Research Methods: Positivism (Sociology Theory & Methods)
Summary
TLDRThis tutorial video delves into positivism, a research approach in sociology that emphasizes systematic and scientific study of social behaviors. Positivists, inspired by thinkers like Emile Durkheim, argue for the quantifiable measurement of social facts to establish cause-and-effect relationships. They focus on macro-level societal structures, using quantitative data collection methods such as lab and field experiments, comparative analysis, and structured surveys for objectivity and predictability. While positivism offers strengths like replicability and falsifiability, it faces criticisms for potential lack of validity and overlooking individual agency.
Takeaways
- 🔬 **Positivism Defined**: Positivism is a systematic and scientific approach to studying society, developed by sociologists like Emile Durkheim.
- 📊 **Quantitative Data Focus**: Positivists prefer collecting quantitative data, viewing it as more objective and scientific for understanding society.
- 🔍 **Macro Sociology**: Positivism is a form of macro sociology, focusing on the impact of social forces and institutions on individual behaviors.
- 🧬 **Structural View**: It takes a structural view of society, examining how institutions like education, family, and religion shape individual behavior.
- 🔄 **Reproducibility**: Positivist methods are designed to be reproducible, allowing for the testing and verification of sociological theories.
- 🧐 **Causal Relationships**: It seeks to establish cause-and-effect relationships, especially through lab experiments.
- 📈 **Comparative Method**: The comparative method is used to analyze trends and patterns by comparing official statistics across different times and groups.
- 📋 **Rigorous Surveys**: Positivists use surveys, especially closed questionnaires and structured interviews, for their quantifiable and replicable nature.
- 👀 **Non-Participant Observation**: Non-participant observations are preferred to minimize researcher influence and maintain objectivity.
- 📉 **Limitations of Positivism**: Despite its strengths, positivism can lack validity, be overly deterministic, and fail to capture the diversity and fluidity of society.
- 🌐 **Real-World Applications**: Positivist research methods are applied in various fields, including crime rates, education, and social attitude surveys.
Q & A
What is positivism in the context of sociological research?
-Positivism is a methodological approach to research in society that emphasizes a systematic and scientific way of studying social phenomena. It suggests that individuals can be studied similarly to natural sciences, with behaviors observed, recorded, and quantified to study cause and effect relationships.
Who is credited with the development of positivism in sociology?
-Emile Durkheim is one of the key figures credited with the development of positivism in sociology.
How does positivism view the role of social institutions in shaping society?
-Positivism views social institutions such as education, family, religion, and work as significant factors that shape individual behaviors and society as a whole.
What type of data do positivists generally prefer to collect?
-Positivists generally prefer to collect quantitative data because they see it as more objective and scientific, allowing for analysis and prediction of social behaviors.
What are the key methods used by positivists in their research?
-Positivists use methods such as lab and field experiments, comparative methods, surveys with rigid structures like closed questionnaires, and non-participant observations.
What is the comparative method in positivist research?
-The comparative method involves comparing data, often official statistics, over time, different locations, and social groups to analyze trends and patterns in behavior.
What are some strengths of positivist methods?
-Strengths of positivist methods include the ability to provide cause and effect relationships, the production of objective quantitative data, generalizability, and the possibility of reproducibility and falsification.
What are some limitations of positivist methods?
-Limitations of positivist methods include a lack of validity, a deterministic view that ignores individual agency, a fixed approach that may not reflect societal diversity, and a reduction of attitudes and opinions to numerical values.
Can you provide an example of a famous positivist research study?
-A famous example of positivist research is Durkheim's study on suicide, where he analyzed suicide rates across European countries and found correlations with social integration and regulation.
How does positivism relate to contemporary sociological research?
-Positivism is still relevant in contemporary sociological research, particularly in areas such as crime rates, social attitudes, and large-scale surveys like national censuses, which are often based on positivist ideologies.
Outlines
🔬 Introduction to Positivism in Sociology
This paragraph introduces positivism as a methodological approach in sociological research, developed by sociologists like Emile Durkheim. Positivism advocates for a systematic and scientific study of society, akin to natural sciences, where behaviors are observed, recorded, and quantified. It emphasizes the role of social institutions such as education, family, and religion in shaping individual behavior. Positivists focus on macro-level societal structures rather than individual interactions and prefer quantitative data for its objectivity and scientific rigor. They utilize methods like lab and field experiments, comparative analysis, surveys, and non-participant observations to establish cause-and-effect relationships and predict social behaviors. The paragraph also outlines the strengths of positivist methods, including their ability to provide objective data, generalizability, and reproducibility, which are highly valued in policy formulation and decision-making.
📊 Limitations and Examples of Positivist Research
The second paragraph discusses the limitations of positivist methods, such as the lack of validity and the reduction of complex human attitudes to numerical values. It points out that positivism may not fully capture the subjective experiences and motivations of individuals, and can be deterministic, overlooking individual agency and free will. The paragraph also provides examples of positivist research, notably Durkheim's study on suicide rates and their correlation with social integration and regulation. It mentions other areas where positivism is applied, including crime rates, educational achievement, social surveys on labor division, consumer habits, and social media usage. The UK census, conducted every ten years, is highlighted as a significant example of positivist research.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Positivism
💡Social Institutions
💡Quantitative Data
💡Causal Relationships
💡Lab and Field Experiments
💡Comparative Method
💡Surveys
💡Non-participant Observation
💡Validity
💡Determinism
💡Falsification Principle
Highlights
Positivism is a systematic and scientific approach to studying society.
