Introducing Sociology Chapter 5 Doing Sociology : Research Methods

(ii) Thesis : Original state / theme / proposition.

(iii) Synthesis : A resultant of interaction between thesis and antithesis.

(iv) Variable : A social factor such as age, social class etc. which can be observed to affect other measures, such as income level.

(v) Bureaucracy : Type of organisation in which administration is based upon impersonal, written rules and a hierarchy of offices.

(vi) Organic Analogy : Comparison made to show a degree of similarity between living organs.

(vii) Capitalism : Free economy operating according to market forces (e.g. demand and supply etc.), private ownership (i.e. factors of production, such as land, factory, capital, means of transportation and communication etc.

(ii) Nomothetic : A science that attempts to make generalization (e.g. Sociology)

(iii) Conjectural : Balance of forces, particular ideologies, class interest etc. that in combination make up a particular pattern of social and economic contradictions.

(iv) Cross-Cultural Method : Comparisons of contemporary cultures.

(v) Dialectical : A process which sees forces of change from thesis (original states) to antithesis (opposite state) to synthesis (combination of first two states i.e. thesis and antithesis).

(vi) Materialism : Relation of production which correspond to a definite stage of the development of their productive forces.

(vii) Equilibrium : A state of balance between parts within a social system.

(viii) Manifest Functions : Functions of a social system which are intended and / or overtly recognized by the participants in that social system.

(ix) Ethnographic : Written record of small society based on direct observation.

(ii) Latent Functions : Functions, which are hidden and remain unacknowledged by participants,

(iii) Integration : The extent to which an individual experience a sense of belonging to a social group by virtue of sharing its norms, values, beliefs, etc.

(iv) Ideographic : Study of unique and unrepeatable events (e.g. History).

(v) Functionalism : It is a doctrine, which asserts that the principal task of sociology and social anthropology is to examine the contribution, which social items make to the social and cultural life of human collectivities.

1. Historical data have some limitations, which arise mainly because historians cannot describe all the happenings in time and space available at the time of writing history.

2. Personal biases and private interpretations, generally, enter unconsciously, even when, honest attempts are made to select and interpret pertinent facts. This can be illustrated by reference to the current controversy that raging on the writing of Later Medieval Indian history particularly the Babri Masjid versus Ram Janam Bhoomi dispute.

1. Historical method has been employed by Karl Marx (the father of modern scientific socialism) in conjunction with dialectical materialism in understanding the human societies.

2. Marx believed that the materialistic structure of societies (i.e. two classes of the industrial societies i.e. the working class and the capitalists class) accounts for their developmental, and thus, he took the philosophical device and applied to the materialistic view of society.

(b) Unstructured Interview : A type of interview in which open-ended questions are used.

(c) Respondents : People who respond to a survey, either in interviews or in self-administered questionnaires.

(d) Subjectivity : The quality that reflects the private and strange experience of an individual or a person.

(e) Schedule : A printed list of questions addressed to respondents but filled in by the investigator.

(f) Secondary Data : The data already collected by researcher.

(g) Structural Interview : A type of interview that has set questions.

(b) Close-Ended Questions : Questions followed by a list of possible answers to be selected by the respondents.

(c) Coding : Categorizing data is called coding.

(d) Rapport : A feeling of trust between researcher and subjects is called rapport.

(e) Reliability : It shows the consistency, objectivity and lack of ambiguity of a statistical test or a set of measurements.

(f) Community Study : Research that focuses on the detailed analysis of a single community an application of the case study approach is called community study.

(g) Concept : A word or set of words that expresses a general idea about the nature of events or thing, or the relations between them; it usually provides a category for classification.

(h) Control Group : In an experiment, the group from which the independent variable in withheld, called control group.

(i) Questionnaire : A printed list of questions to be answered by respondents by himself or herself.

is a method of observation in which an investigator directly observes a group without becoming a functioning member of the group or taking part in its activities.

(b) Methodology : The conceptual, logical and research procedures by which knowledge is developed.

(c) Field Study : A kind of research in which the subjects of investigations are observed under their usual environmental conditions.

(d) Interview Bias : Effects that interviewers have on respondents that lead to biased answer.

(e) Generalization : A general statement of preposition based on specific observations.

(f) Interview : Face-to-face method of collecting serial data at the individual level.

(g) Independent Variable : A variable whose occurrence or change results in the occurrences or change of another variable, in a controlled experiment, the variable that is introduced into the experimental group.

