Social Science means understanding our own society, and

understanding societies around the world. And it’s very

1. According to Seligman-“social sciences as those mental or
important, alongside the physical sciences to understand how
cultural sciences which deal with the activities of the individual
humans behave and interact.
as member of the group. The term social sciences thus
embrace all those subjects which deal with the relationship of It helps us understand our social world, it helps us understand
man to the society. how it works. And therefore, in turn, it helps us try and
develop the knowledge that’s necessary to improve the social
2. According to Mitchell “the term social science is loosely
world. So in that sense social science offers enormous
applied to any kind of study concerning man and society. In the
opportunities to inform the development of policy.
strict sense it should refer the application of scientific method
to the study of the intricate and complex network of human Social science is organized systematically, function
relationship and the form of organisation designed to enable systematically in terms of gathering, classifying and relating
people to live together in societies. data and interpreting it. It also has to do in learning and
applying concepts.
3. According to Fairchild,” social science as a general term for
all the sciences which are concerned with the human affairs.” Before We go to the different disciplines of social science let us
go to the distinct characteristics of social sciences as the study
4. According to Peter Lewis,” social sciences are concerned
of man as a unique living creature may be viewed in two
with the laws that govern society and the social department of
fundamental dimensions. a) Man as an individual being; b) Man
man.” So, we can say that social sciences embrace all those
as a social being Thus the focus of the social sciences is on the
subjects which deal with the human affairs. The social sciences
study of the following:
overlap each other
1. Change in human relationship and reinterpretation
between the present and the past event
So from the definition man, human, individual is common. 2. Human activities and spatial distributions and interaction
According to Henry Charles Carey “Man, the molecule of of culture, biologic and physical elements
society, is the subject of Social Science” 3. Basic social systems, institutions and processes
 4. Relationship between individual and institutions and
among political economic and social institutions
5. The nature of societies and authors and the interactions
of people with each other and also their social and
physical environment.

Social science today is such a vast complex that no one student

can hope to master all of it. Hence, The various disciplines of
social science have been broken up into anthropology,
sociology, history, geography, economics, political science, and
psychology. By the way Different authors considers different
branches or disciplines as we refer to the provided materials.
For now we focus on these disciplines.
The history of scientific knowledge could be trace in the
ancient Greece. It was at The Enlightenment period in which
rationalism definitely replaced religion as the organizing If terms or problem/s are carefully defined, this could
principle of knowledge. The Enlightenment began between help save an enormous amount of energy in your work
A.D. 1650 and A.D. 1700 and continued for about one hundred 3) Reviewing the literature. Knowledge of the relevant
years. It is in this period that the development of the social literature is essential because it provides background,
sciences took hold and flourished. By the time of the suggests approaches, indicates what has already been
Enlightenment, it had become evident that to know everything covered and what hasn’t, and saves you from redoing
—to be a Renaissance scholar—was impossible. Not only was it what has already been done. It is a way of using other
impossible to know everything, but it was also impossible to people’s observations.
know everything about just one subject—say, all of physics or 4) Observing some more. After you have defined your
all of philosophy. Individuals began to specialize their study. problem and reviewed the literature, your observation
The Enlightenment spawned social science. will be sharper. You will know more precisely what you
are looking for and how to look for it.
In terms of social science methods. The main methods of social
5) Developing a theoretical framework and formulating a
science are to utilize the scientific methods. Social science uses
hypothesis. Make a statement predicting your results and
careful observation, use abstraction and calculate effects. So it
then clarify what each of the terms in the statement
observes carefully, classify and analyze facts, make
means within the framework of your research.
generalizations, and attempt to develop and test hypotheses to
6) Choosing a research design. Pick a means of gathering
explain their generalizations.
data—a survey, an experiment, an observational study,
use of existing sources, or a combination. Weigh this
There is no ideal structure but we have here the reasonable choice carefully because your plan is the crux of the
approach to a problem in social science. research process.
7) Collecting the necessary data. Data are what one collects
1) Observing. Social science is about the real world, and the
from careful observation. Your conclusions will be only as
best way to know about the real world is to observe it.
good as your data, so take great care in collecting and,
2) Defining the problem. Of the various research steps
listed, this one is probably the most important.
 especially, in recording your data. If you can’t document 2) The case method involves making a detailed examination
what you’ve done, you might as well not have done it. and analysis of a particular issue or problem situation.
8) Analyzing the results. When all the data are in, classify This can involve a case study of a single person such as
facts, identify trends, recognize relationships, and that by a psychologist of his client, a single area or town
tabulate the information so that it can be accurately such as a sociologist’s study of why a town changes, or
analyzed and interpreted. A given set of facts may be even a study of whole countries such as an economist’s
interpreted two different ways by two different analysts, when comparing various countries.
so give your analysis careful, objective attention. After 3) The comparative method was formerly often employed in
this step has been taken, your hypothesis can then be the hope of discovering evolutionary sequences in the
confirmed, rejected, or modified. development of human institutions—that is, patterns of
9) Drawing conclusions. You then summarize the steps and social development or progress that would be universal.
discuss your discovery. Also identify unanswered 4)

question for further study.

We have also here alternate methods in social science in
addressing problems:
1) Historical method - racing the principal past
developments that seem to have been directly significant
in bringing about a social situation. It has been noted
that history never really repeats itself. Nevertheless,
present and past situations often have such striking
similarities that a knowledge of the past can give us
insights into present situations and sometimes into future
trends.