Positivism v. Interpretivism

Question 1

Core beliefs of positivists

Answer 1

• Sociology can be studied in a objective and scientific way
• Social life is not random and there are patterns in people’s behaviour which can be studied
• Human behaviour is shaped by wider forces rather than free will
• Objective methods which involve limited interaction
• Methods which generate quantitative data

Question 2

What methods do positivists prefer ?

Answer 2

• Questionnaires, structured interviews, experiments and official statistics

Question 3

Core beliefs of interpretivists

Answer 3

• Reject the view that sociology can be studied like a science
• People have free will and are not controlled by wider social forces
• Society doesn’t simply exists + everything is socially constructed
• we interpret the world around us in different ways
• ## They aim to achieve verstehen (see the world from an insight to other people’s perspective

Question 4

Methods used by interpretivists

Answer 4

• Insight in to people’s lives : qualitative data, unstructured interviews, observations and documents