realist

• Keat & Urry - open systems


  -researcher cannot control & measure all relevant variables

  -cannot make precise predictions
• example of open system


  -meteorology

  -can't control but is scientific

  -if this is scientific, maybe sociology should be seen as scientific too?
• Keat & Urry - closed systems 


  -researcher can control & predict all relevant variables

  -make precise predictions
• maybe our definitions of science are incorrect