Sociology 1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Deductive Reasoning, Participant Observation, Verstehen
29 Mar 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Positivists assume that social realities are objective and are best studied through quantitative (deductive) research methods. Interpretivists assume that social realities are subjectively constructed and are best studied through qualitative (inductive) research methods. The educative approach is used by positivists. Deductive reasoning begins with general ideas and proceeds to test their validity on speci c cases. Inductive reasoning is bottom-up in its method. Inductive reasoning begins with concrete cases and proceeds to identify general patterns and themes. Positivists (qualitative researchers) often depend on data that has been collected by other researchers. Interpretivists (qualitative researchers) often have to go and collect the data on their own through direct observation . 1: translate the abstract idea into a testable hypothesis, collect and analyze data, accept or reject the hypothesis. Identify a research interest based on concrete experience(s) Quantitive understanding is based numbers and statistics. Quantitative studies provide a broad understanding that focuses on a relatively small number of variables.