(h) Selection : Here the selection means that there is a focus in observation and also editing before, during and after the observations are made.

method of observation in which an investigation participates as a member of the group he is studying.

(ii) Open-ended Questions : Questions that a respondent is able to answer in his or her own words.

(iii) Corporative Analysis : Research involving observation in more than one social system, or in the same social system at more than one point in time.

(iv) Dependent Variable : A variable whose occurrence or change is believed to be affected by one or more independent variables.

(v) Observation : It is the examination of behavior directly by an investigator or by persons who serve as observes.

(vi) Documents : Written sources such as official and other useful records.

(vii) Experimental Group : In an experiment, the group into which the independent variable is introduced.

2. This is difficult to state the complex and dynamic nature of social reality, which is changing every moment even while it is being studied.

(i) Participant Observation

(ii) Participant as Observer

(iii) Observer as participant, and

(iv) Observer as Observer

(ii) More than any other subject or discipline related with social science. Sociology deals with things that are already familiar to most people. All of us live in society, and we already know lot about the subject matter of sociology (several group, institution, norms, relationship and so on through over own experience.

(iii) Sociology is called social science and the scholar of this discipline - sociologist are called social scientist. As with all scientific discipline the crucial element here is method or the procedure through which knowledge is gathered. For in the final analysis, socilogist can claim to be different from by persons not because of how much they know or what they know, but because of how they acquire their knowledge. This is one reason for the special importance of scientific method in sociology.

(iv) Scholar of sociology are deeply interested in the linvd experience of people. For instance when study social phenomena like friendship or dharm or bargaining in market, the sociologist wants to know only what is observable by the bystander, but also the opinion and feelings of people involved for this sociology requires scientific method.

(v) Socilogist make efforts to adopt the point of view of the people this study to see the used

through their eyes. What does friendship means to people in different culture. What does a religious people in different culture. What does a religious people think he/she is doing when performing a particular ritual ? The Answer to questions are part of the lined experience of actors involved, and they are great interest to sociology.

(vi) Generally sociologist try to produre knowledge that can claim to be scientific. A Science is expected to be objective, to produce unbioas knowledge based solely on facts. But this is much harder to do in social sciences than in the natural sciences.

(vii) Social Scientist study the world in which they themselves live - the social world of human relation. This creates a special problems for objectivity in a social science like sociology.

(i) Problem of A Bias : First of all the sociologists have to face clearly the problem a bias. Because sociologists are also members of society, they will also have all the normal likes and dislikes that people have.

A Sociologist studying family relations with herself be a member of a family, and her experiences are likely to influence her.

(ii) Effect of personal Values Prejudices: Even when the sociologist has no direct personal experience of the group she/he is studying there is still the possibility of being affected led by the values and prejudices of one’s own social context. For example, when studying a caste or religions community other than her own the socialogist may be influenced by the altitute about that community prevalent in her own past or present social involvement.

(iii) Problem of unconscious - bias : But however self reflevine the sociologist tries to be, there is always the possibility of unconscious bias. To deal with this possibility, sociologists explicity mention those features of their own social background that might be relevant as a possible source of bias on the topic being researched. This alerts readers to the possibility of bias and allows them to mentally compensate for it when reading the research study.

Methods used by socialogist to face problems : A questionnaires how do sociologist guard against those problems or difficulties which they have to face when they try to strive for objectivity ?

One method is to vigorously and continously examine one’s own ideas and feelings about the subject of research; More generally the sociologist tries to take an outsrider’s perrpective on her/his own work. She tries to look at herself and her researcher through the eyes of others particularly those who are the subjects of her research.

II. Importance of Reflexivity in Sociology : One of the practical aspects of reflexivity is the importance of carefully documenting whatever one is doing. Part of the claims to superiority of research methods lies in the documentation of all procedures and the formal cutting of all sources of evidence. This evsures that others can retrace the steps we have taken to arrive at a particular conclusion, and see for themselves if we are right.

It also helps us to check and re-check our own thinking or line of document.

Elements : (a) A survey is an attempt to provide an overview. It is a comprehensive or wide-ranging perspective on some subject based on information obtained from a carefully chosen representative set of people. Such people are usually referred to as ‘respondents’ - They respond to the questions asked to them by the researchers.

(b) Survey research is usually done by large teams consisting of those who plan and design the study (the researchers) and their associates and assistants (the latter are called ‘investigations’ or ‘research assistants’)

(c) Survey question may be asked and answered in various forms. Generally they are asked orally during personal visit by the investigator and some time through telephone conversation. Responses may also be sort in writing questionnaires brought by investigators or sent through the post.

