What does economics study about choices and community activities?
Choices under scarcity and community activities related to consumption, production, and distribution.
What does sociology study about individuals?
The behavior of individuals living in society.
What does political science study about power and institutions?
The conquest of power and institutions.
What is an economic choice?
A decision to satisfy needs using limited resources such as time and money.
Why do individuals make trade-offs when choosing how to satisfy needs?
They have limited resources.
What is a scientific model?
A deliberately simplified representation of reality that selects elements relevant to a research question and leaves others aside.
How must model-based conclusions be evaluated?
They must be confronted with facts.
What distinguishes a judgment of fact from a judgment of value?
A judgment of fact is objective and grounded in reasoning or evidence; a judgment of value is subjective.
What steps do researchers use to test a scientific claim?
They formulate a hypothesis, choose a suitable sample, collect relevant data, and compare the hypothesis with the evidence.
What is a correlation between two variables?
A statistical relationship between them.
When is a correlation between two variables positive?
When both variables move in the same direction.
What is causality between two variables?
A relationship in which a change in one variable produces a change in another.
Why does correlation alone not demonstrate causality between two variables?
Other factors or reverse influence may explain their relationship.
What tools do social-science researchers use to investigate questions and test explanations?
Surveys, observations, samples, data, statistics, and models.
What do economists examine when studying platforms?
Choices under constraints and how platforms earn money.
What do sociologists examine when studying social practices?
Differences in social practices and group influence.
What do political scientists examine when studying public regulation?
Public regulation and the actors who set rules.
Which disciplines do social sciences bring together to investigate questions?
Economics, sociology, and political science.
What do social sciences use to investigate economic, social, and political questions?
Evidence and models.
What two constraints shape Lina’s school-supply choices?
A €120 budget and a 10 September deadline.
How quickly can Lina obtain products from the local bookshop?
Immediately.
How long does online delivery take for Lina’s school supplies?
Between 2 and 10 days.
When might Lina’s second-hand school supplies be available?
Today or the next day.
In a price-and-consumer-choice study, what may a researcher assume remains unchanged?
Other factors, such as tastes, income, advertising, and others’ behavior.
How many need categories does Maslow’s pyramid arrange?
Five.
Which five need categories does Maslow’s pyramid arrange?
Physiological, security, belonging, esteem, and accomplishment.
What determines which information a model selects?
The question it is designed to answer.
What class-average screen time did Lycée Jacques-Feyder record in September 2023?
7 h 22 per day.
What class-average screen time did Lycée Jacques-Feyder record in March 2024?
4 h 57 per day.
What does a measured decrease in screen time alone prove about school results?
It does not prove that school results improve.
What is required to test whether reduced screen time improves school results?
A hypothesis and suitable data.
What hidden variable can help explain rising summer ice-cream sales and drownings?
Rising temperatures.
Which organization reported an association between social-media use and sleep among 11–17-year-olds?
Anses.
Which sleep patterns did Anses associate with greater social-media use among 11–17-year-olds?
Later bedtimes, shorter sleep, and sometimes poorer sleep quality.
Which online-related mechanisms did the Anses expertise identify as potentially affecting sleep?
Time online delaying bedtime, content and interactions maintaining wakefulness, and evening screen use disturbing sleep onset.
How can researchers study phone use and school success?
Select a representative sample, observe or survey participants, and collect responses alongside school grades.
Which disciplines can study how young people divide time among social media, leisure, and schoolwork?
Economics and sociology.
What quantitative skills do social-science students learn to use?
Proportions, percentages, rates of change, multiplicative coefficients, indices, means, and medians.
What visual formats do social-science students learn to interpret?
Tables and graphs.
Answer 14 questions on Reasoning in the Social Sciences.
1. A researcher examines how a community produces, distributes, and consumes goods while making choices under scarcity. Which discipline is the researcher studying?
2. Which discipline focuses on the behavior of individuals living in society?
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