Week 1 Intro to Social Science Research.pptVIP

What is social science? Social science refers to the field of sciences concerned with the studies of the social life of human groups and individuals. The major disciplines within social sciences include: Thus for the sake of accuracy, we should use “social sciences” instead of “social science.” A glance at burgeoning social science research at SEIS Here are 24 thesis topics from a SEIS class that graduated two years ago. Btw, are they good research topics? Social sciences in China In China, almost any subject that does not fall into hard sciences belong to social science. Take the leading social science journal in China, “Social Sciences in China,” for example. Its first issue of 2008 features the following articles: “Theory of Poetry and Theory of Painting: the Role and Significance for Poetic Criticism of Commenting on Ci in Terms of Painting” “The Poetic Revolution and “Genius”: Wang Guowei’s Concept of the Poet” Characteristics of social sciences The procedures are public “Scientific research uses explicit, codified, and public methods to generate and analyze data whose reliability can therefore be assessed.” The content is method “The content of science is primarily the methods and rules, not the subject matter.” Karl Pearson (1892, 16) thus wrote: “The field of science is unlimited; its material is endless; every group of natural phenomena, every phase of social life, every stage of past or present development is material for science. The unity of all science consists alone in its method, not in its material.” Social sciences vs. sciences Difference: Because its subjects are social phenomena or human behavior, social science research often falls short of the strict requirements of experiments. For example, we cannot have an experimental condition under which a group of countries are attacked by nuclear weapons, whereas the control group of countries are not attacked by such weapons. Social sciences vs. humanities Social science is also different from hu