RI Social Science tutorial on the 3 approaches 2023

The 3 Approaches in SS PSS, ISS, CSS

Recap • 1) Is there only one way to do research in SS? Is this the same in Math and NS? • 2) What is the difference in aim of the 3 different approaches? • 3) What is the difference in their views on ontology, i.e. in their belief about social reality? • 4) What are some of the research methods that are associated with each approach? • 5) Must researchers use only one approach in their research? • 6) Must topics be studied from only one approach? • 7) How does their ontology affect their epistemology? • 8) What are some common criticisms for each approach? • 9) What are some common features across all 3 approaches?

Examples – which approach? Collective Trauma at Buffalo Creek (Kai Erikson, Sociology / Psychology) • Thesis: • Once integrated into a network of communality, individuals can no longer relate to one another as separate entities; community takes over the individual permanently. Thus, while disasters generally cause trauma, when the individual loses his community to a collective disaster, the psychological/social damage involved is more severe and permanent. • Evidence raised: • Different means of data collection used on different survivors, over different time -points. These included personal interviews, letters to attorneys, psychiatric evaluations and mail questionnaires. Sources analyzed to understand survivors’ pre- and post-disaster emotions, general attitudes towards life, fellow survivors and their community. • Accounts from similar time-points interpreted collectively, compared with accounts from other time - points.

Obedience to Authority (Stanley Milgram, Psychology) • Thesis: • “Ordinary people, without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.” • Evidence raised: • In 1961, Milgram carried out this experiment and obtained the following result: • "Teachers" (people being studied) were given a list of word pairs which he was to teach the learner. If the “learner” (a paid actor) was not able to learn correctly, he would receive a shock administered by the “teacher”, with the voltage increasing with each wrong answer. The “teachers” were led to believe that for each wrong answer, the learner was receiving actual shocks. In reality, there were no shocks. • 65 percent (26 out of 40) of experimental participants administered the experiment's final 450 -volt shock, though many were quite uncomfortable in doing so; everyone paused at some point and questioned the experiment, some even saying they would return the check for the money they were paid. No participant steadfastly refused to give further shocks before the 300 -volt level. Examples – which approach?

Examples – which a