Flashcards on the Relationship Between Sociological Theories and Research Methods (4.4)

Question	Answer
Before conducting research, sociologists need to choose what they are going to research and how they are going to research it. What is one influential factors in this choice?	The theoretical position of the researcher.
What sort of topics are functionalists most interested in?	Topics that relate to social cohesion and social order.
What sort of topics are marxists most interested in?	Topics that relate to class differences and economic inequalities.
What sort of topics are feminists most interested in?	Topics that are relevant to gender inequalities.
What sort of topics are interactionists most interested in?	Topics that concern small-scale interaction in groups.
The influence of a theory isn't wholly prescriptive, however. Why?	Because most theories can be applied to a wide range of issues and topics. Theories push sociologists in certain directions, but don't determine what they will research because there are many other factors that are also important.
The influence of theory is perhaps stronger on which other choice?	The choice of methodology.
Functionalist theories of society concentrate on analysis of the role and function of institutions in society. However, this often doesn't require any empirical research. Rather, what sort of research method do many functionalists use?	Thought experiments - they think about what would happen if these institutions ceased to exist.
However, functionalism does not have a clear and close relationship with any research method in particular and different approaches have been used by different functionalists. For example, what sort of research method did George Peter Murdock use when examining the nature and role of the family?	Secondary sources.
Having said that, most functionalists do prefer positivist research methods. Why?	Because they believe that society should be studied in an objective, scientific way, using quantitative data to search for cause-and-effect relationships.
Positivist methodology favours research methods that are well suited to producing statistical data. Give examples of such methods:	Surveys, experiments, observations and content analysis.
Functionalists tend to be opposed to the use of in-depth qualitative methods. Why?	They regard them as being of little use for understanding the overall structure of society, as they only provide a subjective view of the social world.
Who was the first functionalist to illustrate in detail how positivist methods could be used to study society?	Emile Durkheim.
Durkheim attempted to use positivist methods to identify and explain sociological causes of suicide rates. What method did he use?	Secondary sources (official suicide statistics from countries across Europe).
Durkheim found higher rates of suicide among which groups of people?	- Protestants. - Married people. - Parents.
Additionally, Durkheim found that suicide rates increased during what periods of time?	- Periods of political stability and peace. - Periods of economic booms and slumps.
From this, Durkheim claimed to have identified different types of suicide that were linked to how strongly 'integrated' people were into society and how strongly 'regulated' they were by society. What do these terms mean?	Integrated - the extent to which individuals interact with other members of social groups. Regulated - the extent to which society is able to get its members to conform to its formal and informal laws and norms.
Both too much and too little integration and regulation could result in suicide rates increasing. Generally, what sort of society had too little integration and regulation, and why?	Modern industrial societies, because they had a complex division of labour and pluralistic cultures, which made it difficult to have a single set of norms to govern society.
What sort of society had too much integration and regulation, and why?	Pre-industrial societies, because they were close-knit and highly-regulated, meaning individuals had little freedom to make their own decisions.
What are the four types of suicide Durkheim identified?	1. Egoistic suicide (insufficient integration). 2. Anomic suicide (insufficient regulation). 3. Altruistic suicide (excessive integration). 4. Fatalistic suicide (excessive regulation).
Although Durkheim's theory of suicide has been highly influential, it has also been widely criticised by interpretivists. Why?	They argue that Durkheim could only infer from the statistics what the causes of suicide were.
Interpretivists believe that we could gain a better understanding of suicide if we examine the actual meanings and motives of those who killed themselves. This is in keeping with which german concept?	Verstehen - the notion that you must understand the meanings and motives of social actions before you can explain them.
Additionally, interpretivists question the validity of statistics. Why?	They argue that suicide statistics are based on the subjective opinions of the coroner who performed the autopsy. They are therefore not 'social facts', as Durkheim claims.
Symbolic interactionism is one of many different types of social action and interpretivist theories. Who developed it?	George Herbert Mead and Herbert Blumer.
What sort of methods do symbolic interactionists favour?	Qualitative methods.
The labelling theory and the dramaturgical theory also favour qualitative methods, as they were both influenced by symbolic interactionism. What qualitative method did both Becker (labelling) and Goffman (dramaturgy) use?	In-depth interviews.
Why do symbolic interactionism, labelling and dramaturgy all have a strong affinity with qualitative, interpretivist methods?	Because they emphasise the importance of the meanings that individuals attach to social life. Quantitative, positivist methods don't reveal these meanings, so it is rare for interpretivist theories to use them?
Which sociologist applied interpretivist methods to the study of suicide?	Jack Douglas.
Douglas argued that it was misleading to to treat all suicides as the same type of social fact, because the meaning of suicide varies greatly in different societies. What example does he give?	In Inuit society, the elderly were expected to kill themselves in times of food shortage for the good of the social group as a whole.
