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Socio > Research Methods > Flashcards

Research Methods Flashcards

1
Q

What’s the aim of sociological research?

A

Gather data.
Establish correlations.
Develop theories

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2
Q

What’s longitudinal study?

A

Takes place over a long period of time.

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3
Q

What’s case study?

A

Detailed and in-depth study of a single case

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4
Q

What’s ethnographies?

A

Scientific description of people and culture

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5
Q

What’s hypothesis?

A

Proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation

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6
Q

What’s triangulation?

A

Using more than one research methods

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7
Q

What are the factors affecting sociologist topic choices?

A

Values of the researcher.
Personal interest.
Funding.
Development in sociology and society.
Theoretical beliefs.

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8
Q

What are the factors influencing choice of method?

A

Practical
Ethical
Theoretical

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9
Q

Practical considerations

A

Cost/funding research.
Time available.
Research opportunity.
Type of data.
Personal characteristics of the researcher.
Subject matter.
Sample size.
Access to participants.

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10
Q

Ethical considerations

A

Vulnerable groups.
Harm. Privacy.
Confidentialities.
Legality.
Informed consent.
Pre emptive consent.
Covert research and consent.
Deceptions.
Gate keepers.

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11
Q

PERVERT

A

Practical
Ethical
Reliability
Validity
Examples
Representativeness
Theoretical

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12
Q

What are the factors influencing reliability?

A

Research methods
Data type
Participants

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13
Q

What are the factors influencing validity?

A

Hawthorne affect
Social desirability
Demand characteristics
Group dynamics
Data type

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14
Q

What are the factors influencing representativeness?

A

Sample size
Research method

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15
Q

Theoretical perspectives:Positivists

A

Use methods of natural science.
Quantitative method.
Aimed to identify and measure social structures.
Establish correlations.

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16
Q

Theoretical perspectives:Interprevists

A

Scientific methods are inappropriate to study society.
Behavior changes in different situations.
Have to find meaning behind actions.
First hand data.
Can’t be directly observed and counted.
Can’t establish social facts as it is subjective values and interpretations.

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17
Q

Key features of positivist

A

Macro scale.
Only study what can be observed objectively see.
Individuals are passive.
Produce quantitative data.
Avoid personal involvement.
Look for casual relationships

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18
Q

Key features of interpretivist

A

Society can’t exist without individuals.
Reality is subjective and created by interactions.
Society is socially constructed.
Individuals are active.
Uncover meanings.
Small scale and in depth.

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19
Q

Types of random sampling methods

A

Simple sampling-selecting names randomly from sampling frame, doesn’t guarantee representative sample.

Systematic sampling-every nth is chosen, stops researcher bias but it is not truly random.

Stratified random sampling-population under study is divided according to known criteria, representative sample but only possible with a detailed sampling frame available.

Quota sampling – research establish how many people they want in a sample with particular characteristics, then find a selection of relevant people to fill this quota, fairly representative and will work with there’s no sampling frame but can be less representative that other sampling.

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20
Q

Types of non random sampling

A

Snowball sampling – used when difficult to get access to the subject group of people of when there is no sampling frame. Involves make contact with a member of target population to be studied, then ask to name one or more possible contact, gain info on groups hard to find but it’s unrepresentative.

Theoretical sampling-more useful to study non typical people eg women occupy non traditional roles, good to test theories but unrepresentative.

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21
Q

What are the practical strength of questionnaire?

A

Easy.
Cheap.
No Hawthorne effect and researcher bias.
Quick and easy to analyze.

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22
Q

What are the practical weaknesses of questionnaire?

A

Low response rate.
Misunderstand the question.
Answers may not fit the categories given.
Leading questions.

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23
Q

What are the ethical strength of questionnaire?

A

Informed consent is given when completing.
Anonymous.

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24
Q

What are the ethical weakness of questionnaire?

A

Could have sensitive questions.
Harm to participants.

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25
Q

What are the theoretical strength of questionnaire?

A

Detailed data.
Reliable.
Large sample.
Easy to quantify and analyze (closed) Detached and objective.

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26
Q

What are the practical strength of interviews?

A

Can build rapport flexible (structured).
Can clarify questions.

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27
Q

What are the practical weakness of interview?

A

Time-consuming.
Training of interview is costly. Requires interviewers skills.