(d) With the increasng presence of computer and telecommunication technology, these days it is also possible for surveys to be connected electronically in this format, respodent receive and responded to question by e-mail, the internet, similiar electronic medium.

Advantage of survey method :

(i) The survey’s main advantage as a social scientific method is that it allows us to generalise results for a large population while actually studying only a small portion of this population. Thus a survey makes it possible to study large populations with a manageable investment of time, effort and money. That is why it is such a popular method in the social sciences and other fields.

(ii) The simple survey is able to provide a generalisable result despite being selective by taping advantage of the discoveries of a branch of statistics called sampling theory. The key element enabling this ‘shortcut’ is the representative of the sample.

(i) The principles is that all the relevant sub group in the population should be recognised and representations in the sample. Most large populations are not homogenous - They belong to distinct sub-categories. This is called stratfication.

Example : When considering the population of India, we must take account of the fact that this population is divided into rural and urban sectors which are ver different from each other. When considering the rural population of any one state, we have to allow for the fact that this population lives in villages of different sizes. In the some way, the population of a single village may be stratified by class, caste, gender, age religion or other criterion.

(ii) The second Principle of sample selection is that the actual unit–i.e. person or village or household - should be based purely on chance. This is referred to as randomisation, which itself depends on the concept of probability. You may have come across the idea of probability inmathematics course. Probability refers to the chance (or the odds) of an event happening.

Example : When we toss a coin, it can fall with the ‘head’ side up or the ‘tail’ side up. With normal coins, the chance - or probability - of heads or tails appearing is exactly the same, that is 50 percent each. Which of the two events actually happens when you toss the coin – i.e. whether it comes up heads or tails - depends purely on chance and withing else. Even like this are called random events.

(ii) Moreover, since the survey questionnaire is being taken around to respondents by a relative large number of investigators, it becomes difficult to ensure that complicated questions or those requring detailed prompting will be asked of all respondents in exactly the same way.

(iii) Differences in the way questions asked or answers recorded could introduce errors into the survey. This is why the questionnaise for a survey (sometimes called a ‘survey instrument’) has to be designed very carefully - Since it will be handled by persons other than the researchers themselves, there is little chance of corrections or modifications in the course of its use.

(iv) Given that there is no long-term relationship between investigator and respondent and hence no familirily or trust, questions that can be asked in a survey have to be of the kind that can be asked and ansured between strangers. Questions of a personal or sensitive kind cannot be asked, or if asked are likely to be answered ‘safely’ rather than truth-fully. These kinds of problems are sometimes refered to as ‘non-sampling errors,’ that is errors due not to the sampling process but to faults or shortcomings of the research design or the manner in which it was implemented.

(v) Unfortunately, some of these errors are difficult to foresee and guard against, so that it is possible for surveys to go wrong and produce misleading or false estimates of the charactreristics of a population.

(vi) Ultimately, the most important limitation of the survey is that, in order to be sucessful, they must depend on a tightly sturctured inflexible questionnaire.

(vii) Moreover, howsoever well designed the questionnaire might be, its success depends finally on the nature of the interactions between investigators and respondents, and specially on the goodwill and co-operation of the latter.

1. A major methodological problem is whether or not the traits (or units) of comparision and the indicators selected to compare differences or similarities are genuinely comparable and can legitimately be used outside their particular cultural settings.

2. The features under examination may occur within the same society, for instance rates of mobility between different castes and calsses belonging to the same society may be mutually compared, or the same variables may appear in differnt societies like the rates of social mobility among the same strata but in different societies.

3. Radcliffe Brown observed that the comparative method alone gives you nothing. Nothing will grow out of the ground unless you put seeds into it.

4. The comparative method is one way of testing hypotheses. The difficulties while using the comparative method seems to be in part due to the absence of hypotheses, or due to not clearly formulated hypotheses, at the outset, and in part to the problem of defining the unit of comparison.

For example : Compte’s use of the comparative method to establish has ‘law of three stages’ is based not upon a scientific hypothesis but upon a philosophical view of the development of humanity as a whole.

5. Emile Durkheim considered the comparative method as the counterpart in the scoial sciences of the experimental mehtod pursued in the other sciences. He urged that social facts could only be observed, not artificially produced under experimental conditions. So Durkheim favoured the comparative historical apprach because sociologists could not carry out experiments and had to rely on the method of indirect experiment-the comparision of similar cases in a systematic manner.

