How do sociologist interpret society?

Structuralist approaches large- social structures and institution rather than individuals
 Macro approach
 Societies is a set of structures in which individuals play definite roles
 structuralists argue that a macro or large scale approach is necessary to understand
the social structures, institutions and roles that individuals play in society;
 Sees societies as a set of structure where in people play a specific role
 Roles are more important not the individual
 looks for correlation and causation between variables
 Correlation – two variables related but no causation is proved
 Causation – strict link can be proved between variables in a time sequence
How do sociologist interpret society?
Interpretivist focuses on small scale social interaction
 Micro - approach
 Societies is a set of structures in which individuals play definite roles
 structuralists argue that a macro or large scale approach is necessary to understand
the social structures, institutions and roles that individuals play in society;
 Sees societies as a set of structure where in people play a specific role
 Roles are more important not the individual
How do sociologist interpret society?
 interpretivists argue that a micro approach which concentrates on the individual is crucial to
understanding society as individuals are in control, pulling the strings of social institutions etc.;
 a micro approach often uses qualitative methods such as observations and interviews and in this
way they can gain a highly detailed and valid understanding of individuals and groups;
 a micro approach can be effective when understanding interactions between individuals in
groups – so, for example, how gang members interact or why some pupils are recruited into an
anti-school subcultures;
 a micro approach offers the possibility to delve deep and understand things from the inside, for
example in participant observation;
 a micro approach helps us to understand why people behave as they do as it enables
researchers to access meanings and motivations;
How do sociologist interpret society?
DISADVANTAGES OF MICRO APPROACH
 a micro approach is often used on small samples and hence the possibility of being able to
generalise data from the sample to the research population is limited;
 a micro approach yields little quantitative data and hence comparisons between social groups or
individuals is difficult;
 micro approaches usually involve the researcher in some way – for example as interviewer or
observer – and hence the possibility of researcher bias becomes significant, thus reducing the
validity of any data gathered
Research Method

Qualitative Research Quantitative Research Qualitative/Quantitative

 Interviews
 Unstructured
 Semi-structured
 Focus group interview
 Field Research
 Case Studies
 Participant Observation
 Covert
 Overt
 Non-Participant Observation
 Questionnaires / Surveys  Content Analysis
 Self Completion questionnaires  Triangulation
 Postal Questionnaires
 Structured Interview
 Telephone questionnaire
 Face to face
 Triangulation
 Use a variety of research method
STRENGTHS
 allows the researcher to support quantitative
data with qualitative examples
 it can be used to check the validity of the
research
 it can be used to check the reliability of the
research using different sources
 it can be used for cross-referencing the
researcher’s interpretations to other data
collected to check for accuracy
LIMITATIONS
• using several methods is time consuming and
expensive
• the researcher needs to be skilled in several
research methods
• positivist and interpretivist approaches are
based on very different ideas, so it may be
difficult to combine them in one piece of
research

 it can provide balance between methods, where

one may be weaker than another in that
particular area of research
 triangulation expands the research in a way that
a single approach can’t
Quantitative Research
Strengths
 numbers can be easily converted into statistics which can then be compared across time, e.g.
trends in youth culture and the music that young people listen to or patterns in educational
achievement
 •categories within the data can be compared e.g. whether the style of some sub-cultures is
influenced by social media more than others or, in crime, whether the likelihood of being a victim of
assault is greater than the likelihood of being the victim of a burglary
 quantitative data is easily analysed as numbers can be easily compared and converted into charts,
graphs, etc.
 quantitative data can often be generalised if the sample is large enough and representative of the
target population
 quantitative data is generated from closed questions and is high in reliability so it can be repeated
and get similar results thus aiding comparability
Quantitative Research
Limitation
 It Requires a Large Number of Respondents
 Difficulty in Analyzing the Data Collected
 It is time consuming
Qualitative Research
Strengths
 Provide detailed and valid data on the point of view of the respondents,who are able to say
what they really think
 Allows the interviewer to deeply probe
 Interviewer can assess the honesty and validity of the answers as they are given
Qualitative Research
Limitation
 Rigor is more difficult to maintain, assess, and demonstrate.
 The volume of data makes analysis and interpretation time consuming.
 The researcher's presence during data gathering, which is often unavoidable in qualitative
research, can affect the subjects' responses.
Types of issues that affects a research
 (1)Practical issues
 (a) resources, time and money the project needs (3) Theoretical issues
 (b) the response rates you have (a) the overall positivist or interpretivist
 (c) the difficulties of transcribing long interviews approach that is taken
(b) validity: when the findings accurately
 (2) Ethical issues: issues that have a moral
dimension, such as when harm or distress may be
reflect the reality that it is intended to capture.
caused to the participants. (c) reliability: when the research can be
repeated and similar responses will be
 (a) anonymity: the participant’s name does not
obtained.
appear on the survey form
(d) representativeness
 (b) confidentiality: it is not possible to trace an (e) research bias
individual’s answers from the published findings.
 (c) informed consent: the respondent must agree to
take part, having fully understood what is involved;
includes explaining the purpose of the research,
when and where the findings will be available and
what they might be used for.
 (d) potential risks and harm
Ethical issues may be a problem when carrying out sociological research.

 It is not ethical to experiment on human beings if it would impact on their well-being therefore
most experiments are difficult to set up
 Researchers must not lie to or mislead subjects so it may be difficult to get valid results, e.g. you
must ask if the subject agrees to be part of the research but they are then aware they are being
researched and could change their behaviour
 Researchers involved in covert observation may face the dilemmas of having to report illegal
activity
 voluntary participation
 informed consent
 Anonymity
 confidentiality,
 potential for harm