Key Issues

Key Issues

1. Positivism - looks at institutions, called macrosociology

   • say behaviour is influenced by external social factors; say sociology should be scientific and analyse social facts (things that affect behaviour and can be easily measured like laws, not opinions).
   • measure behaviour with quantitative data
   • use statistics to measure cause and effect.
   • use questionnaires and official statistics bc objective and reliable.

2. Interpretivism - looks at individiual, microsociology.

   • can only understand behaviour through empathy, important to know meaning given to actions.
   • they use methods which can uncover meanings, motivations and reasons such as participant observation and unstructured interviews to build up rapport.
   • scientific methods don't tell you how people act in society, all research findings are subjective.
   • sociology isn't scientific as humans can't be measured.

3. Practical Issues

   • Time - some methods like covert participant observation are very time consuming, social survey is not time consuming.
   • Money - affects the length and method of research, census cost 480 million.
   • Characteristics and skills of researcher - may be hard for female to covertly observe monks.
   • Access and oppurtunity - if they don't have access to certain groups then they may have to use secondary data.

4. Ethical Issues

   • Consent - must have openly agreed to take part
     • Laud Humphreys, Tearoom Trade (1970) - studied homosexuals who did sexual activity in public but wanted to increase the accuracy of results, maybe wouldn't have gained access if he said he was a sociologist. pretended he enjoyed watching these acts for a sexual thrill and succesfully infiltrated the group.
   • Avoidance of deception - open and honest
     • Stanley Milgram (1974) - teacher and a learned, participant is always teacher, made to shock learner from 0-450v, after 300 the learner starts screaming. lied for purpose of experiment as shocks and reason for experiment weren't true.
   • Confidentiality - details must remain private
     • personal data must not be distributed, must be anonymous or use a false name and clearly state it is a false name, any locations or institutions may have to be written in a way as not to link anyone to them
   • Avoidance of Harm - shouldn't be physically or psychologically harmed.
     • emotional and physical harm is never accepted, those reasearching sensitive subjects e.g mental health may encounter vulnerable people who may be in a situation which cause them harm e.g unsanitary living; it is up for debate as to whether research should be stopped if this is the case.
   • Justifications of breaking the rules
     • Nigel Fielding (1981) - infiltrated national front, argues that he needed to conceal his identity and motives otherwise he wouldn't have been accepted in.
     • "James Patrick" (1973) - this research was published under a false name to provide anonymity as the researcher studied glasgow's violent gangs. this was in order to protect himself.
     • Roy Wallis (1977) - lied about not being a sociologist when he signed up to a scientology course. was forced to name some of his sources during a legal battle between church of scientology and another researcher; broke the rules on confidentiality but didn't have a choice.