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Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

What are variables? Discuss their role in experimental research.

  • UPSC 2015
  • Research Methods and Analysis

Emile Durkheim's comparative method — devised precisely because sociology cannot run true laboratory experiments on whole societies — anchors this answer: variables retain their logical role in causal reasoning even when the researcher cannot manipulate them directly, only select and compare cases where they already differ.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions.

What the full answer covers

  • The Independent Variable: What the Experimenter Manipulates
  • The Dependent Variable: The Outcome That Is Measured
  • Extraneous and Control Variables: Isolating the Independent Variable's True Effect
  • The Logic of Comparison: Experimental Group Against Control Group
  • Sociology's Structural Difficulty With True Experiments
  • Durkheim's Comparative Method as Sociology's "Indirect Experiment"
  • …and 1 more sections, with a conclusion

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