Methodology

• Post structuralism:

  • Today
  • Acceptance that society looks at agency + structures
  • Agency = individual choice
• Structuration:

  • Giddens - must accept + consider structure (positivists) + individuals (interpretivist)
  • Eg - we as individuals choose to get married but then enter structure of marriage + family
• Realism:

  • Combined approach
  • Embrace triangulation
  • Utilise strengths of each approach
  • Collect both quantitative + qualitative data
• Triangulation:

  • Sociologist in favour of one view but can dip. Into opposing view when useful
  • Improves validity, reliability + generalisability
  • As findings can be compared
• Bottom up approaches:

  • Interactionists
  • Need to look through eyes of individual to understand society
• Top down theories:

  • Functionalist
  • Marxist
  • Likes statistics (quantitative)
  • Society as a whole
• Interpretivists:

  • Qualitative data
  • Seeks to understand meanings + reason
  • Sociology ≠ science
  • WEBER (sociologist)
  • Verstehen = humans have awareness not always behave naturally
  • Aim = understand
  • Micro level = how individuals of society interact
• Positivists :

  • Quantitative data
  • Discover patterns of behaviour
  • Sociology = science
  • COMTE (sociologist)
  • Evidence stand up to scrutiny
  • Value free
  • Macro level = behaviour society as whole
• Methodology definition:

  • The way in which research is conducted
  • The methods used