SOC101 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Discourse Analysis, Anomie, Dependent And Independent Variables
7 Dec 2015
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Sociology reading notes #2 chapter 2: social research methods. Theory: an attempt to explain a fact or observed phenomenon. Research methodology: the system of methods a researcher uses to gather data on a particular question. Positivism: the belief that every rational assertion can be verified by scientific proof. Different researchers regard insider and outsider perspectives differently. Policy sociology would agree with the outside perspective ideology. Critical sociology, particularly feminist sociology, would agree with the insider view highly. Quantitative research: focuses on social elements that can be counted or measured, which can therefore be used to generate statistics. It often involves working with questionnaires and polls. Qualitative research: involves the close examination of characters that cannot be counted or measured. Unlike quantitative research, which is typically used to find the patterns governing whole structures or systems, qualitative research may be used to study individual cases that do not fit into the larger model.
