The Practice of Social Research
社会研究方法
Earl Babbie （艾尔·巴比）
Chapman University
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Part 1
An Introduction to Inquiry 研究概论
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Chapter 1
Human Inquiry and Science 人类研究与科学
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Answer: D
▪ Individuals learn all they need to know from personal experience, discovery and from what others tell us.
▪ 个体通过个人体验、主动探究发现和别人 告知的，来获取所需的知识
4. Illogical Reasoning 非逻辑推理 • Use systems of logic explicitly.有意识 地运用逻辑体系来避免这样的情形
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▪ Both provide a starting point for inquiry, but can lead us to start at the wrong point and push us in the wrong direction.
▪ 二手知识既给我们提供了研究的起点（站在巨人的肩 上），但也可能误导我们（错误的起点、错误的方向）
▪ Our attempts to learn about the world are only partly linked to direct, personal inquiry or experience.我们对世界的认识和了解，只有部分来自于个人研
究或经验。
▪ A larger part comes from agreed-on knowledge that others give us, things “everyone knows.” 大
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How We Know What We Know（我们如何形成对世界的认知）
▪ Direct Experience and Observation 个人体验与观察 ▪ Personal Inquiry 个人研究 ▪ Tradition 传统（约定俗成的知识） ▪ Authority 权威
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Looking for Reality 寻求真实
研究中常见的错误及解决办法
1. Inaccurate observations 不确切观察
• Measurement devices add precision.测量手段增加了准确性
2. Overgeneralization 过度概括化
• Enough cases 足够样本观察
• Repeat a study to make sure the
might be called the science of finding out. ▪ 方法论（认识论的一支）或许可以称为寻
找解答的科学
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Question
▪ How do individuals learn all they need to know? A. personal experience 个人体验 B. Discovery 探究发现 C. from what others tell us 别人说的 D. all of these choices 以上都是
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Ordinary Human Inquiry一般的人
类研究
▪ Humans recognize that future circumstances are caused by present ones.首先，人们认识到， 未来的环境多少是由现在的状况造成的。
▪ Humans learn that patterns of cause and effect are probabilistic in nature. 其次，人类知道因果 关系牵涉到概率问题
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Chapter Outline
▪ Looking for Reality 寻求真实 ▪ The Foundations of Social Science 社会研究的基础 ▪ Some Dialectics of Social Research 社会研究中的一些辩证关系 ▪ The Ethics of Social Research 社会研究的伦理
same results are produced each
time.重复进行同一项研究，看是否每次都得到同
样结果
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Inquiry: Errors and Solutions
研究中常见的错误及解决办法
3. Selective observation 选择性观察
• Make an effort to find cases that do not fit the general pattern.找出不符合 一般情形的异常案例
▪ Humans aim to answer “what” and “why” questions, and pursue these goals by observing and figuring out. 人类研究的目的在于回答“是什么”
和“为什么”，通过观察和推理来达到目标。
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Inquiry: Errors and Solutions
部分来自于别人告知的约定俗成的知识。
▪ This agreement reality both assists and hinders our attempts to find out for ourselves.这
些约定俗成的真实，既可能帮助也可能阻碍我们亲手去发掘真实。
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Sources of Secondhand Knowledge
1. Tradition 传统 2. Authority 权威
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Science and Inquiry科学与研究
▪ Epistemology is the science of knowing. ▪ 认识论是认识的科学 ▪ Methodology (a subfield of epistemology)