditions or events. Imagine the two or three key factors that determine which colleges students choose, such as proximity, reputation, and so forth. |
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| Repeating an experiment to expose or reduce error. |
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| A systematic explanation for the observations that relate to a particular aspect of life: juvenile delinquency, for example, or perhaps social stratification or political revolution. |
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| A logical set of attributes. The variable sex is made up of the attributes male and female. |
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| A variable with values that are not problematical in an analysis but are taken as simply given. An independent variable is presumed to cause or determine a dependent variable. If we discover that religiosity is partly a function of sex women are more religious than are men sex is the independent variable and religiosity is the dependent variable. Note that any given variable might be treated as independent in one part of an analysis and dependent in another part of it. Religiosity might become an independent variable in an explanation of crime. |
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| A paradigm that holds that things are real insofar as they produce effects. |
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| A specified testable expectation about empirical reality that follows a more general propositionl more generally; an expectation about the nature of things derived from a theory. It is a statement of something that ought to be observed in the real world if the theory is correct. |
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| The thesis that majority of group members will only support the interests of minorities when those actions also support the interests of the majority group. |
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| A theory aimed at understanding the "big picture" of institutions, whole societies, and the interactions among societies. Karl Marx's examination of the class struggle is an example of macrotheory. Contrasted with microtheory. |
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| A theory aimed at understanding social life at the level of individuals and their interactions. Explaining how the play behavior of girls differs from that of boys is an example of microteory. Contrasted with macrotheory. |
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| (1) In connection with hypothesis testing and tests of statistical significance, that hypothesis that suggests there is no relationship among the variables under study. You may conclude that the variables are related after having statisically rejected the null hypothesis. (2) An expectation about nulls. |
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| The concrete and specific definition of something in terms of the operations by which observations are to be categorized. The operational definition of "earning an A in this course" might be "correctly answering at least 90 percent of the final exam questions." |
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| (1) One step beyond conceptualization. Operationazation is he process of developing operational definitions, or specifying the exact operations involved in measuring a variable. (2) Surgery on intellectuals. |
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| (1) A model or framework for observation and understanding, which shapes both what we see and how we understand it. The conflict paradigm causes us to see social behavior one way, the interactionist paradigm causes us to see differently. |
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Term
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Definition
| A paradigm that holds that things are real insofar as they produce effects. |
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Term
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Definition
| A specified testable expectation about empirical reality that follows a more general propositionl more generally; an expectation about the nature of things derived from a theory. It is a statement of something that ought to be observed in the real world if the theory is correct. |
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Term
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Definition
| The thesis that majority of group members will only support the interests of minorities when those actions also support the interests of the majority group. |
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Term
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Definition
| A theory aimed at understanding the "big picture" of institutions, whole societies, and the interactions among societies. Karl Marx's examination of the class struggle is an example of macrotheory. Contrasted with microtheory. |
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Term
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Definition
| A theory aimed at understanding social life at the level of individuals and their interactions. Explaining how the play behavior of girls differs from that of boys is an example of microteory. Contrasted with macrotheory. |
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Term
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Definition
| (1) In connection with hypothesis testing and tests of statistical significance, that hypothesis that suggests there is no relationship among the variables under study. You may conclude that the variables are related after having statisically rejected the null hypothesis. (2) An expectation about nulls. |
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Term
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Definition
| The concrete and specific definition of something in terms of the operations by which observations are to be categorized. The operational definition of "earning an A in this course" might be "correctly answering at least 90 percent of the final exam questions." |
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Term
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Definition
| (1) One step beyond conceptualization. Operationazation is he process of developing operational definitions, or specifying the exact operations involved in measuring a variable. (2) Surgery on intellectuals. |
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Term
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Definition
| (1) A model or framework for observation and understanding, which shapes both what we see and how we understand it. The conflict paradigm causes us to see social behavior one way, the interactionist paradigm causes us to see differently. |
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