Sociology as Science How it is both a process and product Has a unique subject matter that limits both processes of sociological research and theories Shares with all science the systematic observation and analysis of data, guided/contributed by theoretical knowledge
Research Methods: 7 steps Define the research problem Review the evidence (literature review) Make the problem precise--specify your hypothesis Work out a research design Carry out the research---collect data Interpret results---analyze data Report findings----publish or present them Ex: Democracy and Terrorism Define Question/Problem: Do greater IvIs of democracy lead to greater or lesser Ils of terrorist attacks? (1968 to 1998) Factual Q: how many terrorists incidents were there? Comparative Q: how did the numbers vary by country? Development Q: how did the numbers change over time? Cause=Democracy Effect=Terrorism Theoretical Q: Why did the numbers vary or change?
democracy? Hypothesis for dependent variable Hyp1: non democratic countries will have more international terrorists attack than countries that are fully or partially democratic Hyp2: countries that are democratic will incur more international terrorists attack than nondemocratic or partially democratic countries? Research Design: Experiment, survey, observation, comparative/historical Carry out Research Quantitative statistics available Control for other factors Interpreting the results