How Do Sociologists Approach The Study Of Society?
Overview
Before a sociologist can tell us anything about families, schools or crime, they have to make a deeper choice: how should society be studied at all? Is it best examined like a natural science, by counting, measuring and looking for the hidden forces that shape millions of lives at once? Or can you only understand people by getting close to them and seeing the world through their eyes? That single decision shapes everything else, from the method chosen to the kind of evidence collected.
This lesson teaches the two great traditions behind every piece of sociological research. You will meet positivism, with its love of social facts, statistics and patterns, and interpretivism, with its search for meaning and verstehen. You will also learn the toolkit of ideas examiners test again and again: reliability, validity, representativeness and generalisability, plus the traps of bias and the observer effect. Master these and the whole of the research-methods unit falls into place.
Objectives
- The scientific method.
- A macro view.
- Social facts.
- Quantitative data.
- Causation and correlation.
- Patterns and trends.
- Objectivity and reliability.
- A micro view.
- Meanings and motivations.
- Qualitative data.
- In-depth.
- Subjectivity.
- Validity and verstehen.
- Triangulation.
- Longitudinal studies.
- Bias.
- Interviewer effect.
- Hawthorne/Observer effect.
- Validity.
- Reliability.
- Representativeness.
- Generalisability.
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Lesson Evaluation
Congratulations on completing the lesson on How Do Sociologists Approach The Study Of Society?. Now that youve explored the key concepts and ideas, its time to put your knowledge to the test. This section offers a variety of practice questions designed to reinforce your understanding and help you gauge your grasp of the material.
You will encounter a mix of question types, including multiple-choice questions, short answer questions, and essay questions. Each question is thoughtfully crafted to assess different aspects of your knowledge and critical thinking skills.
Use this evaluation section as an opportunity to reinforce your understanding of the topic and to identify any areas where you may need additional study. Don't be discouraged by any challenges you encounter; instead, view them as opportunities for growth and improvement.
- Which approach studies society scientifically, using measurable social facts to find patterns? A. Interpretivism B. Positivism C. Feminism D. Postmodernism Answer: B
- The German term for an empathetic understanding of social action, gained by seeing the world as those studied see it, is: A. verstehen B. anomie C. consensus D. operationalisation Answer: A
- A method that gives the same results when repeated by another researcher is said to have high: A. validity B. representativeness C. reliability D. subjectivity Answer: C
- People changing their behaviour because they know they are being observed is known as the: A. interviewer effect B. Hawthorne effect C. halo effect D. ripple effect Answer: B
- Combining two or more methods so the strengths of one offset the weaknesses of another is called: A. operationalisation B. triangulation C. stratification D. generalisation Answer: B
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