Values enter research Flashcards
1
Many sociologists argue that research should be value free. One way in which values might come into research is by influencing the choice of topic. Sociologists choose the topics they go onto research for a variety of reasons, but their values are likely to inform their choices.
Even Durkheim – who sought to be scientific and objective – wanted to understand why a close friend committed suicide and that was one of the reasons why he chose to study that subject, and that was a decision influenced by values and a subjective view.
11
The values of feminists are likely to influence them to consider topics relating to gender, and Marxists to consider topics relating to social class or capitalism. Of course there are other factors that influence choice of topic (such as funding or opportunity), but sociologists will also choose a topic because they consider it to be important.
While sometimes that might be a dispassionate, academic judgement, more often than not it will also be informed by their opinions, their experiences, their interests, and these come down to their values.
2
Another way in which values might enter the research process in sociology is when analysing data; sociologists will often make judgements. Max Weber argued that sociologists should not make judgements. As academics, their role should be to objectively observe, even though they should be interested in the values and subjective opinions of the people they study.
But Marxists and feminists would strongly disagree, suggesting that sociology only has some point if it is setting out to make the world better: making a judgement is inevitable and essential.
22
They would go further to suggest that those who observe injustice but choose to remain impartial and “value free” are actually making a value‐judgement in favour of the status quo. If researchers are not prepared to condemn exploitation and inequality then they are condoning it by their inaction.
While postmodernists have different perspectives from Marxists and feminists on the conflicts in society, they would similarly conclude that all researchers make value judgements and good research should demonstrate reflexivity, where the researcher regularly reflects on their values and how they are not separate from the subject of their research but affect it throughout the process.
