CHAPTER 1: EMERGENCE OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

LESSON 1:
SOCIAL SCIENCE AND ITS MAJOR DISCIPLINES

What Is Social Science And How Can It Be Used To Study And Understand
Society?
The social sciences are the fields of scientific knowledge that study social groups and
more generally human society. Each discipline of social science represents specific
facets of human behavior in various environment. Simply put, Social Science is the
study of society. It is a useful instrument in understanding the complexities and issues
involved in the interrelationships of the different variables that produce the state of
affairs at every level in society.

Natural Sciences and Humanities

Social Science Natural Science
Its primary interest lies in It aims to predict all natural
predicting and explaining phenomena and its studies
human behavior. are based on
experimentally controlled
condition of material
entities.
Humanities
It seeks to understand
human reactions to events
and the meanings humans
impose on experience as a
function of culture,
historical era, and life
history.

The Scientific Method and its Applications

§ The use of the scientific method unites the three fields of study although it is
more commonly used in the social sciences and natural sciences than in
humanism.
§ The scientific method is a systematic and logical approach in acquiring and
explaining knowledge.
§ This method requires critical thinking skills in solving problems.
§ It has the same objectives with research, which investigates and studies different
materials and sources in the pursuit of advancing knowledge.
§ It is very important in the field of social science since it is the instrument by which
issues and problems are examined and recommendations for policy-making are
offered depending on the findings of the study conducted.
 Stages of Research
Process
Define the research problem
Review the related literature
Formulate hypothesis
Prepare the research design
Collect data
Analyze data
Interpret the results and write
the report
Key Questions
What are the variables or the units of analysis being
studied?
What is the time frame or period of study?
What has already been written about the topic?
What are the research gaps?
What are the specific parameters of the research
problem?
What are the means of manipulating the variable
and/or measuring the result of the study?
Is the research going to be descriptive, exploratory,
or experimental?
How should the sample be selected from the
population?
Will the interviews be done personally or over the
phone?
Who are the target participants in the survey?
What do the data reveal about the relationships of the
variables being studied?
How do the data answer the research problem?
What are the social implications and significance of
the findings?
Are the sources, both primary and secondary,
properly cited in the study?
Types of Research Designs
§ The research design sets the direction of the whole study.
§ It determines the type of data that will be used in the study, the methodology that
will be used in gathering and analyzing data, and the direction of the narrative,
which ultimately addresses the research problem.

Research Designs and their Characteristics

Design Characteristics
Descriptive Research It provides answers to basic questions associated with the
research problem. It may not be able to conclusively provide
the answer to the question “why” but it is able to describe
“what exists” with respect to the variables of a given
situation.

Example: A descriptive study of the factors that lead to

domestic violence
Historical Research This design collects, verifies, and synthesizes evidence from
the past in order to validate or reject a hypothesis. It uses
secondary sources and a variety of primary sources like
newspaper clippings, diaries, government records, and
archival materials.

Example: Martial law in the Philippines: the golden or the

cursed years in the country’s history?
Experimental This type of research answers the question, “What causes
Research something to occur?” This design uses both an experimental
group and a control group, which allows a measurement of
the dependent variable when the independent variable is
administered to the experimental group and not to the
control group.

Example: A study on the effect of sleep deprivation on

health and productivity
Case Study This type of design is applied to study a very particular
research problem. This is used to test whether a specific
theory or model is applicable to real world issues or
scenarios.

Example: A study on the effects of diet, exercise, and

common medication on heart disease conducted across
different age groups.
Qualitative method
§ It analyzes qualitative data such as interviews, narratives, and literary texts.
§ The emphasis in qualitative analysis is “sense-making” or understanding a
phenomenon, rather than predicting or explaining.
§ This method relies heavily on the knowledge of the researcher of the social
context of the gathered data

Quantitative Method
§ It analyses quantifiable or numeric data and subjects them to statistical analyses.
§ While statistics or numerical data does not provide an absolute measurement of
human ideals like happiness or quality education, it does provide measurement
of its indicators like the size of the population of the country, the presence or
absence of corruption, or the levels of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Qualitative and Quantitative Method

§ In some cases, a research methodology may employ a combination of both
quantitative and qualitative.
§ The date collection includes both numeric and text information like interviews.