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28
Q

Examples of lab experiments

A

Milligram

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29
Q

Examples of field experiment

A

Rosenthal and Jacobsen.
Bandura

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30
Q

What are the practical strength of experiments?

A

Controlled variables.
Real life environment (field).

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31
Q

What are the practical weaknesses of experiment?

A

Time consuming.
Cost for training.
Cost of hiring value (lab).
Access.

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32
Q

What are the ethical strength of experiment?

A

Consent from gatekeepers

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33
Q

What are the ethical weakness of experiment?

A

Harm to participants.
Lack of anonymity.
Deception.

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34
Q

What are the theoretical strengths of experiment?

A

In depth data
Reliable (lab)
Quantitative
Gains cause and effect

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35
Q

What are the theoretical weakness of experiment?

A

Validity
Small sample
Hawthorn effect
Research effect

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36
Q

What are the theoretical weaknesses of questionnaire?

A

Participants can lie.
Someone else may answer the questions.
Social desirability.
Lack of rapport.

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37
Q

What are the ethical strengths of interviews?

A

Good for sensitive topics
Can explain to get informed consent

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38
Q

What are the ethical weaknesses of interviews?

A

Harm caused from sensitive topics
Can’t be anonymous
Peer pressure (focus group)

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39
Q

What are the theoretical strengths of interview?

A

In depth data
Reliable (structured)
Qualitative data

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40
Q

What are the theoretical weaknesses of interview?

A

Demand characteristics
Unreliable
Small sample
Peer pressure
Hawthorne effect

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41
Q

What’s focus group?

A

Informal group interview.
Group of people gathered together and asked to discuss a particular issue

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42
Q

Examples of covert non-participant observation

A

Humphires, pretended to be gay voyeur, studied homosexual activity in public toilets

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43
Q

Example of covert participant observation

A

Flowers, got a job as a telephone sex line worker, studied how women learned to mask feelings when talking to clients.

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44
Q

Example of overt non-participants observation

A

Mirza and Reay, observed classes in 2 African Caribbean supplementary schools

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45
Q

Example of overt participant observation

A

Lyng, studied skydivers, and motorcyclist to find out why they participate

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46
Q

What are the practical strengths of observations?

A

Flexible
Researcher can ask questions (overt)
Only way to research some groups

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47
Q

What are the practical weaknesses of observations?

A

Time
Costly
Researcher effect
Need skilled researchers
Relies on memory (covert)
Some groups hard to access

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48
Q

What are the ethical strengths of observations?

A

Can inform the consent (overt)
Findings can be kept anonymous

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49
Q

What are the ethical weaknesses of observations?

A

Lack of informed consent (covert)
Breach of privacy
Going native
Harm to researcher or participants
Illegal act
No confidentiality when in research
Gatekeepers

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50
Q

What are the theoretical strength of observation?

A

In depth data
Verstehen
Build rapport for more honest response
Small scale
Qualitative

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51
Q

What are the theoretical weaknesses of observation?

A

Hawthorne effect
Hard to quantify
Small sample
Unreliable

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52
Q

Participants observation-getting in

A

Blackman, young homeless people, can use gatekeepers.
Bennett, local Breakdancer help to get into the hip-hop scene

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53
Q

Participants observation-staying in

A

Moore, young people, unable to gain full acceptance due to age, but overcame by using young female researchers

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54
Q

Participants observation-getting out

A

Patrick, left the study quickly due to high violence
Can be difficult to fully leave again once joined and may go native

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55
Q

Examples of observations

A

Hargreaves-setting and streaming
Wright-classroom observation
Willis-Lad study
Fuller-high, low, middle aspires in inner London school
Gilborn-Race, ethnicity, and education
Evans-W/C values of education

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56
Q

What is official stats?

A

Secondary data
Published by gov, organizations, etc.
E.g. British crime survey
Gov favors as help to gain political positions

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57
Q

Official stats pos

A

Cost a little or nothing

Often large sample sizes

Well planned

Often conducted regularly

May only be the major source of info on specific topic

Favored by positivist

Establish correlation between different times, societies, etc.

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58
Q

Official stats neg

A

Produced by the state, not a full image.
Interpretivist reject this as it is socially constructed.
Collected for administrative purposes rather than for sociological research.

