Sociological sutdies - Lee seung Won(이승원)

1.   Summarization

 

There are many ways human use to acquire knowledge. One of them, the scientific method is used by sociologists to study the society. The elements of the scientific method is: 1. Characterization

              2. Hypothesis

              3. Prediction

              4. Testing

First, sociologists must do a characterization to study a sociological issue, because the scientific method of studying needs a specific characterization of the terms to make measurements.

Next step, sociologists make a suggestion on the relationship between the two subjects studied. There is a dependent variable and a independent variable.

Third, the hypothesis is predicted if it is valid or not. If it is not valid, there can be some corrections.

Lastly, the hypothesis is tested the validation, mostly by laboratory experiments. If the hypothesis is resulted invalid, it is fixed.

There is a correlation and causation in the sociology. These may seem similar, but it is different. Correlation is when x decreases or increases y does the same. And causation is when something when x makes y happen.

There is a quantitive and a qualitive study. Quantitive study is more statistic, and qualitive study is more about the content, substant of the subject.

2.   Unusual, interesting items learned

 
I found it interesting that sociology had such a systematic method in studying. It is more science-like than I expected.  The systematic character made me like sociology more. I think the various terms of sociological studying will make me see the world in a sociological way, studying the relationships between two subjects.

 

3.   New questions

I think there should be more questions about the difference between science and sociology. Sociology takes the method of scientific studies, but there are big differences between atoms and human. Humans are much more complex. So there should be difference in using scientific methods in studying sociology.