Interpretivism Interpretivists believe that, because people’s behaviour is influenced by the interpretations and meanings they give to social situations, the researcher’s task is to gain an understanding of these interpretations and meanings. Sociology should therefore use research methods which provide an understanding from the point of view of individuals and groups who are being studied. Interpretivists suggest is a need to discuss and get personally involved with people in order to understand their interpretations and meanings. Interpretivists therefore favour research methods which collect qualitative data. These include: Participant and sometimes non participant observation Informal/unstructured interviews Open questionnaires Personal accounts tend to involve a micro approach with small scale, in depth research. Methodological Pluralism Most sociologists will use a range of methods to collect different kinds of data. The use of a variety of methods is known as methodological pluralism. Sociologists will often use two or more research methods to check the reliability and validity of findings. This is known as triangulation. Is Sociology a Science? Science is part of modernity and therefore modernist sociologists’ such as Durkheim and Marx saw it as of use to sociology. They argued that using scientific methods would enable sociologists to understand society and therefore solve social problems. Positivism Positivists, such as Comte, Marx and Durkheim believe it is possible and desirable to apply scientific methods to the study of society. Doing this will provide objective knowledge which will provide the basis for solving social problems. Positivism also views human behaviour is a response to observable external forces in much the same way as events in the natural world. For example, nature is made up of observable facts such as rocks, stars etc. These objects or facts exist outside of the human mind. Similarly, society is an objective, external fact and exists outside of the human mind. Social facts
This is because these methods have one or more of the following features: value free, objective, reliable, representative and/or generalizable. You need to ensure you can evaluate these methods. Interpretivism and Qualitative Data Interpretivists tend to use an inductive approach to form theories, rather than the hypothetico-deductive method. This is when theories develop on the of evidence that has been collected. This enables ideas to be discovered that may not even be considered under the hypothetico-deductive method. This is otherwise known as grounded theory. Interpretivists mainly use the following qualitative techniques: Personal, public and historical documents. Unstructured/open-ended questionnaires. Informal/unstructured interviews. Focus groups/group interviews. Case studies. Participant and (sometimes) non-participant observation. This is because these methods enable a researcher to gain verstehen and understand the meanings/motivations of the people they are studying. They are therefore higher in validity. You need to ensure you can evaluate these methods. Feminist Methodology Feminism is concerned with the best methods for studying the experiences of women. Feminism and positivism Feminists have been critical of much positivist research for the following reasons: It ignored/excluded women and issues of concern to women. It simply treated as insignificant extensions of men (research on men was generalised to women). It uses malestream methods to research women. Quantitative methods result in differences in power between researchers and female participants. These methods also do not provide women with a voice to explain their experiences. Feminism and interpretivism Feminists see it as important to develop equal and close relationships with the women being studied. Therefore, verstehen is very important. This requires the use of more informal open ended methods, e.g. unstructured interviews/questionnaires, focus groups. These methods will also provide valid, in depth information on women’s lives whilst also encouraging women to open up, which may be important when discussing sensitive areas that may affect women more than men in society, e.g. domestic violence. An example of this is when Oakley used unstructured, conversational interviews when studying first time motherhood and the experience of becoming a mother in British society. Some Feminists do argue positivist research methods can be useful. For example, large scale surveys and official statistics can be useful to know the scale of issues faced by women in