A level sociology methods in research

Auguste Comte

• advocated the scientific study of sociology

• intended and recognised unintentional consequences of society

• Focussed on interaction between people

• Believed that interpretivism was the way forward

Verstehen is

• scientific study of social culture

• Unintended and unrecognised consequences of aspects of society

• Ability to see link between society and self

• Understanding sociological behaviour by putting yourself in the place of others

The scientific method is...

• The belief that events occur in a predictable way and leads to other events

• A research method that involves the pursuit of knowledge in a systematic way

• A persons responses being valid.

• Ensuring the results are generalisable

Questionnaires are favoured by who?

• Positivists

• Marxists

• Funtionalists

• Interpretivists

Sociologists use indicators to...

• To show how their findings can be simplified

• To give an abstract concept a concrete and valid (measurable) meaning

• To show if their research is left or right leaning

• Show is they're going left or right

An issue with conducting interviews may be...

• Cost implications

• Interviewer bias

• Operationalisation

• Reliability