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Empirical and Interpretative Research

Why study this topic?

This is an important issue and should be mentioned in your coursework project in the description of your study design and you should refer to it in your evaluation.

It is also an area of debate in the ‘A’ level because it is a contentious issue in universities and colleges.

Have a clear, specific and personal view which is your own and not just a re-hash of these notes.

For further reading, then look for books on Methodology of which there are a number in the LRC and in most sensible book shops. Cardiff Central Library is not too bad and should give you some titles to refer to in your Bibliography section of the coursework and in the context section.

Terms that you should use constantly and be familiar with:

positivist and anti-positivist (or phenomenonologist)
empiricism
qualitative and quantitative
hypothesis testing
data
collation of /collating data
process and meaning
causal relationships
scientific and interpretative
validity and reliability
Kuhn and the scientific paradigm

The measures of all scientific research are:

Reliability — The scientific trustworthiness of the data, its repeatability.

Validity -— The appropriateness of the research methods, the quality and accuracy of the data.

Key textual references

Bilton et al,. Introductory Sociology 2nd Edition(1996) p 109-10
Giddens, Sociology 3rd Edition (1997) p 537 f
Selfe, Work Out Sociology (1987) p 12 f
Haralambos and Holborn, Sociology: Themes and Perspectives (1990) 808-17, 826-7
Taylor et al., Sociology in Focus (199?) see index! p 21-4
Thompson and Priestley, Sociology Made Simple 2nd Edition (1996) p 256-7
Jorgensen et al., Sociology: An Interactive Approach (1997) p 292f
O'Donnell, Introduction to Sociology 4th Edition (1997) p 23 f
Stephens et al., Think Sociology (1998) Chapter 5
Marcus and Ducklin, Success in Sociology (1998) Chapter 1
Fulcher and Scott, Sociology (1999)Chapter 3
Kirby et al., Sociology in Perspective (1997) Chapter 3

Best, Griffiths and Hope (2000) Active Sociology has an enormous amount devoted to methodology and should provide you with an excellent guide to all that you need.

This is such an important area of thought that you are strongly advised to read and make notes on more than two of the texts suggested. Keep reading over a period of time until you are absolutely clear on exactly the differences between the two perspectives.

Interpretative/Phenomenological and Positivist/Empirical Research
Revision checklist

This is not intended to replace your own reading and research. It is supplemental so that your reading will make more sense when you do it.

Most sociologists know that there is considerable unreliability with empirical data. The current fashion is to look for meaning in social behaviours; so statistical work tends to be left to statisticians. The government does this so well with the Census, why should an individual researcher bother?

Research funding is limited and so people cannot afford to run huge surveys and teams unless they have sufficient scientific kudos (e.g. Halsey and the Oxford Mobility Study) to gain grants.

Marxists tend to ignore the whole argument because they already know the answer. They will use whatever method suits the topic. Pragmatists or Realists use both methods to gain a better overall picture through a process which is called triangulation.