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The concept of causality in social sciences, focusing on mill's methods for determining causality and experimental designs. Mill's methods include the method of residue, agreement, concomitant variation, and difference. Experimental designs involve isolating a causal variable through exposure to a suspected cause and measuring the effect on the dependent variable. The document also covers research hypotheses, threats to internal validity, and the logic of research.
Typology: Lecture notes
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(1) Method of Residue ….an inductive method for determining causality. The researcher systematically investigates and tries to eliminate all possible causes.
One or more of the possible causes that you cannot eliminate or rule out (the residual causes ), could be the ACTUAL CAUSE(s).
(3) Method of Concomitant Variation ….if a variable occurs in time & space with the phenomenon, the variable correlated with the phenomenon may be the cause. Why? If change in variable X is accompanied by change in variable Y , then X could be a cause of Y. (e.g., the higher the social support levels a person has, the better their mental & physical health will be). This is the basis for many causal inferences in sociology. NOTE: correlation implies but does not always prove causality!
(4) Method of Difference ….if some variable is present when the phenomenon of interest occurs, and is absent when the phenomenon does not occur. That variable may be the cause of the phenomenon.
The logical basis for many causal inferences in psychology & sociology (e.g. experimental or quasi-experimental research, program evaluations, etc.).
Does watching Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” make viewers cynical about politics?
Control variables: variables the researcher controls so the independent / dependent variable relationship can be isolated.
Confounding variables: variables the researcher fails to control. Confounding variables can suppress or inflate evidence of a causal relationship between independent / dependent variables.
Random variables: variables that may influence independent / dependent variable relationship; they are controlled for by randomly assigning subjects to groups.
Where do hypotheses come from? Social theories, Research literature, Personal experiences, Commonsense, Intuition, Professional judgements.
Problem/ Question : What causes political violence?
Research Hypotheses :
1. The risk of political violence increases as the intensity of relative deprivation rises.
2. The risk of political violence increases as the strength of religious ideas increase.
3. The risk of political violence decreases as the perceived responsiveness of government increases.
History: extraneous, noteworthy, public events that coincide with your research can provide a rival explanation for your findings.
researcher uses can alter the phenomenon we are measuring. Specific testing threats include: test experience , sensitizing , and evoking “socially appropriate” or “politically correct” responses.
Measurement always has the potential to be “reactive”!
Threats to Internal Validity
Statistical Regression ….changes in any phenomenon tend to be toward the population mean/average. Extremes of any phenomenon tend to become less extreme over time.
This is one reason why great athletes tend to have children who are less athletic…and why terrible athletes can have children who more athletic. Make sure the groups you are comparing are comparable and are not self-selected groups!!!
