Read the following:

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Review Chapter 1 from Hoover and Donovan (this was the reading for this week. You have already read this chapter – review it again because it is related to next week’s readings.
2) Read chapter 2 from Hoover and Donovan (The Elements of Social Scientific Thinking) – pages 15 – 40 (on Bb)
3) Read chapters 1 and 2 from Babbie (on Bb).
4) Read my PowerPoint file on Bb titled: ‘PART 1: The Basics of Social Science Research’. The file consists of helpful notes for next week’s readings and assignment.
Answer the following questions. Your answers should be clear, concise, formal/academic writing, well-thought-out and related to the readings.
Here is my introduction to the questions below: Political science (as one type of social sciences) relies on scientific understanding and sophisticated research methods to study societies, political systems and the context within which they operate. Like any other sciences, political scientists rely on gathering of facts, testing of hypotheses, using theories and analyzing data. The first building block of research in social sciences are concepts (for example, refer to Hoover and Donovan, Page 15). Also refer to this week’s PowerPoint file. I explain two concepts in the file: the concept of love and how complex it can be to explain and to measure it. The other concept is social class that I mention in the file as well.
This week, we focus on concepts, conceptualization, and operationalization of variables.
After completing your readings, answer the following questions separately (NOT in one long essay). You can find answers to all of these questions in your readings. Refer to the readings and use them as references in your answers. Please do not rely on internet searches to answer the questions (15 points total):
Define concepts (at least one paragraph or more) – 3 points
Define conceptualization (one paragraph or more) – 3 points
What would be one way to operationalize earning “an A in this course”? (at least one paragraph or more) – 4 points
Consider the concept of ‘unemployment’. How do we define unemployment? How do we measure unemployment? (minimum of two paragraphs) 5 points
To give you an idea of how complicated the concept of ‘unemployment’ is, read the official definition of unemployment by U.S. Department of Labor and International Labor Office:
https://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.pdf
https://www.ilo.org/ilostat-files/Documents/description_UR_EN.pdf