Early positivists argued for studying individuals like natural sciences.
Social behaviors can be observed, recorded, and quantified.
Positivism allows for the study of cause and effect relationships in society.
Sociologists can test theories through repeated research.
Society is shaped by social institutions like education and family.
Positivists adopt a structural view of society, focusing on the bigger picture.
Positivism is a form of macro sociology, concerned with social forces.
Quantitative data is preferred for its objectivity and scientific nature.
Lab and field experiments are used to establish causal relationships.
Comparative method involves analyzing trends and patterns in official statistics.
Durkheim's research on suicide is a notable example of comparative method.
Surveys with rigid structures are favored for their quantifiability.
Non-participant observations are preferred for their detachment.
Positivist methods can establish cause and effect relationships.
Quantitative data is seen as more objective and generalizable.
Positivist research is favored for policy formulation and decision-making.
Results from positivist methods are reproducible and falsifiable.
Positivist methods may lack validity and be overly deterministic.
Positivism can ignore individual agency and free will.
Fixed approaches may not reflect the diversity of contemporary society.
Positivist research often reduces attitudes and opinions to numerical values.
Examples of positivist research include Durkheim's study on suicide rates.
Census data is often collected using positivist ideologies.
Transcripts
welcome to this tutor to you sociology
topic video on research methods looking
at positivism
positivism is a methodological approach
to research in society that was
developed amongst others by emil
durkheim positivism approaches the study
of society in a systematic and
scientific way
and the argument of early positivists
was that individuals could be studied in
a similar way to the natural sciences
because behaviors could be observed and
recorded in a scientific way
these behaviors or social facts could be
measured and quantified to allow
researchers to study cause and effect
relationships between social
institutions and individuals in society
by using a scientific approach
sociologists would be able to test
theories through repeating research and
checking the findings to make sure that
they were consistent with sociological
theories of behavior
one of the key ideas of positivism is
that society is shaped by social
institutions and that these institutions
things like education family religion
work
shape the behavior of individuals
positivists therefore take a more
structural view of society looking at
the bigger picture rather than the
interactions between individuals
positivism is a form of macro sociology
concerned with the impact of social
forces and how these shape individual
behaviors
as a consequence positivists generally
look to collect quantitative data that
is data in numerical form because they
see it as being more objective and
scientific rather than relying upon a
researcher's interpretation of events
by doing so they believe that society
can be studied in the same way as the
natural sciences and that sociology can
be used to predict social behaviors
as positivists prefer objectivity they
tend to select methods that will provide
researchers with quantitative data that
can be analyzed and trends established
and predictions made
as they view the scientific method as
key they use both lab and field
experiments in their research
both of these methods can provide causal
relationships between factors although
to different degrees based upon the
control over variables
lab experiments have more control while
field experiments are more open to being
influenced by external variables
another method used by positivists is
the comparative method
this involves comparing data usually
official statistics over time different
locations and different social groups to
analyze trends and patterns and behavior
the most notable example of this was
durkheim's research into suicide across
western europe in the late 19th century
other methods used by positivists are
surveys but surveys that have a more
rigid structure such as closed
questionnaires and structured interviews
this is because these methods can be
easily quantified and replicated which
gives them more reliability
finally positivists would prefer
non-participant observations as they are
more detached than participant
observations and behaviours can be
observed from a distance without
researcher interference
of course this is not an exhaustive list
of methods that positivists use but
these are some of the more common
methods
we'll look first at some of the
strengths of positivist methods
they can provide a cause and effect
relationship between events and
behaviors most likely in lab experiments
or correlations between two factors
this is a feature of scientific research
positivist methods also produce
quantitative data that is data in
numerical form and this is seen as being
more objective than qualitative data
because it does not require value
judgments to try and analyze it
it's also seen as being more scientific
which means it may be more likely to be
generalized to the population
and this gives positivist methods a
further advantage
it's preferred by governments and
non-governmental organizations as its
large-scale applications means it can be
used to help formulate social policies
and decision-making
a final strength is that positivist
methods are able to be reproduced by
other researchers and results can be
checked to ensure they are correct
they are also able to be disproved
something which is referred to as the
falsification principle a key element of
scientific research
positivist methods though do have their
limitations they often lack validity
they might demonstrate changes in
behavior but often don't provide a
rationale behind those changes with
judgment being subjective and imposed
upon those being studied which means it
may not be representative of the views
of all of those being studied
it also focuses too heavily on
structural elements of society and can
be seen as deterministic
it ignores the agency and free will of
individuals to choose how they react to
social forces
something that is becoming more relevant
in contemporary society
he has very fixed approaches to research
that don't always reflect the diversity
and fluidity of contemporary society
partly because it searches for a
one-size-fits-all theory to understand
human behavior
and it fails to gain an insight into the
lives of those being studied
people's attitudes and opinions are
often reduced to numerical values
which do not demonstrate the importance
of the meanings and motivations of why
people do things
finally we'll look at some examples of
positivist research the most famous
probably is durkheim's study of suicide
where he compared suicide statistics
across european countries and across
time have found that suicide was
influenced by the level of integration
and regulation individuals were
subjected to
in both crime and education we've come
across a lot of research based upon
positivist ideologies particularly
looking at the rates of offending
achievement and how factors such as
social class ethnicity and gender impact
on those
and in social attitude surveys
how labor is divided in the home
consumer purchasing habits social media
usage and of course the census possibly
the largest piece of social research
conducted in the uk every 10 years
are all based on positivist ideologies
that concludes this tutor sociology
topic video on research methods focusing
on positivism thanks for watching
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