1. Functional method refers to the functional analysis, which is also known as functionalism, and ‘structural functionalism’.

‘Functionalism’ is a doctrine which asserts that the main task of sociology and social anthropology is to examine the contribution, which social items make to the social and cultural life of human collectivities. It may additionally assert that to examine social phenomena in this manner is to explain why these items occur at all and/or why they have presisted.

2. Functionalism provides a perspective from which one can attempt an analysis of a society. The central concern is with the source of order and stability in society. The focus is on :

(a) The way social institute assists to maintain order and continuity in social life, and

(b) The way structural arrangements in society influence behaviour.

3. The notion of ‘social function’ had, of course, been formulated in the nineteenth century, most explictly by Herbert Spencer. It is based upon an age-old analogy between society and organism, but it could be presented in a more scientific way after the development of modern biology.

II. Some of the Important Critiques of Functional Method :

1. The functional method, in sociology and social anthroplogy, appeared initially as reaction against the methods and claims of the evolutionists. It was a criticism of native and superficial uses of the comparative method and of the methods of conjectural history : In which unverified and unsystematic data were employed in contemporary or primitive socities for reconstructing the early stages of human social life.

2. It was also a criticism of the intention and claim of the evolutionists to give a sceintific account of the whole social history of mankind.

(6) Social scientists use datas to discharge the main concern of their discipline. Data play an important role in the explanation of human behaviour.

(c) Social scientiests have developed methods for systematic collection of data. The historical, comparative and functional methods generate data, which can be interpreted in more than one ways.

2. It was a criticism of native and superficial uses of the comparative method and of the methods of ‘conjectural history, in which, unverified and unsystematic data were employed on contemporary or primitive societies for reconstructing the early stages of human social life.

3. It was also a criticism of the intention and claim of the evolutionists to give a scientific account of the complete social histroy of mankind.

Lindzey Gardener has defined observation as follows :

“It is a selection, provocation recording, and encoding of that set of behaviours and settings concerning organisms (naturalistic settings of familiar surroundings) which are consistent with empirical aims.

II. Characteristics of Observation :

Black and Champion have given the following characteristics of observation :

1. Behaviour is observed.

2. It enables understanding significant events affecting social relations of the participants.

3. It determines reality from the perspective of observed person himself.

4. It defines regularities and recurrences in social life by comparing data in one study with those in other studies.

5. Observaton involves some controls pertaining to the observer and to the means he uses to record data. However, such controls do not exist for the setting or the subjet population.

6. It is focused on hypotheses-free inquiry.

7. Observation avoids manipulations in the independent variable i.e. one that is supposed to cause other variable and is not caused by them.

8. During observation recording is not selective. Each and everything is to be recorded.

2. Survey : A survey is a form of planned collection of data for the purpose of description or prediction as a guide to action or analyzing the relationship between certain variables.

3. Surveys are generally, conducted on a fairly large scale as contrasted with case studies which tend to be more intensive but on a smaller scale.

4. Case Study is done in terms of limited space and broader time, whereas survey is done in terms of limited time with broader space.

It is well worth-noting that persons are not only reluctant to openly report their feelings, plans, fears and so on, we may not be aware of many of our beliefs and hence, may not be able to report them. Nevertheless, each of us has a unique opportunity to observe himself/herself and to that extent one is in a position to and generally will communicate his knowledg about himself. But such reporting or communication, especially one that diagnoses and explains why one’s behaviour was what it was needs qualities of penetration much beyond the reach of average person. It is given to only a few to be able to engage in self-diagnosis.

The capacity to peep into depth of one’s personality is conspicuous by its absence among the people at large. It is precisely that this works to the detriment of the efficacy of the questionnaire technique.

1. There is no doubt that questionnaries are very less expensive and for that reason quite attractive.

2. Questionnaire not merely save money but also it saves administrative time, talent and manpower e.g. by using the mail system instead of a costly adhoc staff of interviewers.

3. One special benefit lies in the simultaneity of access, if it is significant to reach all respondents at the same time, this is probably easier by means of questionnaries than interviews, unless the ratio of interviewers to interviewees is close.

analyses of social change in hisory are carried out with the help of several methods. One of the most favoured methods is the comparative method used in sociology. This entails the study of different groups and institutions in order to examine similarities and differences.

2. All sociological reaserch involves the comparison of cases or variables, which are similar in some respects and dissimilar in others.