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59
Q

Documents

A

Qualitative data, express beliefs and meanings held by individuals and organizations

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60
Q

Personal documents

A

+
Detailed data
Ethnographic
Cheap
Easy to access

-
Subjective
Unrepresentative
Unreliable
Validity

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61
Q

Public and historical documents

A

+
Standardized reliable research method
Try to be objective
Easy to access and cheap
Quick
Avoid potential bias

-
May lack authenticity.
Difficult to vertify content.
Official documents may be censored.
May not exist in all areas of research.
Subjective interpretations.
Lack reliability and representativeness.
Content likely to be selective and presented with a particular bias.
Difficult to interpret.
Can be destroyed, or an incomplete picture.
Positivist dislike.

62
Q

Comparative research

A

Compare differences across societies or group or time

63
Q

Examples of comparative research

A

Durkheim, compared different levels of suicide in societies, concluded specific cultural differences motivate people to commit suicide

64
Q

Functionalism:society made up of social facts which people follow

A

Durkheim.
Control people through institutions.
Top down structural theory. Individuals are passive.
Useful to understand why people are positive.

65
Q

Functionalism:socialization

A

Durkheim.
Maintain social order and control.
Primary and secondary socialization, prevent revolution, same n+v.
Useful to explain why crime occurs.
Explains why there’s social order in society with lack of revolution against capitalism.

66
Q

Functionalism:human body analogy

A

Parsons
Society is made up of social institutions. Institutions are heavily interlinked. Ensures the needs are met and maintain social order.
Useful to understand how social order is maintained through all institutions.
Explains how we work as a whole.

67
Q

Functionalism:needs of society

A

Parsons.
Adaptation, economic function, society provide a adequate standard of life for survival.
Goal attainment, political function, societies must develop ways of making decisions.
Integration, social harmony, each institution develop in response to particular functions but they may conflict.
Latency, individual beliefs and values, how individuals cope, divided into pattern maintenance and tension management.
Explains how society functions.

68
Q

General eva:Functionalism

A

To deterministic.
Consider society through rose tinted glasses and ignore damage of social institutions.
Outdated.

69
Q

Marxism:superstructure and the economic base

A

Economy was the driving force in society.
Determines the nature of social institutions and peoples values and beliefs.
Divided into 2, economic base and superstructure:
Economy base-underpin a determing everything else in society include means relations of productions.
Superstructure-social institutions are primarily influenced by economic system, maintains capitalism.
Explains how capitalism is maintained through institutions.

70
Q

Marxism:False class consciousness

A

W/C unaware exploitation.
For true equality there needed to be a communist revolution.
Achieved through social institutions.
Explains why W/C accept and maintain their position and why institutions are passing on the n+v.

71
Q

Marxism: private ownership causing inequality

A

Maintain calculation through private ownership and exploitation.
W/C offer society their labor to survive.
Ensure business maximizing their profits and wealth gap.
Move production abroad who have limited protection rights for workers.
Explains why inequality is caused.

72
Q

General eva:Marxism

A

Outdated.
Economically deterministic, everything revolve around money.
Ignores role of women.
Society doesn’t always operate in the interest of R/C

73
Q

Neo Marxism:critical neo marxist

A

Gramsci criticize Marx for giving economy too much importance instead superstructure has relative autonomy so not completely dominated by the economy.
Capitalism is maintained and has much control due to dominate hegemony.
R/C dominance is maintained due to coercion, forced people to accept their position and through concent, ideas are used to legitimize U/C power and justify it.

74
Q

Neo Marxism:Structural Marxist

A

Althusser
3 structure levels, RSA, ISA and economy, each influence each other.
Work together to maintain capitalism.
Representative state apparatus – armed bodies of men force people into compliance.
Ideological state apparatus-ideologically manipulate W/C into accepting capitalism as a legitimate.
Useful theory as explain relationship between different bodies within society and how they relate to help maintain capitalism.
Explains why capitalism is maintained.

75
Q

Eva:Marxism

A

Classical Marxist, having a more social action approach to society than being structuralist.
Classical Marxist, developments not particularly new, Marx himself recognized importance of cultural institutions in creating false class consciousness.
Overemphasize role of ideas and underemphasize role of state coercion and economic factors.
Althusser simply replaced economic determinism with a structural determinism.

76
Q

Radical feminism

A

Patriarchy is most fundamental form of inequality.
All women have shared interest in challenging men.
Men are the key instruments of all women’s oppression.
Patriarchal power found in all public and private spheres of life.
Firestone and Ortner, women’s subordination is due to biology e.g. pregnancy and childbirth so artificial wombs needed.
Live separately from men through separatism and lesbianism.

