Positivism and interpretivism Flashcards
what is positivism
it is the scientific approach and method
they believe that society is objective and factual
seek scientific laws to explain our behaviour
what is interpretivism
the subjective approach
the idea that our actions are based off our internal factors and no one sees the world the same way
what did Durkheim find with positivism and suicide
suicide rates increase when there is little or too much social regulation and integration
how did Durkheim find his results
official statistics
what did Douglas find
find the different classes of suicide
revenge
sympathy
transformation of soul
‘’ ‘’ self
how did Douglas find these
analysis of diaries, interviewed those who knew victim, built up biography, examination of suicide notes
criticism of positivism
lacks detail
not flexible
may be deterministic
criticisms of interpretivism
cannot be generalised
there are lots of factors
benefits of positivism
shows patterns and trends
easy to generalise and to conduct
benefits pf interpretivism
provides detail and in depth data
provides meaning behind actions
