Research Methods 2 Flashcards
What is positivism
The desire to find objective data free from interpretation and bias.
Characteristics of positivist data and methods
No verhesten, can’t be proven wrong (not falsifiable), FUNCTIONALISM; believed society exists separate from the individual. Quantitative, ie. questionnaires, statistics etc.
The enlightenment
Period of European history spanning from 1650 to 1800 where people started to believe knowledge was derived from science over.
Modernity
Long period of European history starting with the enlightenment and lasting until the 1950s.
Period of history where there was a widespread consensus that scientific discoveries could lead to progress through the application of knowledge to the social world, through things such as industrialisation leading to more £.
Gave rise to POSITIVISM
Who believed we could apply methods of the natural sciences to the social world?
Auguste Comte
Who introduced the term ‘sociology’ ?
Comte
What did Emile Durkheim believe?
Sociology should be able to accurately predict the effect of particular changes in social organisations such as an increase in unemployment.
What research methods did Durkheim believe should be used primarily?
Comparative methods ; looking for correlation and relationships between data. This method seeks to establish the cause and effect theory.
What was Durkheim famous study on? What type of sociology did it develop?
Suicide study (1897), POSITIVIST SOCIOLOGY
What did Durkheim want to prove in his study of suicide?
Suicide was linked to society, rather than purely individual, psychological act (and so establish sociology and positivism as a scientific discipline).
What did Durkheim compare in his suicide study?
Suicide rates between different European countries and between groups within each society.
What did Durkheim find in his suicide study (4)
- suicide rates varied in different countries and were higher in Protestant than catholic countries.
- the rise and fall of suicide rates appeared to be related to social factors, e.g falling
during economic recession. - suicide rates remained consistent in each country over time
- suicide rates varies within groups of the same society, e.g marriage status, children etc…
What two things did Durkheim argue society needed the right amount of?
Integration and regulation.
Integration
Measured by strength and number of relationships between individuals; in a strong ply integrated society, individuals share norms and values and have powerful duties and obligations towards each other.
Reductionalism
Reduces all human behaviour to the result of social forces absent individual human input.
