OrientationObservationIn-depth interviewsDocument analysis and semiologyConversation and discourse analysisSecondary Data
SurveysExperimentsEthicsResearch outcomes
Conclusion
8.2.2 Positivism and surveys Sociological surveys are very much suited to positivist approaches to exploring the social world. The classic format it to derive hypotheses from theory ; collect data in the form of responses to standardised questions that are designed to test the hypotheses; code the data in numerical format; analyse the data statistically and on a probability basis confirm or deny the hypotheses; thereby, supposedly, confirming or amending the theory.
Descriptive social surveys and social policy surveys are also mostly positivist in construction, despite not explaining the world as such, they assume that the data collected constitutes facts that could aid causal analysis.
Most of this section addresses the methodology behind sociological surveys, although the data collection techniques would be much the same for social surveys.
Although descriptive data is informative, sociologists usually want to take things further. Instead of just collecting 'facts' about the social world, many sociologists want to provide explanations for social phenomena. For example, sociologists might ask:
Why are women more likely to watch soap operas than men?
Why do people choose to drive to work rather than use public transport?
Why has there been an increase in violent crime?
What are the causes and effects of increasing social deprivation?
Such attempts at explanation usually involve investigating the relationship between social phenomena. This requires that social phenomena are measured in some way so that relationships between them can be analysed. For example, to answer the first of the questions above, the amount of time men and women spend watching soap operas could be measured. This would be one way of finding out if there is any difference in soap opera viewing but it would not explain why there is a difference. It would be necessary to explore other things that might provide clues, such as, the time soap operas are broadcast, the sorts of things that happen in soap operas, the number of males and females in central roles, what kind of audience soap operas are aimed at and why viewers are attracted to soap operas. In short, to get an idea of why more women than men watch soap operas it is necessary to collect information on several related factors.