Interpretvisits believe quantitative methods cannot reveal the different meanings of suicide and therefore use qualitative methods instead. However, what issue can arise here?	Qualitative methods rely on the interpretation of meaning and motives, which cannot be directly observed and measured. Researchers can only infer meanings and motivations, meaning these methods are unreliable.
Another problem with interpretivist methods is that they tend to be based on small sampled. Why is this, and what impact does this have?	The samples are typically small because it is extremely time-consuming to gather in-depth data about the meanings and motives of people. However, this means that the sample are less likely to be representative and generalisations cannot (or should not) be made.
Phenomenology goes further than interpretivist theories by regarding all data as socially constructed. Like the above theories, it does tend to use qualitative methods. However, they do take an interest in statistics. Why?	Rather than seeing statistics as objective facts (as positivists do), they observe them as social constructs. As such, they are something that can, and should, be studied.
What is the advantage of statistics, according to phenomenologists?	They help to reveal the mental categories and biases of those who produce statistics (e.g. statistics on ethnicity and crime might reveal police racism rather than actual differences in patterns of offending between ethnic groups).
Who applied phenomenology to the study of suicide?	Maxwell Atkinson.
Why was Atkinson critical of Durkheim's study of suicide?	He believed that evidence was rarely clear-cut and it was impossible to be certain about the intentions of people who had died. As such, he felt that Durkheim was wrong to explain the causes of suicide by using statistical data, because data is merely a social construct.
Rather than looking for the cause of suicide, what did Atkinson attempt to discover?	The reasons why coroners reached suicide verdicts.
What research method did Atkinson use to do this?	He conducted in-depth interviews with coroners' officers and observed coroners' courts.
Atkinson concluded that coroners took four main factors into account in reaching their decision. What were they?	1. Whether a note had been left. 2. The mode of death. 3. The location and circumstances of the death. 4. The 'biography' of the deceased (e.g. if they had a history of mental illness).
What has Atkinson been criticised of?	Assuming that it's impossible to determine whether or not a death is a suicide - sometimes, the evidence is so strong that there is no real doubt.
Atkinson has also been criticised for assuming that all knowledge is a matter of opinion. As such, how can is work be described?	As 'relativistic'
How can Atkinson's claims be applied to his own work, thus making it ineffective?	He claims that all data is a matter of opinion, which means his own work is a matter of opinion and therefore it cannot be proven correct.
What does the term 'critical sociology' refer to?	Sociology or social scientific approaches that regard society as oppressive and exploitative.
What theories are included under the term?	Marxism, neo-marxism, feminism and anti-racism.
What do all of these theories have in common?	They are all critical of society in an attempt to produce social change.
While no single research method is used by these theorists, what method do they rarely use, and why?	Official statistics, because they regard them as being manipulated to serve the interests of the powerful.
However, Lee Harvey argues that critical social research does have two common features. What are they?	1. A concern with abstract concepts and ideology. 2. An interest in structures that help to produce and maintain inequality, oppression and exploitation.
Critical sociology involves 'reconceptualisation'. What is meant by this?	Finding unfamiliar ways to think about familiar aspects of social life. For example, feminists argue that housework should be analysed as a form of unpaid labour, rather than as part of a family role.
Critical social research is seen as a form of 'praxis'. What is meant by this?	Paxis is action designed to change the world - the research attempts to provoke social change.
Critical social research is very different to positivist research, which is tied to a small selection of research methods. Why does critical social research use a whole range of research methods?	Because it uses quantitative methods when looking at wider social structures and qualitative methods when looking at the way exploited groups experience oppression. As such, they have a whole range of research methods available to them.
Marxists sometimes want to examine both the structure of society as a whole and the experience of exploitation and oppression from those who are disadvantaged. What method might they subsequently use?	Critical ethnography.
Which sociologist described how critical ethnographers should create a picture of the social world from the viewpoint of those who are in disadvantaged positions in society?	Phil Carspecken.
How can critical ethnographers create this picture, according to Carspecken?	The subjects of the research should take an active part in the research process by checking the data produced by sociologists to see how accurately it describes their situation.
However, Carspecken also states that critical research should go beyond this, being used to "discover system relations". What does he mean?	He means that critical research should be used to investigate the overall patterns of inequality, exploitation and oppression, which stem from broader social structures.
Critical sociology hasn't been used extensively to study suicide, but it was used by Michel Dorais. He studied the high suicide rate among which group?	Young men in Canada.
Dorais' study focused on 32 Canadian men aged between 14 and 25, who had all attempted suicide at least once. What qualitative research method did Dorais use to examine the subjects' motives for attempting suicide, and what were his findings?	He used interviews, finding that most of the attempts were related to the individuals being regarded as gay and/or effeminate by other people.
What quantitative research method did Dorais used to examine the wider structural patterns in which the subjects attempted suicide, and what were his findings?	He used statistical data, finding that attempted suicide rates were 6 to 16 times higher among young gay men than among heterosexual men.
