Objectivity and values

Question 1

Who believes Sociology should be value free?

Answer 1

Positivists - Comte and Durkheim

Question 2

Why do Positivists believe Sociology should be value free ?

Answer 2

• Science doesn’t involve values, experiences or emotions so neither should sociology
• If we keep values of of sociology then it leads to progressivism which means that through processing research we become closer to testing hypothesis
• If we mimic science then sociology will be seen as more of a respectable and academic discipline
• They share the same goal as Modernists - wants to understand the social world
• If we solve problems then human life can be improved

Question 3

Who believes that sociology should be both value free and value laden ?

Answer 3

Weber - Interpretivist

Question 4

Why does Weber believe sociology should be both value free and value laden ?

Answer 4

Different parts of research should be value free and others should be value Laden -

Values as a guide to research - Yes
- When sociologists choose the area of society that they want to study which id guided by their values

Data collection and hypothesis testing - No
- Should be value free to remove all bias and it may be unethical and end up with false data being received if values are involved

Values in the interpretation of data - Yes
- Drawing conclusions depends on the theoretical position of the sociologist interpreting the data

Values and the sociologist as a citizen - Yes
- The researcher must be morally accountable for the uses that their research is put to