values in research

subjectivity

when you make a judgement based on you own personal bias. sociologists are part of the society they study and re therefore involved with their own values and beliefs

subjectivity in sociology

often associated with feminists and interpretivists who believe that it’s important to have interaction and personal involvement and closeness to those being studied

objectivity

associated with scientific disciplines. to be objective means the researcher has removed all personal bias and opinions from their sociological research

associated with positivism and the use of quantitative methods

value free

value free sociology is championed by positivists who argue sociology should be totally value free

this means you own personal views and biases shouldn’t enter your research at any stage

instead sociology should study observable facts just like the natural sciences

Durkheim

positivists like Durkheim believes that sociology was the science of society and therefore needed to follow scientific principles in order to gain credibility

it was the job of sociology to identify social problems in society and cure social ills with scientific research

he believed his study of suicide was value free because he found trends within official stats that were gathered in a scientific way

Weber

didn’t believe that sociology could be completely value free, instead he discusses the approach of value relevance

value relevance

sociologists will use their subjective feelings to identify a research topic and the concepts they feel are relevant

however, sociologists must be objective in how they carry out their research

choice of topic area

when selecting a subject to study a researcher chooses an area they are interested in and therefore using their values

this aspect of all research is subjective

data collection and hypothesis testing

this is the area of research that can remain objective should the researcher want to do so

Weber agreed with positivists that this stage should remain as objective as possible

interpretation of findings

it is inevitable that they will be adapted to fit a particular value-based theoretical perspective and is, therefore once again subjective

value laden

another approach to value research

this means that the researcher is weighed down by their values and cannot escape them

this can be for may reasons

funding

those who fund the research usually have an agenda

these people are referred to as paymasters and project their values onto the research

Gouldner

argues that research can often be for career progression for the sociologist

they will pick a topic to research that will get them noticed in the sociological community

Plummer

argues our personal beliefs can never be removed from our conscience

we are often drawn to a topic as we have a desire to explore something important to us

he argues this was crucial to his research as he investigated his own sexuality through the development of queer theory

value committed

Becker argues that all sociologists should be value committed

in this instance, sociologists will use their position of power and insight to give a voice to the deprived and in doing so we can bring about social change

using values for better

Becker believes we should always side with those who are less fortunate and are therefore the underdog

therefore we should be committed to our values and use them to improve the society we live in