3. A major methodoloical issue (problem) is whether or not the units of comparison (whole societies, major institutions, religions, groups, and so on) and the indicators selected to compare similarities or differences are genuinely comparable and can legitimately be used outside their particular cultural settings.

4. The characteristics under examination can take place within the same society, for instance rates of mobility between different castes and classes belonging to the same society can be mutually compared, or, the same variables may appear in various societies like the rates of social mobility among the same strata but different societies.

5. The comparative method is greatly used in anthropological and ethonological research.

6. George P. Murdock, feeling the necessity for stroing the information, which was continuously building up and the importance of having it at the disposal or social scientists everywhere, opened a Cross cultural Survey at Yale, University.

7. Today, the Human Relations Area File has been developed on the basis of Murdock’s idea and material, and is one of the main ‘databank’ which sociologists possess.

8. Incidentally, in the Victorian age, Herbert Spencer had already started a significant systematic invetory of information about social institution in a large number of countries.

9. Today, all types of data banks are developing different places, making significant factual information, readily and widely available.

10. The systematic use of comparison and contrast as method of enquiry became widely accepted among sociologists and social anthropologists in the first half of the twentieth centuiy.

11. Radcliffe-Brown sought to extend Emile Durkheim’s sociological theory of totemism by comparing and contrasting the relationshp between social structure and religious practices among the Australian Aborigines - who had taterism and the Andaman Islandsers who did not not have it. He also proposed that a relationship could be established through systematic comparative study between ancestor worship and lineage structure.

(a) Meaning of Objectivity : In everyday language, the word objective means unbiased, natural or based on facts alone.

(b) Essential condition for objectvity : In order to be objective about something, we must ignore our own feelings or attitudes about that thing. On the other hand the word subjective means something that is based on individual values and preferences. Objectivity demands that everybody should ignore individual his or her personal values and preference if he/she desires to be objective. Without being objective it is not possibel to produce unbiased knowledge. It is a must to be objective if anybody wants to produce knowledge totally based on facts.

II. Complication of objectivity in discipline like Sociology : Science is expected to be knowledge based solely on facts. But this much harder to do in the social sciences than in the natural sciences.

Example : When a geologist studies rocks or a botanist studies plants, they must be careful not to let their personal biases or preferences affect their work. They must report the facts as they are, they must (for example) let their liking for a particular scientific theory or theorist influence the results of their research. However, the geologist and the botanist are not themselves part of the world they study, i.e. the natural world of rocks or of plants. By contrast, social scientists study the world in which they themselves live-the social world of human relations. This creates special problems for objectivity in a social science like sociology.

III. Many versions of the truth and sociologists : Anothor problem with objectivity in sociology is the fact that, generally, there are many versions of the ‘truth’ in the social world. Things look different from different vantage points, and so the social world typically involves many competing versions or interpretations or reality.

Example : A shop-keeper and a customer may have very different ideas about what is a ‘good’ price, a young person and an aged person may have very differnt motives of ‘good food’, and so on. There is no simple way of judging which particular interpretation is true or more correct, and often it is unhelpful to think in these terms. Infact, sociology tries not to judge in this way because it is really interested in what people think, and why they think what they think.

IV. Multiple view of point : A further complication arises from the presence of multiple point of view in the social sciences themselves. Like its sister social science, sociology too is a multi-paradigmatic science.This means that competing and mutually incompatible schools of thought co exist within the discipline.

Conclusion : All this makes ojectivity a very difficult and complicated thing in sociology. In fact, the old notion of objectivity in widely considered to be an outdated perspective. Social scientists no longer believe that the traditional notion of an ‘objective, disinterested’ social science is attainable, infact such an ideal can actually be misleading. This does not mean that there is no useful knowledge to be obtained via sociology, or that objectivity is a useless concept. It means that objectivity has to be thought of as the goal of a continuous, on going process rather than as already achieved end result.

In is this insider perspecitve i.e. greatest return on the substantial investment of time and effort that field work demand.

Most other research methods can not claim to have a detail knowledge of field over a fairly long period of time-they are usually based on a short and quick field visit.

Field work allows for the correction of initial impression, which may generally be mistake or biased. It also permit the researcher to track changes in the subject of interest, and also to see the impact of different situation or context.

