Sociological Research

Methods

Paul Blokker

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 Overview Course
Week 1
1. Introduction to Sociology and Social Research
2. Philosophy of the Social Sciences
Week 2
3. Research Design: Theory, Research Questions,
Data
4. Quantitative Research Design
5. Collection and Analysis of Quantitative Data
6. Qualitative Research Design 2
 Overview Course
Week 3
7. Collection and Analysis of Qualitative Data
8. Mixed Methods
9. Comparative Research
10. Research in the Social Sciences: Summary
and Review

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 Overview Course
Week 1
1. Main themes:
a. General introduction to sociology and
economic sociology
b. A concise history of sociology and its key
problématiques
c. Theoretical approaches/traditions in sociology
d. The nature and philosophical assumptions of
social science and sociology
e. 3 philosophical dimenions of social research
f. Sociological traditions and 3 dimensions 4
 Overview Course
Week 1
2. Relevance:
a. Understanding of different ways sociological
analysis can be applied to the analysis of
(local) economic development, local
democracy, interaction micro and macro
b. Understanding of how to research social and
socio-economic interaction
c. Understanding of possibilities/limits of social
research 5
 Overview Course
Week 1
3. Relevant literature of the reading list:
• Gilbert chapters 1, 2
• Coleman chapter 1
• Outhwaite chapter 1

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 Overview Course
Week 1
4. main concepts:
• society
• integration, cohesion, solidarity, trust, embeddedness
• desintegration, fragmentation, conflict, distrust
• modernization/modernity
• social change
• paradigms/theories of knowledge
• ontology
• epistemology
• methodology
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• methods
 1
Introduction to Social
Research

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 1. Social Sciences
What are the Social Sciences (about)?
• the Social Sciences engage in the
scientific study of human behaviour
• the main focus is the study of social
interaction, social groups and society
• Social sciences comprise various
disciplines: Economics, Sociology,
Psychology, Anthropology, Political
Science, Cultural Studies, etc.
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 1. Social Sciences
Key problem of classical sociology

 the origin and persistence of social order

(given that the state of nature is ‘a war of all against all’)

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 1. Social Sciences
Orientation of sociology
• Sociology is interested in 'human social
interaction as people take one and
another into account as each behaves
toward the other'.
• It analyses 'systemic units of interaction
within social groups, social relations and
social organizations'.

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 1. Social Sciences
What are the object domains of
(classical) sociology?

• modern society
• Modernity (‘dual revolutions’)
• integration, cohesion, solidarity (stability)
• deviation, fragmentation, conflict (change)

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 1. Sociology
Key concepts of sociology
• classes/social groups
• integration, solidarity, cohesion, trust
• deviance, disintegration, divergence,
conflict
• stability
• transformation
• revolution
• differentiation 13
 1. Sociology
Economic sociology (see Smelser and Swedberg)

definition: the sociological perspective applied

to economic phenomena
laborate: the application of the frames of
reference, variables, and explanatory models
of sociology to that complex of activities which
is concerned with the production, distribution,
exchange, and consumption of scarce goods
and services. 14
 1. Sociology
Economic sociology (see Smelser and Swedberg)

Key elements:
• personal interaction (patterns, underlying norms,
e.g., non-contractual side to contractual relations)
• groups (interest groups, classes, corporate groups,
social movements)
• social structures (institutions, norms rules, culture)
• social controls (norms, sanctions, values)
• social networks
• cultural contexts 15
1. Sociology

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 1. Sociology
The emergence of sociology as a
science: A concise history

• Early modernity (19th century): Dual

political and economic revolutions

– the problem of integration and social

order (Gemeinschaft – Gesellschaft)
– The ‘social question’ (late 19th century)
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 1. Sociology
The problem of integration and social order

Traditional Society/ Modern society/

Gemeinschaft Gesellschaft
- Famility relations, friendship - Anonymity of social relations
- Customs - Contract
- Barter - Exchange for money
-Traditions - Innovation
- Habits - Novelty
- Inertia - Progress
- Religion - Secular
- Man as social man - Individualism
- Comunal property - Private property
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 1. Sociology
The ‘social question’ (late 19th
century)

The social problems emerging with the

dynamic periods of transformation
wrought by the Industrial Revolution:
poverty, inequality, labour conditions,
workers’ health, urban problèmatique,
social inclusion and participation

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 1. Sociology
The emergence of sociology as a
science: A concise history

• Early sociology
– Emphasis on the empirical study of social
phenomena or ‘social facts’ (Durkheim),
social problems, deviation, social order
– Significant influence of emerging statistics
and positivism/probabilism: sociology as
science
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 1. Sociology
The emergence of sociology as a
science: A concise history

• Economic sociology:
- understanding of capitalism and the
Great Transformation of society
(Durkheim, Weber, Polanyi)
- role of wage labour in modern society
- class relations/class conflict
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 1. Sociology
The emergence of sociology as a science:
A concise history
• Sociology: establishment and expansion

– the question of integration and social order

(‘organic solidarity’, legitimacy)
– the question of the integration of the new
masses

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 1. Sociology
The emergence of sociology as a
science: A concise history
– A strong emphasis on the empirical study
of ‘social facts’.
– The observation of new social phenomena
in modern society (organic solidarity,
anomie, legimitation of power)
– The emergence of dual objective:
1. the study of objective social facts;
2. the study of subjective meaning-giving
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 1. Sociology
The emergence of sociology as a
science: A concise history
• Post- or late Modernity: the
transformation of modern societies
– questioning of methodological nationalism
– post-industrial society (disintegration of
classes, individual plural identity,
increasing cross-societal interaction)
– post-society?
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 1. Sociology
Four ‘knowledge paradigms’

1. positivism, post-positivism
2. constructivism
3. critical theory
4. pragmatism

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 1. Sociology
1. positivism, post-positivism
• referred to as the ‘scientific method’, ‘quantitative
research’, or ‘ empirical science’
• positivism was at the basis of classical sociology, in
order to enhance its scientific status
• emphasis on relation between causes and effects,
experimental research or objectively ‘controlled’
forms
• reductionistic in its emphasis on few variables and
parsimony
• knowledge generated by careful obsefvation and
measurement of objective reality
• researcher checks theory with reality
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 1. Sociology
2. Constructivism
• became a contender view of sociology in the early
20th century
• individuals are seen as developing subjective
meanings of their experiences (rather than being
directly stimulated by external reality)
• researcher looks for complexity of meanings, rater
than narrowing down meanings in few categories
• strong reliance on participants’ views, and interactive
construction of meaning
• researcher constructs theory from observations of
meaning-constructions by social actors 27
 1. Sociology
3. Critical theory
• A third approach, emerging first in the 1920s and
30s, is a critical approach towards social reality.
• The emphasis is on exposing social reality as
oppressive for marginalized groups.
• There is thus an explicit normative touch to critical
theory in that its advocates an action agenda for
political reform.
• Specific issues addressed are empowerment,
inequality, domination, oppression, and alienation.
• Participants' views in this regard (but not always,
see marxist tradition) can be of primary importance
in empirical research.
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 1. Sociology
4. Pragmatism
• The approach is grounded in the pragmatist
philosophical tradition (Dewey, Pierce, Mead,
James).
• Knowledge claims arise out of actions, situations,
and consequences rather than being a prioristically
defined.
• The emphasis in social research is on “what works”
and on solutions to problems.
• Pragmatist research is thus neither confined to
objectivity or to meaning-construction, but refers to
both, when appropriate in dealing with the research
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questions.