Positivism, Realism, Constructivism - Advanced Research Methods | FYC 6802, Papers of Introduction to Sociology

Download Positivism, Realism, Constructivism - Advanced Research Methods | FYC 6802 and more Papers Introduction to Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! Positivism Realism Constructivism Reality exists independently of what anyone knows, thinks, or believes about it – it “is.” Reality exists independently of what anyone knows, thinks, or believes about it, but human perceptions or beliefs about what exists are an integral part of reality Reality is a social construction that is created when people interact and does not exist independently of specific individuals and/or groups interacting with one another Science deals with explaining causal relationships and most importantly direct cause and effect relationships. Science deals with understanding phenomena in their totality, which includes, but is not limited to direct cause and effect, and also includes the effects (expressions) of human perceptions, beliefs or values Science deals with understanding how individuals experience and perceive reality; the researcher’s job is to understand how others experience and perceive reality and/or to create meaning from those experiences through interaction The researcher should be isolated from the phenomena that s/he studies and ideally has no (or minimal) effect on what is measured. The researcher cannot be isolated from what s/he studies, but it is the researcher’s responsibility to avoid bias in research and to clearly distinguish between findings (results, data, information) and his/her interpretation of the findings The researcher cannot help but intervene in the processes or phenomena s/he studies; research findings are socially constructed and the researcher’s interpretation of what s/he observes is a valid research finding in and of itself The researcher’s objective is to generalize beyond one case; individual differences are of little interest generally and are treated largely as part of the variance (deviation from the central tendency) of the group. The researcher’s objective is to understand patterns and to generalize, but individual differences are important and a complete understanding requires an explanation that accounts for the full range of responses Some constructivists treat every individual’s experience and perception as a separate, individual reality and argue that each individual reality is equally “true” and valid, but most do try to generalize Strong reliance on the traditional deductive model of the scientific method in which theories generate formal hypotheses that are tested by collecting empirical data; stresses formal and/or statistical hypotheses Relies on a more flexible model of the scientific method in which both the deductive (theory or hypothesis testing) and inductive (theory or hypothesis building) components play equally important roles; uses both formal hypotheses (statistical or not) and the less structured proposition or thesis Formal hypotheses and even the less structured proposition are not a requirement and may or may not be used, depending on the researcher; a more post-modern view argues that since reality is a social construction meaning emerges from the interaction between the researcher and the phenomena s/he studies Tends to rely heavily on the experimental group of research designs Relies on all three groups of research designs; often favors a multi-stage design that employs designs from more than one group Research design per se is often a relatively unimportant consideration because the issues of internal and external validity are not particularly meaningful indicators of the quality of research Tend to favor research methods that generate “quantitative” (numbers) data, such as scales, indices or tests Tends to favor a “multi-method” approach in which both “quantitative” (numbers) and “qualitative” (narrative) data are collected; may not see distinction between the two types of data as important or meaningful Tends to rely on research methods that generate narrative data; emphasis on methods that permit the researcher to gain an in-depth understanding of how the participant experiences and perceives of reality Strong emphasis on identification of independent and dependent variables in the strict sense of the term – e.g., the independent variables are causal and variance in the dependent variable can be explained fully (or almost fully) by variance in the independent variables May identify true independent and dependent variables, but often rely more on “predictor” and “outcome” variables; related to less interest in causality as the primary research concern. May or may not formally identify variables in the research process and often, when they are identified, this is a result of the research process rather than a starting point Precision of instruments -- More precision is virtually always better. A more precise measurement is usually assumed to be a better instrument because of the emphasis on direct causality and detecting Precision of instruments -- High precision is “good,” but higher precision is not synonymous with a better understanding. The researcher must evaluate the relationship between precision and understanding, Precision of instruments – Usually – but not always – precision per se is of relatively little importance; tied to importance of in-depth understanding and tendency to rely on narrative data.