value relevance

• weber

  1. values as a guide to research
  2. data collection and hypothesis testing - value free
  3. values in the interpretation of data
  4. values and the sociologist
• values as a guide to research

  • took ideas from phenomenology that social reality is made up of a meaningless infinity of facts
  • therefore a researcher should select certain facts and study these
  • we can only select them in terms of what we regard as important based on our own values - value relevance
  • Values are thus essential in enabling us to select which aspects of reality to study 
• data collection and hypothesis testing

  • we must be objective and unbiased when actually collecting the facts
  • e.g not ask leading questions to give answers we want to hear
  • must also keep values out of the hypothesis
• weber - value relevance 


  • sees values as relevant to the sociologist in choosing topic of research, interpreting data collected and deciding how the findings should be used
  • however, needs values in certain stages of research process but not all
  • the sociologist’s values must be kept out of the actual process of fact gathering
• values in the interpretation of data

  • Values become important again when we come to interpret the data we have collected.
  • argues the facts need to be set in a theoretical framework so we can gain understanding
  • our choice of theoretical framework in based on our values
  • therefore, must be explicit about our values so others can see if there is unconscious bias in our interpretation of our data
• unconscious bias

  unaware of biases that affect our decisions and judgments
• values and the sociologist

  • argues that scientists and sociologists are also human beings and citizens and they must not dodge the moral and political issues their work raises by hiding behind words such as ‘objectivity’ or ‘value freedom’.
  • must take moral responsibility for the harm their research may do.