77
Q

Liberal feminism

A

Women’s inequality arise primarily from sexiest stereotyping, general socialization, primary responsibility, lack of positive role models and the sex discrimination through outdated loss and attitudes.
Oakley research on housework and Sharpe on gender socialization shows inequality.
Reform measures challenges male prejudice and discrimination.

78
Q

Marxist feminism

A

Gender unique quality arise primarily from nature of capitalist society.
Capitalism intensifies patriarchal equality.
Cheap labor force, reserve army of labor.
Women’s expressive role is to absorb man’s anger, takers of shit (Ansley).
Barrett and Mclntosh, ideology of cereal packet family is patriarchal and harmful to women.
Improve woman’s position involves fundamental challenge to capitalism and class in equality and patriarchal ideology.
Capitalism is the root cause of women’s oppression.

79
Q

Difference feminism

A

Capitalism and patriarchy are two separate systems, interact with each other and both leads to women being sub ordinate of society.
Triple shift, reserve army of labor.
Serves need of capitalism for a cheap and expendable paid labor force and free reproduction of labor power.
Patriarchal and capitalist structures combine with other factors to generate multiple causes for subordination.

80
Q

Eva:feminism

A

Ignore the fact of the men are also used for domestic labor and women are increasingly independent.
Early feminist theories ignore other important social factors.
Ideologically driven, fails to take into account competing theoretical ideas.
Liberal feminism merely deals with reducing effects of subordination rather than challenge in fundamental causes, over optimism.

81
Q

Social action theory

A

Micro.
Bottom up.
Individuals have free will.
Society shaped by our choices and actions and meanings.
Human produce meaning to form the basis of their understanding of the social world.
Human don’t experience world that directly in an objective way.
Actively create meanings.

82
Q

Social action theory:Weber

A

Sociology studies social action between individuals.
Individuals construct their own meanings and these constructions shape interaction.
Both structural and social action theories are needed to develop a full understanding of human behavior.
2 explanations:
Level of cause (macro)-structural factors shapes peoples behavior.
Level of meaning (micro)-subjective meaning individuals attach to their actions.

83
Q

Social action theory:the Protestant ethic

A

Protestant reformation introduced a new belief system Calvinism.
This change the peoples worldview lead to changes in behavior.
Promoted a work ethic that brought around the rise of capitalism.
Believe they had a predetermined role in heaven and luxury products gives a bad impression to God so they reinvest the money which creates more capitalism.
Macro, work ethic changed peoples worldview.
Micro, put meaning onto buying luxury so they don’t do such interactions.

84
Q

What are Weber’s four types of action?

A

Instrumental rational action-social actors works out the most efficient way to achieve a goal.
Value rational action-action towards a goal that’s seen as a desirable for its own sake.
Traditional action-routine, customary or habitual actions that are done without thoughts or choices, we have always done this.
Affectual action-expresses emotion, important in religious and political movement with charismatic leaders that attract the followers based on emotional appeal.

85
Q

Eva:Weber

A

+
Takes both structural and action factors into account.

-
Schutz, explanation is too individualistic.
Advocated use of verstehen but we can’t actually be that person and understand the true motive.

86
Q

Social action theory:symbolic interactionism (Mead)

A

Actively working on relationships and creating and responding to symbols and ideas.
4 key ideas:
Symbol, self, game playing/role taking and interaction.
We respond to world by giving meanings to things that are sig to us, not shaped by fixed instincts.
Create a world of meanings by attach symbols (labeling).
We interpret others’ meaning by taking role of other that’s developed through social interaction.

87
Q

Social action theory:symbolic interactionism (Blumer)

A

1-Actions based on the meanings we give to situations.

2-Meaning come from interactions in the past and they can be changed and negotiated depending on the situation.

3-Meaning we give our mainly the result of taking the role of others and reflecting on past experiences.

Although actions based meaning sweet gift to situations people are kind of predictable as we internalize expectations.

88
Q

Social action theory:symbolic interactionism (labeling)

A

Definition of the situation-labeling something affect how we act.
Looking glass self-self-concept comes out of our ability to take the other role, guess how others would interpret us.
Career-typically apply to individual progress in their occupation and it becomes part of how they see themselves but can also apply to delinquents and deviance, master status.

