SA 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Auguste Comte, Participant Observation, Dependent And Independent Variables
8 Jun 2018
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CHAPTER 2: SOCIAL RESEARCH METHODS
Research methodology: the system of methods a researcher uses to gather data on a
particular question
-Sociology is a big discipline with researchers taking a variety of approaches. This can
be contentious.
-Qualitative and quantitative, can be combined
Doing Sociology
-No one way of doing sociological research, usually many methods are combined
-Should have many methodological tools at your disposal
-If methods are rigid: you will attempt to solve every problem in the same way\
Mills on intellectual Craftsmanship
-“Every (person) own methodologists! Methodologists! Get to work!
-Be rigorous, systematic but be your own thinker and methodologist
Positivism
-French philosopher August Comte: believed objective of scientific methods used to
study the natural sciences could be applied in the social sciences
-Comte implied that researchers didn’t have biases on the basis of gender, age or
ethnicity. Stressed objectivity
-The outsider was an expert
Insider VS Outsider Perspectives
-Much sociology’s history, the outsider objective perspective would produce the best
research
-Critical sociology stresses the unique role of the insider perspective. In this
perspective, the subject being studied provides information that comes from his or
her subjective experience.
Dorothy Smith
-Standpoint Theory
-Social characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, age and sexual orientation will
condition both the questions a sociologist asks and the answers she/he will receive
-Also how other people treat you
Michal Foccault
-Work on sexuality, prisons, and madness, showed how experts were given the
privileged position on determining which parts of the subjects accounts of their
experiences were true or false
-Power-knowledge: power produces knowledge and the fields in which knowledge is
exercised.
Practice Reflexive Sociology
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Document Summary
Research methodology: the system of methods a researcher uses to gather data on a particular question. Sociology is a big discipline with researchers taking a variety of approaches. No one way of doing sociological research, usually many methods are combined. Should have many methodological tools at your disposal. If methods are rigid: you will attempt to solve every problem in the same way\ Be rigorous, systematic but be your own thinker and methodologist. French philosopher august comte: believed objective of scientific methods used to study the natural sciences could be applied in the social sciences. Comte implied that researchers didn"t have biases on the basis of gender, age or ethnicity. Much sociology"s history, the outsider objective perspective would produce the best research. Critical sociology stresses the unique role of the insider perspective. In this perspective, the subject being studied provides information that comes from his or her subjective experience.
