Fall 2001

Schram

Key Points for 9/25/01

From Theories to Hypotheses

First, here is a schematic overview (definitions follow below).

Paradigm is an overview of how to look at an area of study and how to study it. It includes theories, methods and facts. (An example is Structuralism, including for instance Marxism, which approaches the study of human relations in terms of how broad political economic structures constrain people’s actions and limit what they get to do.) (Another example is individualism which can lead to rational choice theory and emphasizing that people’s behavior is largely a product of how they make rational choices.)

Theory offers an explanation of why something is the way it is. (An example is the class structure theory of homelessness explains it largely in terms of how the class structure produces economic deprivation and leads to lack of housing and facilities for homeless individuals.)

Concepts are the critical ingredients of theories and focus our attention on the key phenomena that are involved in explaining why something is the way it is. (For instance, "class" and "economic deprivation" are key concepts in the class structure theory of explaining the causes of homelessness.)

Hypotheses state predictions of what the facts will support. Hypotheses take a theory and its concepts and convert it into an observable relationship between variables. (For instance, Low income individuals are more likely than high income persons to become homeless when they suffer severe psychological problems.)

Variables convert, or as they say in the research literature, operationalize concepts into observable measures. (For example, annual personal income is a variable that can be measured to indicate class standing. So a hypothesis about low income can be said to be related to the concept of class.)

Now, let’s relate this to where we are in this course, the first assignment, etc.

Research Topic: Causes of Homelessness

Research Question: Is Economic Deprivation A Major Cause of Homelessness?

Paradigm: Structural Marxism

Theory: The Class System produces homelessness and the lack of responses to it.

Concepts: Economic Deprivation, Homelessness

Hypotheses: Low income persons are more likely than high income persons to become homeless when suffering severe psychological problems.

Variables to be measured: Income, Psychological Problems (including Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, Dysthymia) Lack of housing

Additional Hypotheses:

Low income persons in neighborhoods where there has been high levels of regentrification are more likely than other low incomes persons to become homeless when suffering severe psychological problems.

Low income persons who aged-out of foster care are more likely than other low income persons to become homeless when suffering severe psychological problems.
 

  Examples for the First Assignment