II. Weakness of participant observation as a method :

(a) Field work by its very nature involve very long drawn out and intensive research usually by a single scholar working along. As such, it can only cover a very small part of the world -generally a single village or small community

We can never be sure whether what the anthropolgist or sociologist observed during the field work is rearly very common in the larger community. (i.e. other villages, in the region, or in the country) or whether it is acceptional. This is probebly the biggest disadvantage of field work.

(b) Another important limitation of the field work method is that we are never sure whether it is voice of the anthropologist we are hearing or that of the people being studied. Of course, the aim is to represent the views of the people being studied, but it is always possible that the anthropologist whether consistly or unconsistly is selecting will be written down his/ her notes, and how it will be presented to the readers of his/her articles.

Because there is no other version available to us except that of the anthropologist, there is always the chance of bias or error. However, this is present is most research methods.

(c) More generally field work method are criticised because of the one-side relationship they are based on. The anthropolosit/socialistist asked the questions and present answers and speaks for the people.

To counter this some scholar have suggested are more diologic format wage of presenting field work result where the respondance and people can be more directly involved.

Popular in sociology and specially social anthropology. Participant observation refers to a particular method by which the sociologist learns about the society, culture and people that he/she is studying.

This method is different from other in many ways. Unlike other methods of primary data collection like surveys or interviews, field work involves a long period of interation with the subjects of research.

II. Role of enthnographers and sociologists during participant observation : (a) Typically, the sociologist or social anthropologist spends many months-usually about a year or sometimes more-living among the people being studied as one of them.

(b) As a non-native ‘outsider’, the anthropologist is supposed to immense himself/ herself in the culture of the ‘nations’-by learning their language and participating intimately in their everyday life-in an effort to acquire all the explict and implicit knowledge and skills of the ‘insider’.

(c) Although the sociologist or anthropologist usually has specific areas of interest, the overall goal of‘participant observation.’ field work is to learn about the ‘whole way of life’ of a community.

(d) Indeed the model is that of the child : Sociologists and anthropologists are supposed to learn everything about their adoptive communities injust the holistic way that small children learn about the world.

Anthropologer collected and organised information about distant community. For example, some early anthroplogist collected datas based on the information provided by some older anthropologers (Jamaes Frezer’s) collecterd data from the book or work of Emile Durkheim.

During the last decade of 19th century and during first decade of the 20th century some early anthropologist carried out systematice surveys and first hand observation and tribal language, customs, ritual and beliefs.

Later on some anthropologist constructed a geneology of community. This may be based on the information obtained in the canses, but extends much further since involves creating a family tree for individual member and extenderd the family tree as for back as possible.

Field work by Sociologist : Sociological field work differ not so much in its content-what is done during field work-but in its context-where it is done-and in the distribution of emphasis accross different areas or topics of research. Thus, a sociologist would also live among a community and attempt to become an insider.

However, unlike the anthropologist who typically ment to remote tribal community to do field work, sociologist did their field work among all types of communities. Moreover sociological field work did not necessarily involve living in although it did involve spending most of one’s time with the member of the community.

(i) An interview is basically a guided conservation between the researcher and the respondent.

(ii) Although it has few technicalities associated with it, the simplicity of the format can be deceptive because it actually takes a lot of practice and skill to become a good interviewer.

(iii) The interview occupies the ground between a structured questionnaire of the type used in surveys, and the completely open-ended interactions typical of participant observation methods. Its chief advantage is the extreme flexibility of the format.

(iv) Questions can be re-phrased or even stated differently, the order of subjects or questions can be changed according to the progress (or lack of progress) in the conservation, subjects that are producing good material can be extended and built upon others that provoke unfavourable reaction can be cut short or postpond to a later occasion, and all this can be done during the course of the interview inself.

(v) On the other hand, many of the disadvantages of the interview as a research method are also related to its advantages. The very some flexibility can also make the interview vulnerable to changes of mood on the part of the respondent, or to lakes of concentration on the part of the interviewer. It is in this sense an unstable and unpredictable format it works very well known it works, and fails miserably when it doesnot.

(vi) Different styles of interviewing :

There are different styles of interviewing and opinons and experiences differ as to their relative advantages. Some prefer avery loosely structured format, with only a check-list of topics rather than actual questions, other like to have more structure, with specific questions to be asked of all respondents. How the interview is recorded can also differ according to circumstances and preferences, ranging from actural video or audio recording, detailed note taking during the interview, or relying on memory and writing up the interview after it is conluded ? The introduction of equipment like recorders and so on frequently makes the respondent uneasy and introduces a degree of formality into the conservation. One the other hand, important information can sometimes go unnoticed or not be recorded at all when other less comprehensive methods of record keeping are being employed. Sometimes the physical or social circumstances in which the interview is being conducted determine the mode of recording.

