interpretivism

interpretivism

1. Max Weber

   • rejected the idea that sociology should be treated like the natural sciences
     • people are active, conscious beings with free will, unlike the natural sciences of atoms, gravity and elements
   • humans are unpredictable
   • humans all have free will
   • to explain social events, we have to take into account the feelings of the participants
     • we must not label people as helpless puppets
   • society is a social construct

2. verstehen

   • we must be able to put ourselves in others shoes and see the world from their point of shoes

3. reasearch methods

   • qualitative data
   • primary data
   • positivists aim to build a rapport with their participants
     • higher in validity than positivist methods

4. unstructured interviews- +ve a good rapport is developed between interviewer and interviewee -ve success of interview is often dependant on the skills of the interviewer

5. participant observations- +ve higher validity as it doesn't disrupt normal behaviour -ve difficult to remain covert for a long time

6. non participant observations- +ve allows researcher to see what actually goes on with their own eyes -ve can lead to the Hawthorne effect