Announcements:

• No lab this week (Friday, January 17)• No lecture on Monday, January 20th for

MLK Jr. Day• Make sure to read chapter 1 in the

textbook by Wednesday, January 22• Assignment 1 is due at the beginning of

class on Wednesday, January 22

Introduction to Social Science Research

January 15, 2014

Try to Define the following:

TheoryScience

Political Science

What is Theory?

• Theory - A simplification of the real world Problem with theory - something is

always lost when we simplify reality in this way

What is social science theory? What is political theory?

What is Science?

• Science - prescription for systematic reasoning, a body of knowledge

– Deductive method - A process of reasoning from a theory to specific observation

– Inductive method - A process of reasoning from specific observations to general principle

Scientific Approach to Political Science:

The application of the scientific method to political phenomenon

Political science is about the scientific study of political phenomenon

Political Science as a Science

• Scientific method - method of inquiry based on empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning

Why study political science?

Purpose of Social Research

Develop theories about political/social phenomena

Simplify reality and predict outcomes

Statistics

• Necessity of Statistics

• Types of Statistics– Descriptive statistics - organize and

summarize information about a collection of observations

– Inferential statistics - concerned with generalizing theories beyond actual observations

What is Exploratory Data Analysis?

Data - Pieces of information or statistics Smooth - pattern(s) that can be extracted from the raw dataRough - the remaining residuals that contain no pattern at all

Data = Smooth + Rough

Terms you should know:

• Theory• Science• Political Science• Deductive

method • Inductive method• Descriptive

statistics

• Inferential statistics

• Exploratory Data Analysis

• Data• Smooth• Rough