SOCY 1101 – Chapter 5

“The Vocabulary of
Science”
Mary McKenzie
UNC Charlotte
Scientific method:
 We specify some concepts of interest to us.
 We posit, or suggest, some relationship
between those concepts.
 We test whether the posited relationship
reflects what happens in the real world.
◦ If testing shows that our posited relationship does
reflect what goes on in the real world, we conclude
that we have succeeded in understanding something
about the nature of things in the world.
 The simplicity of the scientific method
becomes clear only when one has conquered
the basic vocabulary used by scientists.
 The scientific method includes which of the
following?
  

A. We specify some concepts of interest to

us.
B. We posit, or suggest, some relationship
between those concepts.
C. We test whether the posited
relationship reflects what happens in the
real world.
D. All of the above.
Variables:
 Pick the concepts of interest to us. We call these
concepts variables.
◦ To call a concept a variable means it is a thing of interest in
a particular piece of research.
 They have two important characteristics:
◦ A variable is something that is thought to influence or be
influenced by another thing.
◦ A variable has to do with the idea of variation or
difference: A variable is a thing that has varying attributes
(an attribute is a characteristic or a quality that describes a
thing).
◦ Depending on the circumstances, the attributes of a
particular variable will be defined in different ways. How
you define your list of attributes depends on the nature of
the group you are studying. A list must be totally inclusive
– every person has one of the attributes.
A variable must have more
than three attributes in order
to be useful in social research.
 
True
False
Hypotheses:
 Scientists are interested in the relationships
among different variables.
 We posit a relationship between the variables.
The result is called a hypothesis.
◦ When we create a hypothesis, we are not asserting
that it reflects something true. Hypotheses can be
either true or false.
◦ We create them to test whether the posited
relationships between the variables are true or false.
◦ Hypotheses often follow the same basic form:
Variable X influences variable Y. [Differences in
attributes of variable X are related to different
attributes of variable Y].
◦ Sometimes the variables are not as clearly stated.
A hypothesis is neither true nor
false because it has nothing to
do with empirical reality.
 
True
False
Kinds of Variables:
 There are variables that influence other things
and variables that are influenced by other
things.
◦ When a variable influences another thing, it is called
a cause, when a variable is influenced by another
thing, it is called an effect.
Influences or affects other things = causes
[Independent Variable]
Influenced or affected by other things = effects
[ Dependent Variable]
 A particular variable is
always either dependent or
independent, regardless of the
circumstances.
 
True
False
Kinds of Relationships:
Directionality
 The relationships between two variables may
be one of two types: positive or negative.
◦ Variables that vary in the same direction have a
positive relationship; variables that vary in the
opposite direction have a negative relationship.
◦ Positive relationships look like this: ↑ IV → ↑ DV
◦ Negative relationships look like this: ↑ IV → ↓ DV
 Which of the following represents a negative
relationship between the independent
variable (IV) and the dependent variable
(DV)?
 
 A ↑ IV → ↑ DV
 B ↑ IV → ↓ DV
 C ↓ IV → ↑ DV
 D Both (B) and (C).
 We need to arrange things so tat we can test our
Operational Definitions:
hypotheses.
 Testing the hypothesis means determining whether
there is indeed a relationship between the two
variables in the real world.
 We must create operational definitions for each of our
variables.
◦ We do this by transforming the variables into things that can
be observed and measured.
◦ List its attributes so that you can count the presence or
absence of those attributes in the real world.
 Two rules to keep in mind when operationalizing
variables:
◦ The list of attributes must be exhaustive; that is every thing or
person being observed must fit into one category.
◦ The list of attributes must be mutually exclusive; that is, no
one person or thing should be able to fit into more than a
single category
 Operationalizing a variable
means transforming it into
something that can be
observed and measured.
 
True
False
Tables and
 The point Figures:
of putting data into a table or
figure is to present those data clearly.
 Usually, no matter how many pieces of
information are packed into a figure or
table, you can figure out what it means by
following a few steps:
◦ Begin by reading the title of the table or figure
carefully.
A proper title will tell you the name of each of
the variables that is described in the table or
depicted in the figure.
A proper title will tell you the
name of each of the variables
that is described in the table
or depicted in the figure.

 True
 False