reserch methords Flashcards
key features of positivism
-very influenced by natural scientists
-argue that we should treat people as objects whos behaviour can be directly observed
- believe that there are natural laws that govern behaviour
- the organisation of society is called the social structure and positive sociologists who study the organisation are called structuralist
emilie drurkeim
social facts
positivists patterns and trends
societies produce social laws over which people have little or no control,
-free will, individualism and the ability to make choices are less influential then societies ability to shape human behaviour
-indivdiuals are born to take their place in sociaty and then die
-individuals are ‘‘puppets of society’’
-trends in human behaviour can be predictable and
-maco approach
positivism theory
funcationlism, marxism, femmnism
what type of data do positivists collect?
lab experiments
go into the felid
conduct scientific survays
positivists prefer the extensive use of primary research methords
durkheim - study of sucide
positive, scientific approach to investigate sucide, he concuded that sucide was not the result of individulas using their free will and chosing to kill themsleves instead he hypothsised that sucide was a social fact.
- he argued that egostic sucide was cuased by to much individualism
what do positivists believe about data collection?
-systematic
-reliability
-positivists believe that scientific research should be objective and value free
-representativeness
-generalisations are justified
-quantitive data
-achive validity
interpritivism
max weber was an interpritivist, he rejected the view that humans can be viewed as objects and he notes that human beings were active, had free will and were awear of what is going on in social situations and thefour capable about making choices about how to behave
interprtvist sociologists argue that people are active craeters of their own destine because they are concious beings who act with intent and prupous
society is constructed by two processes
the first is people chosing to come together and interact in social groups e.g familes
-and the second is social interaction within groupes and people having a shared sense of what is going on, if they do not social interaction would not be possible, interpirtivits point out that when peopel interact with each other they are contatly giving meaning to their own behaviour and that of others
mead
peoples sense of self can only develope in social context
mead concluded that the cause of social action lie in peoples ‘denfition of situations’ rather then as a result of objective laws that govern from outside
verstehen and empthy
verstehen is a the ‘‘need for people to develope a understanding’’
researcher imposition
interprtivists dont believe that scientific approach is good for sociological research, they believe that validity is more important then reliability and objectivity
primary
interviews
questionnaires
observations
longitudinal study
social experiment
secondary
media
government statistics e.g census and ONS
non government statistics such as NGO’s, charties
-public documents
-historical documents
P.E.T
-practical
-ethical
-theoretical
