Theory & Methods

Theory & Methods

1. Data Types

   • Primary - collected by researcher themselves for specific purpose of the research
   • Secondary - collected by someone else, applied to this research
   • Qualitative - non numerical
   • Quantitative - numerical

2. Methods of research

   • Qualitative - unstructured/structured interviews, observations, ethnography, documents
   • Quantitative - questionnaires, experiments, official statistics

3. Positivism - focus on producing objective, reliable, and quantitative data

4. Interpretivism - focus on subjective meanings, motives, emotions behind human actions

5. 'Social facts' - Durkheim - these are ways of acting, thinking, & feeling that exist outside the individual but exert constraint over them.

6. Research considerations

   • Practical
     • Time, money, skills and logistics
     • Logistical, financial, personal factors that influence a researcher's choice of methods
   • Ethical
     • Informed consent, deception, confidentiality, protection from harm
     • Moral principles, guidelines, rules that researchers must follow to protect participants while maintaining the integrity of their work
   • Theoretical
     • Ideological factors that shape how researchers view the social world, influencing their choice of topic/methodology
     • Perspective/Paradigm, Validity/Reliability, Objectivity/Values

7. Theories

   • Consensus (functionalism)
     • Views society as a stable, integrated system based on shared norms and values (value consensus)
     • Research Focus: How social order/stability are maintained - Quantitative methods
   • Conflict (marx/feminism)
     • Argues society is based on inequality and competition for resources, with social order maintained by powerful groups.
     • Research Focus: Conflict, inequality, oppression, power dynamics - Quantitative data, qualitative methods
   • Structural
     • Consensus & conflict theories are considered structuralist - they see human behavior as shaped by large-scale social structures.
   • Social Action
     • Rejects idea that behavior is determined by social structure; instead focus on how individuals create/interpret the social world.
     • Research Focus: Meaning individuals attach to their actions and their subjective experiences - Qualitative methods

8. Subjectivity

9. Objectivity

10. Value freedom

11. Key Aspects of Modernity (1850s–1950s)

    • Defined by industrial capitalism, scientific rationality, and belief in progress
    • Involves structural stability, nation-states, and class-based identities

12. Key Aspects of Postmodernity (1950s-Present)

    • Defined by a fragmented, media-saturated, consumer-driven society skeptical of "grand narratives" like science or religion