Key issues in research and methods

Key issues in research and methods

1. Theoretical issues affect your choice of method

   • Two important theortetical appaoraches to sciologly are postivism and interpretivism. You need to know how they affect someone's choice of method.
     • Positivism looks at the institutions society. It's called macrosociology. Interpretivist socilogy looks at the individual. It's called microsociology

2. Positivits use reliable methods that give quantative data

   • 1) Positivists say behaviour is influenced by external social factors.
     • 2) They think sociology should scientific and anlyse social facts . Social facts are things that affect behaviour and can be easily measured. They're external things like laws, not internal things like people's opinions.
       • 3) So postivits measure human behaviour using quantative data.
         • 4) They use statsictcs to measure the realtionships between different factors. They're intrested in casue and effect realtionships, e.g the factors that cause underachivement in schools.
           • 5) They use sources like questionannires and offical statsics. These are objetive and reliable.

3. Interpretevists use valid methods that give qualitative data

   • 1) Interpretivists also known as interactionists belive that you can only really understand human behaviour using empathy ; by putting yourself in other people's shoes. They think that it is important to uncover and understand the meanining indiviudals give to their actions and to the actions of others.
     • 2) Interpretivists sociologists use methods that let them discover the meanings, motives and reasons behind human behaviour and social interaction.
       • 3) Interoretivists reckon that the scientific methods used in postivist reasrch don't tell you much about how individual people act in society. They don't belive in the existence of social facts they think that the findings of reserch are always subjective they depend on your opinion.
         • 4) Interpetivits say you can't cpunt meanings and opinions and turn them into statistical charts. They reckon sociology isn't scientific because humans can't be measured like ants in an ant farm. People don't always understand questions in questionnaires and they don't always tell the truth to reasearchers.
           • 5) Interpretivits like to use methods that produce qualitative data; they try to understand human behaviour from the point of view of the individual person. They use methods like participant observation and unstructured interviews to build up a rapport is known (a feeling of mutual trust and understanding) with individuals, so they can produce a valid and detailed picture of what they think.

4. Practical issues also have an imapct on method

   • 1) Time; some methods need more time. Comvert particpiant observation takes a long time. The reasearcher has to get up into the group they're studying and win their trust before starting the actual research. A social survey doesn't need the reasearcher to particpiate all the time and the worklad can be shared in a team.
     • 2) Money; this affets the length and method of the reasearch. Money is is needed pay the reasearcher, are expsensive. The 2011 census cost £480 million. A small group will cost a lot less.
       • 3) Charcteristics and skills of reasearfcher; It'd be difficult for a female reasearcher to be involved in a particpant observation of monks in a monastery. Some researchers may be OK with dangerous situations and others may prefer to stay at their desk and do deatiled analysis of statstics.
         • 4) Access and opportunity; If reeaserchers don't have acces to certain groups to carry out interviews or observations then they have to turn to secondary sources