| Def | Strengths | Limitations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Case study | In-depth qualitative, particular group | Depth and detail →Validity | |
| cost-effective large amount | Generalise and representative | ||
| Practical | |||
| ethnography | Case study with partici obser | ||
| Social surveys | 【Cross-sectional survey】 | Generalisation | |
| Reliable census | Practical | ||
| Longitudinal studies | Tracking changes at waves | Track changes revealed trends | |
| Large representative samples establish causation | Attrition representativeness | ||
| Depth validity |
Improve validity and reliability.
In theory: Methodological pluralism: combine to complement
In practice: Triangulation: weakness can be offset by others
| Strengths: check finding + offset limitations | Limitations |
|---|---|
| Confirm reliability (2 researchers) | Practical |
| Confirm validity (2ways of collecting data) | Compare |
| Hey girls’ friendship in two London schools, po + diaries | Conflicts, what’s T and F |
Evaluate the view that sociologists should try to discover laws underlying human behaviour.有—研究可以揭示—研究应该怎样进行
| Positivist (scitfc method, objectivity, reliability, value-freedom) | Interpretivists (verstehen, meaning, subjectivity, validity.) |
|---|---|
| Purpose of sociology: Discover social facts | Understand meanings attached to action |
| Social actions are determined by: Laws of behaviour | Behavioural rules |
| Research can: Explain and predict causation | Describe and uncover reality |
| Research should: Objective and value-free to get reliability | Verstehen and acknowledge values to get validity |
Evaluate the view that sociology should be based on the methods and procedures of the natural sciences.
| Conclusion | Sayer: half way |
|---|---|
| Can | Can’t |
| Positivists: there are underlying independent social structures | Interpretivists: free will > stimulation |
| Founders: adopts and applies the scientific method | Kuhn: sociology has competing paradigms |
| Realists: open systems | Latour: science isn’t scientific |
| Should | Shouldn’t |
| Enlightenment and modernity: rational argument, evidence | Impossible: funding |
| Durkheim: discover social forces | Unethical: Zimbardo |
| Popper: hypothetic-deductive plausibility & predictability | Latour: Science not scientific |
Evaluate the view that a value-free sociology is possible and desirable. / Evaluate the view that sociological research should be value free.
| For | Against |
|---|---|
| Values distort research, resist subjective temptation | interpretivist: Impossible separate eg topic choice, so should be clear |
| Positivists: Durkheim social facts, studied neutrally, uncover laws by observing (inductive) | Inter: understand the reason why of social actions |
| Popper: hypothetic-deductive, values will be falsified | Marxists and feminists: researchers should be ‘committed’ and open in their sympathies. 【committed sociology】 |
Realism: meteorology Open systems can’t control all of the variables, reveal hidden structures (such as the class structure), and make broad predictions
Popper: social scientific knowledge based on deduction and falsification
Latour