Social science
From CarlWiki
A social science is a field of study that attempts to analyze and predict human behavior through the use of empirical data and mathematical methods. It is distinct from the humanities (History, Philosophy, etc.), which involve collecting and discussing data on behavior and posing theories to explain that behavior, but rarely involve empirical testing. There is, however, some overlap, as in courses on economic history.
Social sciences tend to be less rigorous in their use of evidence than the natural sciences, due to the difficult of performing controlled experiments on human subjects. Psychology is the only social science to make wide use of experimental data, while other social sciences are more theory-oriented. An important element of social sciences is that theories proposed in them could potentially be tested, which is not always the case in the humanities.
List of social sciences
The following is a list of fields that are considered to be social sciences at Carleton College:
External links
- Social science - Wikipedia article
