Relationships between theories and methods Flashcards
(8 cards)
How do people with strong theoretical beliefs about society, effect their choice of research projects?
If a theory is studying the way we interact with people, like interactionalism, they wil not go down the root of using research methods them help them understand the oppression of women.
Theories in sociologt usually fall into two catagories - ‘tops down’ or ‘bottoms down’.
What is the ‘top-down’ approach? What are the favoured research methods? What sociological thoery would fall under this?
They believe that we are being controlled by social institutions, like ‘puppets on string’. They emphasis that any research should bare this in mind and that the researcher should be looking for general patterns of behaviour - which individuals may not be even aware of.
They prefer quantitative methods, like those that generate sets of statistics, such as questionaires.
Marxism and functionalism have a ‘top-down’ approach.
Theories in sociologt usually fall into two catagories - ‘tops down’ or ‘bottoms down’.
What is the ‘bottom-up’ approach’? What are the favoured research methods? What sociological theory would fall under this?
The stress that we are NOT ‘puppets on a string’ but it is the activities and beliefs of individuals that make up the social world. The way to understand society is to look at it through the eyes of individuals.
They prefer qualitative methods such as participant observations.
Interactionlism has a ‘bottom-up’ approach.
The interpretation of research findings can impact theory. This will depend on what is being looked for, and also deoends upon what theoretical approach the researcher sympathises with.
What are two interpretations of research?
Positivistic research
Social action (interpretivism) research
Positivism
Society contrains our behaviour
Society is studied in the same way as the natural world. Social facts - institutions, like the education system, which shape society and cause us to behave in a certain way.
Positivism
Their preference of research
Structural approaches
Macro approaches
Quantative methods
Statistical data
Large scale
Structured interviews, questionsires
Non-participant observation
Interpretivism
Individuals and groups create society
Use research methids to help them find out how people understand the world around them. This process is called VERSTEHEN - understanding human behaviour by putting yourself in the osition of the people you are studying.
Interpretivism
Their preference of research
Micro approaches
Qualitative approaches
Small scale
Experience rich data
Unstructured questionaires and interview
Participant observations