89
Q

What are the stages of Dramaturgical model?

A

Presentation of the self-split into front and back stage.
Impression and management-use lang and gestures to pass the image that we want audience to see, requires constantly read audiences responses and adjust our performance accordingly.
Roles-gap between who we really are and role we play, roles are loosely scripted by society so have freedom to play how we want.

90
Q

Social action theory:symbolic interactionism (Goffman)

A

Our lives are like a theatrical performance, we are actors who are constantly changing characters by moving back and forth between being frontstage and backstage.

91
Q

Eva:symbolic interactionism

A

Failed to explore wider social factors.
No explanation of where the symbolic meanings originate.
Use methods that rely on subjective interpretation.
Small and unrepresentative sample.

92
Q

Social action theory:phenomenology

A

No definite knowledge of what the world outside of mind is really like, all we know is what our senses tells us

93
Q

Social action theory:phenomenology (Husserl’s philosophy)

A

World only makes sense as we impose meanings and order by constructing mental categories that used to classify and file info coming from senses.
Only gain knowledge through our mental act of categorizing and giving meaning to experiences.

94
Q

Social action theory:phenomenology (Schutz)

A

Developed Husserl’s idea further.
Way we categorise is not unique, meaning are shared and influenced by social contexts.
Typifications enable us to organize experiences into a shared world of meaning.
Shared typifications allow effective communication helps maintain social order.
Recipe knowledge, shared assumption about the way things are, what certain situations mean and what’s the motivations.

95
Q

Eva:phenomenology

A

Berger and Luckmann, although reality is socially constructed, It takes all the life of its own and becomes an external reality eg religious ideas may start off in our consciousness but become embodied in powerful structures like churches which then constraints us.

96
Q

Social action theory:ethnomethodology

A

Looking specifically at how social order is created through people having shared understandings of social situations as it affects the meaning.

97
Q

Social action theory:ethnomethodology (Garfinkle)

A

Social order is bottom up.
Social old is created by maintaining common sense knowledge.
Members create and apply common sense knowledge to every day lives.

98
Q

What’s breaching experiment done by Garfinkle?

A

He got his students to act as a lodgers or haggle price at a supermarket.
Aim was to disrupt people sense of order and challenged their reflexivity.
Many in the experiment were uncomfortable about the change in social order.
Shows order of social life is not fixed but achieved by everyone working together using common sense knowledge.

99
Q

Eva:ethnomethodology

A

+
Focus on how we actively construct order and meaning rather than being passive.

-
Craib, Seem to spend a lot of time uncovering take her for granted Reus that’s no surprise to anyone.
Assumes structure of norms really exist beyond these context.

100
Q

Social action theory:structuration theory (Giddens)

A

Duality of structure, structure and action are 2 sides of the same coin, neither can’t exist without the other.
Through our actions we produce and reproduce structures overtime in space, while these structures are what make of action as possible in the first place (relationship structuration) eg lang

101
Q

Eva: structuration theory

A

+
Attempt to overcome division between structure and action in sociological theory.

-
Underestimated the capacity of structures to resist a change, implies that actress can change the structure simply by deciding to do so.
Craib, It’s actually not a theory at all as it doesn’t explain why actually happens in society instead just describes the kind of things we find when we study society.

102
Q

Postmodernism: Impact of globalization

A

Technology.
Economic change.
Political change.
Culture and identity change.
Interconnectedness.

103
Q

Postmodernism:consumption

A

Post modern society characterized by instability and fragmentation.
Led to images and reality become interlinked.
Now define who we are by what we consume.

104
Q

Postmodernism:consumption (Lyotard)

A

No such thing as truth in today.
Allows marginalized groups to be heard and doesn’t dismiss wider views of life like other theories.

105
Q

Postmodernism:consumption (Baudrillard)

A

Society based on buying and selling of knowledge.
Signs stand for nothing (simulacra).
Hyper reality

106
Q

Postmodernism:decline of meta narrative

A

Narratives are equally valid, there is no one single truth

107
Q

Postmodernism:change to work

A

In post industrialization, rapid intro of new goods and services with much wider consumer choice.
Manual work replaced by service economy and flexible work practices are common, jobs for life have disappeared.

108
Q

Postmodernism:death of the social class

A

No longer a major factor in shaping social life.
Life changes and cultural identities now also shaped by other structures.

