RESEARCH…RESEARCH…RESEARCH Answering the Questions of Society Utilizing the Sociological Research Methodology
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RESEARCH…RESEARCH…RESEARCH Answering the Questions of Society Utilizing the Sociological Research Methodology Marshall High School Sociology Mr. Cline Unit Two AF * Can Sociology Be Considered a Science? • As we consider how to do Sociology, we have looked at it from the perspective of Sociology as a science. • But, as you could see as we went through how to do it, there are several elements of it, and a great deal of societal criticism of it, questioning it as such. • This then begs the question, can Sociology be considered a real science, or is it just a bunch of do gooder, social activists, attempting to foist their political views on people under the guise of science? • Before considering whether Sociology can be considered a science, we first have to try to understand what science is • And, this understanding must come from the question, “How do we acquire knowledge and determine truth?” * Can Sociology Be Considered a Science? • Epistemologists (those who study how knowledge is acquired) have recognized four sources of where mankind has acquired knowledge • The Authoritarian Model states that people acquired knowledge through it being relayed from a trusted source of authority such as the government, the church, parents, etc. • The Mystical Model states that people acquire knowledge through religious revelation and divine spiritual guidance • The Deductive Model posits that people acquire knowledge through the application of reasoned thought, such as in mathematics • The Empirical or Scientific Method is the youngest of the four models, having only come into full existence 300 years ago, and posits that knowledge can only be acquired through observation and rigorous testing of hypotheses. * Can Sociology Be Considered a Science? • Some epistemologists would argue that the scientific method has a claim to superiority because results can be tested and replicated by others, thus verifying their “truth.” • While philosophy and mathematics may also be “truth” their truths are not applicable or necessarily linked to the “real world” as different dimensions of time and space have different properties. • As discussed previously in the birth of Sociology, a group of scientific philosophers that included the father of Sociology, Auguste Comte, felt that all of the universe could be explained through the scientific method. • They are known as the Positivists * Can Sociology Be Considered a Science? • Positivists engage in a process of hypo-deductive reasoning to prove truth. • Hypo-Deductive reasoning entails developing a theory and inviting others to prove you wrong. • It is based on the concept that nothing can be proven 100% true but theories can be proven false. • For example, I would never be able to prove that I am going to live forever but others could quite easily prove I won’t by killing me. • It is reasoned that if many fail to prove a theory wrong it has an increased likelihood of being correct or true (but we will never be 100% sure.) * Can Sociology Be Considered a Science? • According to positivists for theories to be scientific they must be subject to falsifiability. • Falsifiability or Refutability is the property of a statement, hypothesis, or theory whereby it could be shown to be false if some conceivable observation were true. • In this sense, falsify is synonymous with nullify, meaning not "to commit fraud" but "show to be false". • Science must be falsifiable. • Logical and rational reasoning, such as that used in the Deductive Model, suggest that there is a firm truth that can be proven with evidence. * Can Sociology Be Considered a Science? • However, inductive reasoning counters this by saying that deductive reasoning suffers from two fallacies • Over Generalization about the properties of a class of objects based on a limited number of observations. • For example, if you have only ever seen white swans, a deductive argument would state that all swans are white. • Presupposition that a sequence of events in the future will occur as it always has in the past • For example, that the laws of physics will hold as they have always been observed to hold, which does not hold true because the so called Law of Gravity does not hold were I on the moon. • By the problem introduced by the process of induction, no number of confirming observations can verify a universal generalization, such as All swans are white. * Can Sociology Be Considered a Science? • Yet, it is logically possible to falsify it by observing a single black swan. • Thus, the term falsifiability is sometimes synonymous to testability. • The concern with falsifiability gained attention by way of philosopher of science Karl Popper. • Popper stressed that to distinguish the scientific from the unscientific, falsifiability has to be the demarcation, or dividing point, such that what is unfalsifiable is classified as unscientific, and the practice of declaring an unfalsifiable theory to be scientifically true is pseudoscience. • In falsificationism, an unfalsifiable and thus unscientific theory is not necessarily intrinsically false or inappropriate, since metaphysical theories might be true or contain truth, but one cannot know for sure. • Simply, to be scientific, a theory must entail at least one observation, which may or may not be the case. * Can Sociology Be Considered a Science? • Positivists believe that a scientifically backed theory is far more valid than one that is not backed up with quality evidence. • Positivists see the world as being full of concrete testable realities. • Positivists use quantitative methods to support their theories. • Interpretivists are very skeptical with regard to the positivists ‘scientific’ claims. • They see the world as mainly a socially constructed place. • By this they mean that reality as we understand it only exists because of agreed shared concepts • Or, in other words, knowledge itself is whatever we agree it to be. • For example most people would recognize a chair as something useful to sit on, but if you took it to a tribe who had been isolated from the rest of the world and were a very aggressive group they may view it as a shield with spikes on it. * Can Sociology Be Considered a Science? • Context is therefore a hugely important aspect of knowledge itself, and so context is really important when we are trying to understand/interpret a situation. • Interpretivists don’t think that scientific methodology is useful to the study of human interactions or sociology. • They see it as not valid because it often removes the context or interferes in some way with the subject matter. • Interpretivists use qualitative research techniques such as ethnographic techniques for example observations and unstructured interviews. WHICH OF THESE TWO DO YOU THINK IS THE POSITIVIST, AND WHICH THE INTERPRETIVIST? * Can Sociology Be Considered a Science? • Even among Positivists, however, there is disagreement about whether a theoretical subject such as Sociology can truly be considered a science. • To examine this controversy, we must look closer at what actually constitutes something being a science. • Epistemologists seem to agree that in order for a field to be considered a science it must meet the following criteria: • It must have testable concepts • It must rely on accurate gathering of information in order to obtain reliable measurable data • It must be able to make generalizations based on the research conducted to establish universal laws. We refer to this as being theoretical. • It must be objective (unbiased) • It must be based on practical investigations and empirical evidence, and • Research must be able to build on prior research, and thus the knowledge gained be cumulative * Can Sociology Be Considered a Science? • If we compare these criteria against the field of Sociology, we find that: • Sociology can be done empirically, meaning that theories can be tested and are verifiable by observation or experience • Durkheim’s Suicide study presented a theory that people commit suicide due to lack of involvement in a strong social support structure. • He was able to test this through the experience of those who had committed suicide as recorded in historical and governmental records • Sociology when done empirically, however, has a strong probability of not being falsifiable, or testable. • Testability means that the scientist must formulate a theory, and then test it. • However, in Durkheim’s Suicide study, he utilized the inductive method wherein he gathered data, and then developed a theory to test. * Can Sociology Be Considered a Science? • Sociology when done empirically, however, has a strong probability of not being falsifiable, or testable. • This would certainly seem to argue against Sociology’s claim to being a science, as • Sociology cannot use laboratory experiments to test theories • And, it cannot isolate the variables in a situation • However, this is true of other recognized “hard” sciences as well, such as • cosmology, • meteorology, • volcanology, and • animal behavior. • And, this does not stop theories being tested by observation within them • However, sociologists do claim that comparative methods allow for the testing of a result (triangulation) * Can Sociology Be Considered a Science? • Triangulation is when a study uses one method for its research, such as a survey, but then validates the results obtained from that method with results from another method such as secondary analysis. • Some sociologists see triangulation as a means by which to assess the validity and reliability of research