Objectivity + Values Flashcards
Objectivity + Values - Intro
• Objectivity = Researchers can seperate own personal feelings when researching
• Subjectivity = belief researchers can’t separate feelings from research
• Values = Beliefs, opinions + prejudices held by researcher
• Value Freedom = Researchers keeping own Values + beliefs seperate from research
Objectivity + Values - Positivists
• Argue sociology research should be value free + come to objective conclusions
• Comte/Durkheim –> sociology can be scientific + impartial
- research will give us our valued, not researcher
• Marx/Engles –> Sociology was scientific, could deliver truth + better soc
- methods of dialectics (drives change)
- want to discover processes of soc so we change it
Objectivity + Values - Interpretivists - Weber - Vershten
• Scientific facts + value judgements can’t be seperate
- Functionalists accept official stats because they want to maintain the status quo
- Marxists want to see how lower classes are exploited to create a classless soc
• Researchers personal values + understanding are vital to research
- but values should only enter at specific times
Objectivity + Values - When should personal values enter research
• Values act as a guide to research –> select topics based on what we see as important based on own Values - essential when selecting concepts to study
• Should be removed from data collection–> When collecting facts should be objective + unbiased
• Should play role interpreting data –> understand significance + draw conclusions
• Values + Impact of research–> some argue its their job to conduct research
Objectivity + Values - Should sociology committ to specific values - Gouldner, Becker
• Some argue topics should have values
• Gouldner –> research and financial funding- paid for by gov so reflects paymasters valued
• Becker –> soc should be on side of oppressed - positivists ignore powerful groups influence
• Feminism –> should focus on gender inequality
• Postmodernism –> there is no truth - all have different perspectives
• Relativist –> indivs have different experiences - impossible to say who’s right or wrong