109
Q

Postmodernism:pick n mix culture

A

Blurred traditional cultural boundaries.
Identity formed based on the range of structures.
Cultural forms like conceptual art and many new music genres are based on mixing the old with new. Cultural diversity and pluralism exist in a range of social context.

110
Q

Eva:postmodernism

A

Giddens, late modernity.
Beck, second modernity, face risk and uncertainty.
Philo and Miller, ignore power and inequality in society.
Best and Kellner, not explaining the cause.
Rustin criticize that it was capitalism not technology that caused an inc risk.

111
Q

What are the views of positivism?

A

Social facts.
Social behavior can be measured objectively.
Society is an objective reality made up of social structures.
Believe sociology can be a science.
Researchers values should not impact research.
Links to functionalism, Marxism and feminism.

112
Q

Research methods preferred by positivist

A

Methods used in actual science.
Hypothetical deductive model.
Macro.
Quantitative.
Experiments.
Comparative method.
Social surveys.
Structured questionnaires.
Structured interviews.
Non-participant observation.

113
Q

Positivism criticism

A

Interpretivists, Doesn’t produce a true account of society, simply impose researchers own framework and assumptions.
Lack of rapport.

114
Q

What are the views of interpretivism?

A

Understand meanings individuals gift to situations.
Inductive approach.
Verstehen
Society is a social construction of meaning.
Social action theories.

115
Q

Research methods preferred by interpretivism

A

Qualitative.
Field experiments.
Unstructured/semi structured interviews.
Focus groups.
Participant observation.
Sociologists values should be involved.
Sociology cannot and should not be scientific.

116
Q

Interpretivism criticism

A

Difficult for other sociologists to check the findings or repeat the research.
Small scale lack generalizability.

117
Q

Values are needed in sociological research:value laden sociology (Gomm)

A

Value free sociology is impossible and unsociological.
Social issue is a sociological issue.
3 areas where sociology can’t be value free include choice of subject or topic, funding and methodology.

118
Q

Values are needed in sociological research:committed sociology (Gouldner)

A

Impossible as a sociologist has their own values.
Should be guided by their values and experiences to ensure quality of findings.

119
Q

Values are needed in sociological research:committed sociology (Becker)

A

In evitable that sociologists take side.
Should take side of the underdog.

120
Q

Values are needed in sociological research:committed sociology (feminism)

A

Use their values heavily.
Sociology should be driven by the desire to make society better and used to highlight injustice.

121
Q

Value free sociology is needed (Postivism)

A

Aim to be objective.
Uncover truth.
Needs to be scientific for people to believe it and make changes.
Acting in the interest of society.

122
Q

Value free sociology is needed (Comte)

A

Behavior is directed by society that exist independently of the mind.
Society is made up of social facts just as the natural world is made up of physical facts.
Value free sociology is desirable and possible, should aim to uncover these social facts.

123
Q

Value free sociology is needed (Durkheim)

A

Possible to be value free as can follow same structure as natural science.
Ensure social facts are actually gained.

124
Q

Value free sociology is needed (Marx)

A

Scientifical logic can and should be used to progress humanity.
Get rid of capitalism and values to uncover facts.

125
Q

Values have some good and some bad aspects for sociology (Weber)

A

Areas can be value free:data collection.

Areas can’t be value free:choice of topic and interpretation of data.

126
Q

What are the 5 main aspects of science?

A

Empirical
Testable
Theoretical
Cumulative
Objective

127
Q

Is science a science?

A

Sociology, inferior as does it make the same predictions as natural science but natural science may not be as value free and objective.
Scientist try to falsify hypothesis or adapted results around the scientific law so it’s socially constructed

128
Q

What makes a science?

A

Certain knowledge
Generalizable
Cause and effect
Make predictions
Replicated
Reliability

129
Q

Sociology is a science and should be considered a science:aim of research (positivism)

A

Natural science methods.
Human react to external forces that can be measured to form a causal relationship.
Quantitative.
Scientific approach.
Human behavior response to observable social facts lead to cause and effect.

130
Q

Sociology is a science and should be considered a science:aim of research (Durkheim)

A

Suicide study.
Used positivist methods to create and establish social facts.
Society can be studied scientifically.
Used official stats of suicide rates to find patterns to establish why people committed suicide. Aim to create reliable data and gain a large sample size.

