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Lesson 6: Questioning

SOCI 108 - Thinking Critically about Social IssuesSpring 2012

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What is Questioning?

See what I just did there? What? Never forget the importance of ‘why’

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Learning Outcomes

Recall the ways that humans come to have knowledge

Define empirical Ask a variety of levels of critical thinking

questions

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How do you know what you know?

Intuition Common sense Authority Tradition

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Intuition

Where does this come from?– Ex: Truthiness

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Common Sense can steer us wrong

True or False: U.S. black/white income gap has narrowed

significantly in recent years. The ratio of black-to-white family income has

consistently been around 55-60% ever since the major civil rights laws were passed in the 1960s. There has been some fluctuation, but not much (Farley 1995, in Farley 1998).

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Sociology and Common Sense

True or False: On average, men have a higher tolerance for

both pain and temperature extremes than women do.

On average, women tolerate pain, heat, and cold better than men do when physiological tests are performed. However, U.S. culture socializes men to be “tough” more than it does women–so women may often act wimpier!

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Sociology and Common Sense

True or False: Most homeless people choose to be homeless. Only ~ 6% of homeless people are that way by

choice (Kendall 2000). 40+% of homeless adults are actually employed. (Population Review Bureau supplement). Over 1/4 of homeless women get that way fleeing domestic violence.

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Sociology and Common Sense

True or False: Teenage pregnancies have increased

dramatically since the 1950s. Actually, they decreased over past half century;

teens less likely to marry/start family. Percentage of teen pregnancies involving unmarried teens increased dramatically (but even that has been dropping since the early 1990s). (Kendall 1996)

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Authority

Where does this come from? Where does legitimacy come in? Weber’s three types:

– Legal-rational– Traditional– Charismatic

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Empirical Science

Empirical – observable through one or more of the five senses– Sight– Hearing– Smell– Taste – Touch

Does California exist empirically?

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Empirical

An empirical question is answered by observing and analyzing the world?– What are the standardized test scores of 9th grade

algebra students?– Why do people commit suicide in some societies

more than other societies?

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Cause and Effect

Social sciences often look for things that cause other things

We know that:– Size causes length of life (smaller dogs live longer

than larger dogs)– Fertilizer on your lawn causes a greener lawn– Lower education causes lower income

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Correlation ≠ Causation

Often we confuse causality with causation Correlation, sometimes called association Relationship between two or more variables Increases in ice cream sales correlates with

an increase in violent crime

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Science

Science describes repeating patterns Pseudoscience describes idiosyncratic

(peculiar) phenomena that are non-reliable and non-repeatable– Often appears to be scientific

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Skeptical

Debunking or teasing out the truth through the use of critical thinking

Always be skeptical

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Errors and Hits

Errors are false assumptions– Type 1 error: believing a falsehood– Type 2 error: rejecting a truth

Hits are correct assumptions– Type 1 hit: Not believing a falsehood– Type 2 hit: Believing a truth

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While investigating a claim ask yourself:

1) What is the quality of the evidence supporting this claim?

A fuzzy photograph My best friend’s wife said this…

2) What are the credentials and background of this claimant?

A writer for the National Enquirer Dr. Phil (re: a diet)

3) Does the “thing” work as claimed? Does Miss Cleo have the right to answer all the time or just

some of the time?