From his findings, Dorais broadened his argument so that it was not just about suicide. Instead, what matter did he cover?	How dominant ideas about masculinity remain oppressive features of Western societies and that they can lead to effeminophobia.
Feminism is a form of critical social science that has developed its own methodologies. They are highly critical of 'makestream' research. What does this phrase mean?	It refers to sociology (in this case, sociological research methods) that are created by men, about men, for men.
Feminists argue that new research methods need to be developed - methods that reject patriarchal assumptions about social life and the way it should be studied. Who was one of the pioneers of feminist methodology?	Ann Oakley.
According to Oakley, there was a dominant masculine, patriarchal model of interviewing that social scientists typically used. This model was based on the masculine values of objectivity, control and detachment. What sort of data did this approach produce, and why?	Invalid data, because there's no rapport or understanding between interviewer and interviewee.
According to Oakley, what is this patriarchal approach based on?	A hierarchal relationship - the interviewer controls and directs their subject, while the interviewee is regarded as a passive source of data who is mined for information and then plays no further role in the research.
What sort of interviewing method does Oakley advocate for?	Interviewing that represents a genuine dialogue in which the people being studied are equally entitled to to ask questions as the interviewer. This facilitates the development of a greater rapport and understanding between interviewer and interviewee, thus producing more valid data.
As a critical social scientist, Oakley believes in positive intervention in the social world in order to improve it. How can interviewers do this?	They can give something back to their subjects by, for example, offering useful advice.
When interviewing women about their experience of being a housework, how did Oakley positively intervene with her subjects?	She helped the women complete their housework.
Another aspect of feminist interviewing is the encouragement of women to discuss the findings of the research. Why were they encouraged to do so?	Because Oakley believed this interactive aspect allowed her to check whether she was really understanding and describing the situation accurately.
There is an alternative strand of feminist methodology. What is it known as?	Feminist standpoint epistemology.
What is epistemology?	It is the theory of knowledge, covering issues to do with what knowledge is and how it can be acquired.
Positivist epistemologists believe knowledge can be obtained through direct observation of facts. How do feminist standpoint epistemologists differ?	They believe knowledge can be gained through experience of oppression.
Which two sociologists advocated for the feminist standpoint epistemology?	Liz Stanley and Sue Wise.
Because they believe that understanding comes from experience, what sort of methods do Stanley and Wise prefer?	Qualitative methods.
Positivists completely reject feminist standpoint epistemology. Why?	They see it as merely producing a variety of personal opinions - its subjectivity means it is impossible to determine which of the many views of social reality is most accurate. Thus is why positivists prefer a more objective approach.
Positivists dislike all types of critical social science methodology, arguing that they are based on little more than the ideologies of those who support them. What does he mean by this?	Whatever method they use, marxists will always find class inequalities while feminists will always find gender inequalities.
How does Phil Carspecken respond to this?	He argues that all research is based to some extent on theoretical assumptions about how society works, so it is impossible for research to be value-free.
Although there is no agreement among all postmodernists about what sort of methodology should be used to study the social world, what methods are most postmodernists critical of?	Conventional research methods and positivism.
Why do postmodernists believe positivism is an example of modernist methodology?	Because it is a scientific method that claims that the truth can be discovered through the use of the 'correct' techniques.
Which postmodernist supports postmodern ethnography?	Stephen Tyler.
Why does Tyler support postmodern ethnography?	He believes that while there should be no assumption that the description being provided by the subject is superior to other descriptions, it is nonetheless important to gather different descriptions.
Why does Tyler want to gather multiple descriptions of the social world?	Because this captures the mood of a postmodern world in which social life is fragmented.
What form of research method does postmodern methodolgy tend to adopt?	Qualitative methods, particularly in-depth interviews and participant observation.
What is the problem with postmodern ethnography?	It abandons any attempt to provide explanations for social phenomena, instead offering multiple descriptions with no suggestion as to which are more credible.
Why have their lack of explanation resulted in postmodernists being disapproved of by critical sociologists?	The lack of explanation means that there is no proposed solution. Instead, postmodern methods can be seen as supporting the status quo.
In the study of suicide, a good example of methodological pluralism is the work of Jonathan Scourfield et al. How did their study incorporate positivist, interpretivist and phenomenologist approaches?	It used a mixture of quantitative evidence (as advocated by positivists) and qualitative data (as supported by interpretivists and phenomenologists).
Scourfield et al accept Atkinson's point that suicide verdicts may not be entirely reliable. However, how do they differ from Atkinson?	They argue that it is possible to produce reliable statistics on suicide, as long as sociologists critically examine the evidence about deaths and evaluate it so they can determine which deaths truly are suicides. However, they also emphasise the use of qualitative data to understand the motives behind suicide.

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Flashcards on the Relationship Between Sociological Theories and Research Methods (4.4)

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