(vii) The way in which the interview is later written for publication or as part of a research report can also differ widely. Some researchers prefer to edit the transcript and present a ‘cleaned up’ continuous narrative, other wish to retain the flovour of the original conversation as much as possible and therefor include all the asides and digressions as well.

(viii) Advantage of Inviews as a method : The interview is often used along with or as a supplement to other methods, specially participant observation and surveys. Long conservations with ‘key informants’ (the main informant in a participant observation study) can often provide a concentrated account that situates and classifies the accompanying material. Similarly, intensive interviews can add depth and detail to the findings of a survey. However, as a method, the interview is dependent on personalised access and the degree of support or mutual trust between the respondent and the researcher.

1. The functionalist approach, in sociology and social anthropology, appeared initially as a reaction against the methods and claims of the evolutionists.

2. It was a criticism of native and superficial uses of the comparative method and of the methods of conjectual history. In which, unverified and unsystematic data were employed on contemporary or primitive societies for reconstructing the early stages of human social life.

3. It was also a critcism of the intention and claim of the evolutionists to give a scientific account of the whole social hisroty of mankind.

4. Today the Human Realations Area File has been developed on the basis of Murdock’s idea and material, and is one of the principal ‘data’ banks which social scientiests possess.

5. Incidentally, in theVictorian age, Herbert Spencer had already started a significant systematic inventory of information about social institutions in a great number of countries.

6. Today, all forms of data banks are developed in different places, providing vital factual information readily and widely available.

7. In Britain its most forceful exponent was A.R. Radcliffe - Brown who dominated anthropology in the late thirties and forties, and used social anthropology as synonym for ‘comparative sociology’.

The systematic use of comparision and contrast as method of enquiry became widely accepted among sociologists and social anthropologists in the first half of the Twentieth Century.

A.R. Radcliffe - Brown sought to extend Emile Durkheim’s sociological theory of totemism by comparing and contrasting the relationship between social structrue.

II. Importance of Comparative Method : 1. All sociological research involves the comparasions of cases or variables, which are similar in some respects and dissimilar in others. A major methodological issues is whether or not the units of comparision (whole societies, major institutions, religions, groups, and so on and the indicators chosen to compare differences of similarities are genuinely comparable and can legitimately be used outside their specific cultural settings.

2. The features under examination may occur within the same society, for instance rates and classes belonging to the same society may be mutually compared, or the same variable may appear in different societies like the rates of social mobility among the same strata but in different societies.

3. The comparative method is amply used in anthropologiacl and ethnological research. George P. Murdock, realizing the necessity for storing the information, which was continuously building up and the significance of having it at the disposal of social scientists everywhere, opened a Cross Cultural Survery at Yale University.

4. Today, the Human Relations Area File has been developed on the basis of Murdock’s idea and material, and is one of the principal ‘data’ banks which social scientists possess.

5. Incidentally, in the Victorian age, Herbert Spencer had already started a significant systematic inventory of information about social institutions in a great number of countries.

6. Today, all forms of data banks are developed in different places, providing vital factual information readily and widely available.

7. In Britain its most forceful exponent was A.R. Radcliffe - Brown who dominated anthropology in the late thirties adn forties, and used social anthropology as synonym for ‘comparative sociology.’

8. The systematic use of comparison and contrast as method of enquiry became widely accepted among sociologists and social anthrologists in the first half of the Twentieth Century.

A. R. Radcliffe - Brown sought to extend Emile Durkheim’s sociological theory of totemism by comparing and contrasting the relationship between social structure and religious practices among the Australian Aborigines - who had totemism - and the Andman Islanders - who did not have it. He also proposed that a relationship could be establisheed through systematic comparative study between ancestor worship and lineage structure.

III. Limitations of Comparative Method :

1. Herbert Spencer’s work is a lucid example of the comparative method where he has compared military and industrial types of societies. A.R. Radcliffe Brown observed that the comparative method alone gives you nothing. Nothing will grow out of the ground unless you put seeds into it.

2. The comparative method is one way of testing hypotheses. The difficulties while using the comparative method seems to be due in part to the absence off hypothesesardue to not clearly formulated hypotheses, at the outset, and in part to the problem of defining the unit of comparison. Thus, for instance, Comte’s use of the comparative method to establish his law of three stages is based, not upon a scientific hypotheses but upon a philosophical view of the development of humanity as a whole.

