Social Science Scientific Inquiry What makes social science

Social Science & Scientific Inquiry What makes social science “scientific? ”

What is Science?

“Pre-reqs” for Scientific Thinking • Curiosity: Desire to know WHY? And HOW? • Scepticism: Re-examine past explanations and re-evaluate evidence • Objectivity: Try to not let personal preconceptions, prejudices, or desires influence interpretation of facts

Science Not just what we know, but how we know • What we know: Scientific Knowledge – Body of knowledge that has been systematically gathered, classified, related, and interpreted • How we know: Scientific Method – Method of acquiring knowledge through systematic observation, measurement, and/or experiment • Goal: Discover rules that explain natural or social phenomena

Two Pillars of Scientific Knowledge Logic Evidence

Scientific Method: Steps The “rules” for building scientific knowledge • Make Observations and Ask a Question • Do Background Research • Construct a Hypothesis (“Educated Guess”) to Explain Observations • Collect Evidence through More Observation to Test the Hypothesis • Analyze or Interpret the Data and Draw a Conclusion

Scientific Method: Criteria The “rules” for building scientific knowledge • Reliability: Other researchers can independently repeat the study and obtain similar results • Precision: Concepts must be defined with enough precision that other researchers can use those definitions to measure or study them too • Falsifiability: A theory must be able to be tested • Parsimony: When there is more than one explanation for a phenomena, accept the most simple explanation

“Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. ” Carl Sagan American Scientist & Writer, 1934 – 1996

Film: Myth Busters - Penny Drop

Film: Myth Busters Penny Drop • Is it scientific? Why or why not?

Critical Response Paragraphs! • See hand-out for guidelines • First Assignment: How does “Myth Busters – Lights On or Off? ” demonstrate the scientific method? DUE: Thursday, September 5, In-class OR by e-mail by midnight

Film: Myth Busters – Lights On or Off

Scientific Knowledge: Two Categories Natural Sciences “Hard Sciences” Social Sciences “Soft Sciences” Examples: Biology Chemistry Physics Geology Examples: Sociology Psychology Economics Political Science

What’s the difference? Some Challenges for SOCIAL Science • Ambiguity: Social sciences deals with concepts hard to define and measure; Natural sciences tend to be more precise, accurate, specific – Need to provide very clear definitions for what we observe and measure

What’s the difference? Some Challenges for SOCIAL Science • Ambiguity: Social sciences deals with concepts hard to define and measure; Natural sciences tend to be more precise, accurate, specific – Need to provide very clear definitions for what we observe and measure • Human element: Sometimes more difficult to set aside personal biases when studying other people – Try to recognize all your own personal biases that might influence your findings

Do Opposites Attract? • Read the two articles • What variables are they looking at to determine if opposites attract? • Are the articles in total disagreement? • Do you think the headlines are misleading or not?

Summary • Science is not just a body of knowledge, but also the way we acquire the knowledge • Another way to say it: Science is not just a product, but a process • Social science is scientific because it uses evidence and logic to explain social phenomena