1. The Building Blocks of Research
Ontology Epistemology
Methodology/
Approach
OR
Epistemology Ontology
Methodology/
Approach
2. Every raven in a random
sample of 5000 was black
This strongly supports
the hypothesis that all
raven are black
(SINGULAR)
(UNIVERSAL)
3. Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
Facts acquired through
observation
Laws and theories
Predictions and
explanations
(Chalmers, 6)
4. T1
T2
T4
I can’t quite see
the truth, but
my
verisimilitude is
high
Aaagh, I’ve just
been falsified!
I thought I’d
reached the
truth but I am
still miles away
I’m closer to the
truth than you
T1
5. Antecedent conditions
1.) the thermometer is a
glass tube, filled with
mercury
2.) it is immersed in hot
water
General Laws
1.) the law of the thermic
expansion of glass
2.) the law of the thermic
expansion of mercury
3.) the laws of conductivity
Explanans
6. POSITIVISM:
What constitutes social scientific research?
(King, keohane, verba)
• Goal is inference
• Procedures are public
• Conclusions are uncertain
• Content is the method
10. Marxist interpretation
Concept
• ideology
• class
• alienation
Examples
• rights talk, autonomy,
equality, objectification
• capitalists, workers,
consumers
• from labour, products,
others, self
11. Stratification
• The actual: what we can
perceive (an apple falling;
people following norms)
• The empirical: what is
actually perceived (I saw an
apple fall; I saw people
following norms)
• The real: what is real but
unobservable (gravity;
human consciousness,
bureaucratic surveillance).
We use models to imagine
what they must be like in
order for them to produce
the empirical effects they
do.