131
Q

Sociology is a science and should be considered a science:aim of research (Comte)

A

People in society should be studied using scientific principles.
Good social science like sociology should use a hypothesis to guide the study of society.

132
Q

Sociology can be a science depending on the definition of a science:Realism

A

Similarities between sociology at the natural science depending on the level of control over variables.
2 types of system within science: closed and open.

133
Q

Sociology can be a science depending on the definition of a science:realism (Keat and Urry)

A

Sociology is an open system
Sociology is a science as follows scientific methods but open system of science that’s unpredictable.

134
Q

Sociology is a science to an extend but its not at the moment (Popper)

A

Hypothesis formation.
Falsification.
Use of empirical evidence.
Replication.
Accumulation of evidence.
Prediction.
Theory formation.
Scrutiny.

135
Q

Falsification sociology (Popper)

A

Theories and statement are unable to be falsified eg false class consciousness.
But it could be a science as it’s capable of producing testable hypotheses.

136
Q

Eva:Popper

A

Feyerabend, no scientific model suitable for all times.
Kaplan, many scientific discoveries are made by accident.
Scientific logic often imposed after or during write up process which can affect and manipulate result making them less accurate but fit with pre-existing scientific laws.

137
Q

Sociology is a science to an extend but its not at the moment (Kuhn)

A

Scientist work within paradigms.
Influence what researchers think they should look for.

138
Q

Science and paradigms

A

Rarely question and encourage to fit into the paradigm.
Only change when there’s dramatic leap.
Scientific knowledge is socially constructed.

139
Q

Sociology and paradigms

A

No single paradigms.
No fundamental agreements.
Pre paradigmatic.
Could be a science if it develops single fundamental belief system.

140
Q

Sociology cannot and should not be a science (Interpretivism)

A

Sociology and science differ on 2 major areas, observable and unobservable, consciousness

141
Q

Sociology cannot be a science

A

Humans don’t react in a causal way and behaviors can’t be predicted.
Should a try to gain verstehen. (Weber)
Gain in depth valid data. (Dobash and Dobash)
Ethical issue would arise if sociology was a science.
Value laden.
Social world is socially constructed.

142
Q

Sociology cannot and should not be a science (Douglas)

A

Suicide study in reaction to Durkheim.
Interpretivism methodology.
People have freedom and free will.
Unstructured interviews and studied of suicide notes to find out why people committed suicide.

143
Q

Postmodernism and sociology as a science

A

Criticize science for claiming a monopoly on the truth.
No one metanarrative to explain the world so science is to reductionist.
Not in the interest of sociology.
Scientific knowledge is subjective and reflect views of the powerful.

144
Q

Influences of sociology on social policies

A

Electoral popularity.
Ideological and policy preferences?
Cost of funding.
Globalization.

145
Q

Social policies UK

A

Antisocial behavior, crime and policing act (2014)-tackle antisocial behavior and provide better support for public.
Online safety act (2023)-keeps the Internet safe for children and give adult more choices over what they see online.

146
Q

Sociology should influence social policy (Functionalism)

A

State act in the interest of society.
Social policies help society to run smoothly and efficiently.
Sociologists should investigate social problems and provide explanations and solutions.

147
Q

Sociology should influence social policy (positivism, social Democrats, left realist, liberal feminist, new labor)

A

Should be actively involved in making social policy recommendations.
Giddens, 1 of Tony Blair advisors influenced welfare and social policy for recent labor gov, sociology can help in our everyday lives.
Sociologists and gov departments review effectiveness of policy and potential changes.

148
Q

Sociology should not influence social policy (Marxism)

A

Social policies reflect the interest of R/C.
Provide ideological justifications to mask capitalist exploitation.
Maintain labor force and prevent revolution.
Sociologist should review the unpleasant truth about capitalist policies

149
Q

Sociology should not influence social policy (New right)

A

People should be self reliant.
State should not interfere too much.
Social policy should aim to restore peoples sense of responsibility.

150
Q

Sociology should not influence social policy (Feminism)

A

State and society is patriarchal.
Feminist research has had an impact in a number of policies?
But they often seen as reflecting the liberal feminist view not radical a Marxist.

151
Q

Postmodernism and social policy

A

Support policies that promote diversity and choices. Late modernist, social policies need to adapt constantly to globalization.

Socio (7 decks)

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