interpretivism Flashcards
key assumptions
humans cannot be treated like objects
people have free will
humans can interpret what is happening to them - guided decision making
social interaction - group interpret what is happening to them in same way
interactions with others give meaning to their own behaviour
to explain event in society - understand what people involved think and feel
people make society the way it is
what perspectives tend to follow
interactionists
key concepts
meaning and experiences
verstehen
rapport
validity
qualitative data
subjectivity
researcher imposition
reflexivity
meanings and experiences
think it is important to study how people think and feel about what is happening in their lives - architects of society
verstehen
having empathy with the p’s
rapport
building relationship with p’s
validity
value discovering the truth
qualitative data
prefer non numerical, detailed data
subjectivity
believe sociologist should uncover the subjective experience of the p - often criticised for lacking value freedom
researcher imposition
claim positivist research only focuses on what sociologist thinks is important - may neglect what research subject really thinks
reflexivity
form of self evaluation - involves researchers reflecting critically on how they organised research process
interretivism preferences
small scale research
qualitative data
researcher involved
grounded theory - theories emerge from research
not structured
strengths of interpretivism
verstehen - understand how p’s feel
rapport - p’s feel comfortable and more natural
more valid as detailed and considers how individuals interpret the world
weaknesses of interpretivism
not objective or value free - prone to imposition bias - less valid
poor replication - not reliable
tends to be small scale - not representative and cant generalise
difficult to analyse qualitative data - harder to identify patterns and trends
lacks reflexivity - characteristics of researcher may affects p’s
