Positivism Flashcards
What is the relationship between society and the indivdual
Society shapes the individual
‘Society consists of social facts which exercise coercive control over individuals’- Durkheim
Actions explained by the social norms they have been exposed to through their socialisation
What is their General Focus of social research
To uncover the laws that govern human behaviour, just as scientists have discovered the laws that govern the physical world
Quantitative methods which allow for the researcher to remain detached from the respondents and gain correlations
What is their prefered reaserch method
Quantitative as want rsearch to be valid, reliable and representative
Social Survey, Questionnaires and official statistics- good reliability and representativeness- overview of society as a whole and to uncover social trends
Example of Study
Durkheim- study of suicide
Advantage, Non participant observation
Non participant observation, researchers stay objective- keeping a distance meaning no Hawthorne effect- participant will not change their behaviour, meaning the data is more valid
Advantage, patterns and trends
Demonstrated the pattern and trends in human behaviour meaning it shows correlation to help uncover cause and effect relationship which can establish social facts or laws. By using this quantitative data, they create links between aspects of the social structure
Advantage, Representative
Representative- take a smaller proportion of society- should have characteristics that are typical of the larger population being studied- can make generalisations, by safety concluding your findings, they you can safety apply it to the rest of the population
Disadvantage- No qualitative data
Don’t father qualitative, in depth, valid data due to using- only use Questionnaire’s and survey’s- people might lie- invalid data
Disadvantage- No rapport and verstehen
No rapport and verstehen - no good relationship and a deep understanding- not gain much valid data
Disadvantage- Reflexivity
No Reflexivity- using a very strict interviews- cannot be reflective- have to follow same methodology
Advantage No researcher imposition
No researcher imposition- they should be staying objective - value free, researchers are natural and neutral increasing the validity- sampling to keep their distance from the people they are studying that is, to maintain neutrality and objectivity
Disadvantage- No respondent validation
No respondent validation- cannot validate what the respondent are saying due to not having a close bond and trust
