important because people and social entities are thought to differ depending on the variable category or level that describes them.
understanding the world
reality
realism- exists independent of any human presence, discover these facts and and laws
social constructionism- a construction of the human mind tied to a particular time and social context
appears complex, dynamic, unique, and mostly obscure
concepts- conceptualizing through mental processes to consider and sort their experiences in terms of the concepts
concepts are generalized abstractions, hypothetical, learned, socially shared, reality oriented, selective constructions, and encompass universes of possibilities.
theory
consists of concepts and relationships between those concepts
types of theories
constructive and principle theories
reductive and constructive theories
concatenated and hierarchical theories
humanistic, behavioristic, constructionist, structuralist, functionalist, and so on
falsifiable- the theory makes some definite predictions that are capable of being tested against experiences ex) Freud's psychoanalytic theory
philosophy of science
to question assumption that scientists take for granted
to analyze the methods of enquiry used in the various sciences
studies the methods of science
modern science
Copernican revolution-occurred in Europe against Ptolemaic astronomy
Johannes Kepler-the first, second, and third law of planetary motion
Galileo Galilei- a of free fall-the pioneer of telescope-a supporter of Copernicanism-mathematical explanation
Rene Descartes-mathematical philosophy
Isaac Newton-mathematical principles of natural philosophy in 1687-the principle of universal gravitation-invented calculus
Einstein- relativity theory
scientific reasoning
deductive
the premisses of the inference entail the conclusion
inductive
move from premisses about objects examined to conclusions about objects that have not been examined ex) everyday life experiences, most scientific researches
Hume's problem-the use of induction cannot be rationally justified-but this is not so problematic at all
IBE-inference to the best explanation
kinds of Sciences
biology-Charles Darwin's discovery of the theory of evolution by natural selection-"the Origin of Species"
molecular biology-the human genome project
Computer science
artificial intellegence
Social Sciences
differ from basic science in terms of making theories because of human behavior is related
sociology
economics
linguistics
neuro science
cognitive science
perception
learning
reasoning
socially based approach to understanding
understanding all involve internal conceptual systems that are communicated among individuals using an externally observable shared symbol system
improving and expanding personal understanding though shared symbol system
characteristics of shared approaches to understanding
each approach consiss of concepts and relationships among these concepts
all shared belief systems are limited in how much of the world they address
they generally serve prescriptive and evaluative functions
probability
laws and theories that are formulated using the notion of probability
probability might shed some light on inductive inference
the subjective interpretation of probability is powerless to solve Hume's problem
explain what happens in the world
Hempel's the covering law model- explanation-seeking why questions
to resolve the problem relation between a set of premisses and a conclusion
the premisses should entail the conclusion, should be all true, and should consist of at least one general law.
Every reliable prediction is potentially an explanation
concept of casuality-to explain a phenomenon is simply to say what caused it
research methods
quantitative
qualitative
inductive approach
a desire to describe real life as credibly as possible
gathering information from human beings in natural and/or real-life situations
aim to reveal otherwise unknown or unexpected understandings by analyzing data in depth and on multiple levels
holistic examination of data
Mind maps are recommended to plan and identify steps in qualitative research
Mind maps are recommended to collect and assist in data collection
Wondershare EdrawMind
