Knowledge << How do we know what we know >> - Personal observation/ experience - Authority General Method of Knowing Rationalism > truth through REASONING - All humans are mortal > Bob is human > Bob is mortal Empiricism > truth through OBSERVATION - No one lives forever, everyone dies - Have not met anyone that is immortal, everyone you know just dies - Durkheim argues that it is nice to think about the ideas, but instead use scientific method to analyze, record and test those ideas Empiricism + Observations - Observation cannot be recorded at random - In order for observations to be useful, they need to be collected and recorded systematically (in order) > particular skill set /standardized - After the observation is collected systematically - THEN it can be used as EVIDENCE for research >>> Quality of evidence of research must go through peer review / fact checked - Peer (deemed expert in the field and has experience from the past) - People that have no biased towards publishing / money Research = Skill - Transferable skills (resume relevant) you will gained as a result of learning how to conduct social scientific research include: 1. CHOOSE right investigative method a. Research is a way to solve a problem > research becomes important skill in any job b. Solution they need to give you is based on data > SO you need to choose the RIGHT way to collect the data 2. COLLECT appropriate data 3. ANALYZE and interpret data 4. COMPILE and organize research results 5. COMMUNICATE results to different audience - VERY important a. Lawyers are trained to basically communicate why / why not their client should be sentenced > their communicative performance is what decides Types of RESEARCH
1. Private sector - MARKET RESEARCH ; research that is conducted for the purpose of guiding businesses and other organizations as they make decisions about how best to sell & promote a product / service - Nielsen > gives data surrounding tv show ratings which show which are gna flop/ succeed - Pay can be little better / work for creative people and creative with the methods you use and be innovative - Research can be tainted just to get the data across - Almost no time to do research - Pays the most 2. Public sector - policy and other government research ; research that is conducted for the purpose of helping to create social improvement or betterment of programs and policies - Almost no time to do research 3. Non profit sector - action research ; research that is conducted for the purpose of creating some form of social change - Tries to meet the unmet demand (that the gov. And priv. Sector cannot serve) - Things happen very quickly, need to be creative - when these unmet needs change up all of a sudden - Always new - Not stable > not permanent staff, not a lot of expertees - constantly justify your existence