How Social Science Shapes Lives

§ For government policies,
§ Conducting a study before implementing a policy or a project will minimize or
even prevent wastage.
§ A scientific study will reveal the necessity of the project, the number of
beneficiaries expected to gain from the project, and may even provide possibly
more cost-effective alternatives.
§ Example: Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps)
The program aims to break the cycle of poverty by providing immediate monetary
assistance to the poorest of the poor in the short term and investing in human
capital, like nutrition and education, in the long term.
Other Applications of the Social Sciences
§ Framing legislative policies in relation to political and social issues of class,
gender, and power.
§ Recommendations on changes on environmental use with respect to geography
studies on climate change.
§ Preservation of cultural diversity and respect for traditions in this period of
globalization.
§ Exchange of culture and ideas in the macrolevel and breakdown of families in the
microlevels a result of economic migration by Filipino workers.
§ Infrastructural changes resulting from population studies.
LESSON 2:
SOCIAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES: HISTORY, METHODS, AND AREAS OF INQUIRY

What Are The Different Disciplines Under Social Sciences And What Are Their
Key Contents, Areas Of Inquiry, And Methodologies?
The social sciences are the fields of scientific knowledge that study social groups and
more generally human society. Social Science studies the historical, cultural, political
and psychological forces that shape the actions of individuals and their influence in the
society.

The Importance of Social Sciences

§ The social sciences may help us to figure out the complexities of human
behavior and relations as it attempts to solve the aforementioned societal
problems
§ Social science is significant in the society as it may help researchers solve
the complexities of human behavior in order to help alleviate problems and
improve human condition

Anthropology
§ Anthropology is the study of all human aspects of human life and culture. It
examines such topics as how people live, what they think, what they produce,
and how they interact with their environment.

§ Anthropologists generally specialize in one of four fields: cultural anthropology,

linguistic anthropology, archaeology and physical anthropology.

§ The rise of Western imperialism in 18th and 19th centuries prompted interest in
the study of culture of the colonies

§ Key Personalities: Franz Boas, Bronislaw Malinowski

ECONOMICS
§ Economics is a science which study the human behavior as the relationship
between ends and scares, which means have alternative uses. There are two
branches of economics such as micro economics and macroeconomics.

§ Became a separate discipline with the publication of Adams Smith’s The Wealth
of Nations in 1776

§ Key personalities: Adams Smith, Karl Marx

GEOGRAPHY
 § Geography is the science that deals with the distribution and arrangement of all
elements of the earth’s surface. Geography may be divided into two fundamental
branches: systematic and regional geography.

§ Systematic geography is concerned with individual physical and cultural

elements of the earth.

§ Regional geography is concerned with various areas of the earth, particularly the
unique combinations of physical and cultural features that characterize each
region and distinguish one region from another.

§ Became academic discipline in Europe during 18th and 19 centuries while many
geographic societies were founded in the 19th century

§ Key personalities: Immanuel Kant, Alexader von Humboldt, Carl Ritter

HISTORY
§ History is the study of past event. It is a social science in the sense that it is a
Systematic attempt to learn about and verify past events and to relate them to
one another and to the present. The subject matter of history is everything that
has already happened. The study of history involves identifying, arranging, and
patterning.

§ The Greeks were the first writers of history is one of the oldest of the social
sciences

§ Key Personalities: Herodotus (the father of History),Thucydides, Leopold von

Ranke

POLITICAL SCIENCE
§ Political science is the study of government, its structure and the activity
associated with it. It is a body of knowledge about the state in its various
manifestations; politics refers to the actual operations of a political system.

§ As an academic discipline. Political Science is a relatively new field that was

principally worked on by American scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries

§ Key personalities: Plato, Aristotle, Augustine of Hippo, Niccolo Machiavelli,

Thomas Hobbes, John Locke

PSYCHOLOGY
 § Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and the mind. It is social science
Because humans are social creatures. Social psychology is the study of the
individuals behavior as it influences and is influenced by the behavior of Others.

§ In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig

(Germany) thereby effectively making Psychology a formal field of study

§ Key personalities: Wilhelm Wundt, G. Stanley Hall, John Dewey, Sigmund Freud

SOCIOLOGY
§ The origin of the word ‘sociology ‘ is from the Latin word ‘socius’ and the Greek
‘ology’, indicate its nature as a hybrid discipline that can never aspire to the
status of a social science or a current body of knowledge. It is the systematic
study of relationship among people.

§ As a formal academic field of study was founded by Emile Durkheim during late
19th century with establishment of the first sociology department in Europe

§ Key Personalities: Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim

DEMOGRAPHY
§ Demography is the interdisciplinary study of human populations. It deals with the
social characteristics of the population and their development through time.

§ The 19th century saw the emergence of demography when it separated from
statistics as field of study

§ Key personalities: Thomas Malthus, Adolphe Quetelet, William Farr