Theory and Methods - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Theory and Methods

www.educationforum.co.uk

Slide2

Positivism

Positivists see sociology as a science

They seek to discover the objective social laws which cause patterns in social behaviour

Seek to establish correlations and causes

Prefer

quantitive

data so they can measure and test the impact of the variables

Build hypotheses from correlations and test themSlide3

Positivist Methods

Prefer methods similar to those used in the natural sciences

Surveys, cross-sectional surveys, longitudinal studies, experiments, field experiments, case studies

Reliability and representativeness important concepts of positivists

Using your A2 books and last years notes make sure you are able to describe and evaluate each of these methodsSlide4

Interpretivism and Qualitative methods

Interactionists

search for a subjective understanding actors meanings

Reject the idea of ‘scientific sociology’ – humans are seen as fundamentally different from the natural world

Therefore favour qualitative methods – observations, unstructured interviews, life documents – methods that will give the researcher access to how the social actor thinks and feels – ‘

verstehen

’Slide5

Methods

Ethnography

– refers to methods which aim to immerse the sociologist in the lives of the people they are studying – therefore

Participant Observation, open ended interviews and Focus Groups

can be seen as ethnographic methods

Read pages 289-295 and pages 138-139 of the Revision Guide– make notes on the above citing advantages and disadvantages and also quoting actual examples of each method (try to relate to

Strat

and Diff where you can)Slide6

Action research

‘The philosophers have only interpreted the world the point is to change it’ K Marx

Conflict theorists tend favour action research – research that is seen as part of a broader struggle. This may effect their choice of method and choice of research topicSlide7

Feminism

Feminism has tended to adopt one of two methodological approaches which have been categorised as The

Weak Thesis

and the

Strong Thesis

.

The Weak Thesis suggests that traditional methods are themselves essentially sound its just that their application is riven with sexism – the feminist researcher therefore has to purge her methods of such sexism before proceedingSlide8

Pawson and the Weak Thesis

Pawson

identifies 2 areas of sexism in research

ANDROCENTRICITY – which means seeing the world through male eyes. Men are seen as dominant and important whilst women weak and submissive. Research therefore tends to focus on ‘important’ men’s business and women are written out of history, literature the arts.

OVERGENERALISATION –

Pawson

suggests that often what is seen as valid research conclusions for men are over generalised to include women also – an obvious e.g. could be social class classifications which use the occupation of the head of the household as the determinant of social class

Pawson

suggests that the problems of

androcentricity

and overgeneralization can be overcome by appropriate topic selection, awareness of gender issues and differences on the part of the researcher, avoiding sexist assumptions and by using non sexist languageSlide9

The Strong Thesis

A more fundamental approach which states that feminism needs its own

distinct methodology

Anne Oakley says that traditional methods are fundamentally hierarchical, sexist and exploitative. She gives the example of the powerful and manipulative interviewer controlling and unequal respondent. Such models are seen by Oakley as essentially ‘male’

Feminist methodology instead should be based on real relationships which are equal and compassionateSlide10

Mies and the Strong Thesis

Mies

takes this a stage further and issues a number of ‘guidelines’ for feminist research

Conscious partiality

– feminist researchers are not objective – they are conscious of patriarchy and they identify with their respondents

Action Research

– research seeks to change the world not just to understand it – research is part of a broader struggle

Research must take the ‘

view from below

’ and be non hierarchical

Research must be ‘

consciousness raising

’ for both researcher and respondent

Research must be for the

good of all womenSlide11

Marxism and Methodology

Similarly some Marxists favour ‘action research’, consciousness raising research and are heavily influenced in their choice of topic and methodology by their ideology

E.G. Paul Willis – ethnographic studied of the ‘lads’Slide12

Objectivity and Value Freedom

Q. What is objectivity/value freedom?

A. Keeping ones own values, subjective opinions, prejudices out of the research processSlide13

Perspectives on Value freedom

Early positivists and functionalists

– Comte, Durkheim – believed themselves to be objective and scientific BUT clearly were not value free – favoured the norms and values of society and saw them as functionally important

Early

M

arxists

– Marx and Engels – saw themselves as objective ‘scientific socialists but all their works very clearly imbued with the belief that capitalism was undesirable and anti social and that a better world could be achieved

Modern positivism

seeks to exclude all value judgements from research conclusions and be completely morally neutral

Interactionsists

like Howard Becker claim it is impossible to keep personal values, sympathies out of the research process – sides with ‘the underdog’ – those marginalised and negatively labelled in society

Feminists

– action research so not value free – part of a broader struggle

Weber

– sometimes values are relevant to research and sometimes they should be kept out of research. Important to be ‘value free’ and objective when testing hypotheses but at other times understanding ‘values’ and comparing values essential to understanding society