POSITIVISM AND INTERPRETIVISM

What is positivism?

prefer quantative methods as it is scientific and objective, like to use questionnairres with clsed questions, structured interviews, expirements and social statistics

Who is a famous positivist?

Durkheim

WHAT IS INTERPRETIVISM?

prefer qualatitive data, questionnaires with open questions, case studies, participant observations, Max weber (verstehen), standing in someone else’s shoes

What are theoretical considerations in choice of research?

this refer to whether research is theoretically reliable and vaid and researcher’s attitudes to what kind of data and data methods yield the best result

Define reliability

can the research be replicated effectively

Define validity

are the findings telling the truth about the situation

What do positivists aim to do?

uncover general laws about behaviour, quantative methods to study large numbers of people in a reliable, representative way

What do interpretivists aim to do?

understand and empathise with individual peoples experiences, ganing in depth insights into their lives using qualatitive methods for greater validity and better rappaports

What are social facts?

facts about society

What is the definition af a social fact?

concepts and institutions in society that arre objectively and scientifically viable (according to positivists)

Durkheim quotes bout social facts

consist of manners of acting thinking and feeling extend to the individual which are invested with a coercive power by virtue of which they exercise control over him

Explain Durkheim’s suicide study

he researched official statistics on suicid in several european countries and found that suicide rate was influenced by several social factors such as divorce rates, religion and the pace of economic and social change in the country. Further theorized that suicide rateb increased when there was either too much or too little intergration and regulation in society

Why do positivsts value social facts?

believe that social facts are veyr reliable and create hard data

When did postivism emerge?

out of the industial revolution and enlightenment

What was the enlightenment?

1650-1800, authority of the church being questioned

What are the three core beliefs of enlightenment?

undelying laws explain how the universe and society works, all men could understand this, laws could be applied to society to improve it

What/when is the birth of sociology?

18th - 19th century, new discovery in sciences, led to industrialisation and people moving to the cities, social transformation through urbanisation. eg manchester, creates new issues such as poverty, unemployment and social unrest

Who is considered the founder of sociology?

August Comte