2. Social Scientists have developed methods for systematic collection of data, which can be interpreted in more than one ways. What facts do people seek to compare ? What histories do they seek to recount ? How do we analyse social relations ? These are significant questions relevant for present discussion on historical, comparative and functional methods of research.

I. Historical Method : It is not unusual to find inquiries of various types in the social sciences. Inquiries in social sciences could be classified in two categories, the nomothetic and the ideographic.

According to this classification, the ideographic sciences are those which study unique and unrepeatable events, while the nomothetic sciences attempt to make generalizations. Sociology is a suitable example of nomothetic science and History is a good example of ideographic science.

Historians make effort to enhance our accurate knowledge of unique phenomena of the past. The social scientists often confine themselves to three main sources of historical information :

(i) Documents and different historical sources to which historians themselves have access.

(ii) Materials of cultural history and of analytical hisroy.

(iii) Personal sources of authentic observers and witnesses.

When, how and under what circumstances these sources are to be used depends upon the discretion of the researcher’s interest, the scope of the study and the availability of the sources.

II. Comparative Method : This method entails the study of various groups and institutions in order to examine similarities and differences.

The compartive method is simply used in anthropological and ethnological research.

The systematic use of comparision and contrast as method of enquiry became widely accepted among sociologist and social anthropologists in the first half of the twentieth century.

The comparative method is one way of testing hypotheses.

III. Functional Method : The functionalist approach, in sociology and social anthropology, appeared initially as a reaction against the methods and claims of the evolutionists. It was a criticism of the intention and claim of the evolutionists to give a scientific account of the whole social history of mankind.

Functional analysis is a method of sociological and anthropological enquiry, which consists in examining social and cultural items by locating them in a wider context. This generally means showing how these items effect and are affected by others with which they coexist over time, within the same social system.

This method refers to factors and forces of integration, equilibrium and also disequilibrium. At a given point of time, interrelation between different components of society can be studied from the functional point of view.

Observation is used as a tool of collecting information in situations where methods other than observation cannot prove to be useful, e.g. voters’ behaviour during election time. The purpose of observation is to explore significant events and situation capturing human conduct as it really happens.

There are four types (or ways) of observation :

1. Participant Observation and Non-Participant.

2. Participant as Observer.

3. Observer as Participant.

4. Observer as Observer.

1. Participant Observation and Non-Participant :

(a) It is one of the techniques of data collection. In small and pre-literate society, this technique can be usefully employed. But Its use can become challenging and problematic, when society we are observing is complex. He takes role performance. The method achieves good result when the identity of the observer is not quite apparent.

(b) The main characteristic of participant observation is that analysis is carried out sequentially and each stage is different by logical sequence. That is, each succeeding stage depends on some analysis in the preceding stage. They are further differentiated by different forms of conclusions.

(c) In some cases, participant observation becomes very difficult and fought with risks particularly when the issue being inquired has sensitive and explosive dimensions, e.g. exploring the situation of communal riot.

(d) Participant Observation is a method in which the investigator becomes a part of the situation he is studying. He involves himself in the setting and group life of the research subjects. He shares the activities of the community observing what is going on around him, supplementing this by conversions and interview.

2. Participant as Observer : This is not disguised participant. Observer enters the community as observer not as role performer. Here the identity of observer is known.

3. Observer as Participant : In this case, observer visits a person and establishes relationship and puts certain questions and observes the situation. Observer is here ‘observer’ as well as ‘participant’ with the interviewer.

4. Observe as Observer :

(a) In this case, observer observers the situation but those being observed are not aware of it. The observer has to be perceived in terms of skills and trainning.

(b) The quality of the observer is more important than investigators in other forms of data collection.Observation especially, participant observation, relies much on the attributes of the researcher for both amount and quality of information.

(c) Exact knowledge of the subject (or issues), previous experience, ability to deal with varied situations, adaptability, flexibility, ability to get along with others, and to remain unbiased and free from ideological constraints, are of great significance. Training must concentrate on the issues that are central to the study.

1. Sensory Observatrion : Data in social sciences, as in the other sciences, are based on sensory observation. A check in an answer-box in a datum, not the inference that the respondent is for or against something. A smile is a datum. The inference is that the smiling person is in a happy mood.

2. ‘Seeing thing’ : Reliability and better understanding : Social science depends to a considerable extent on ‘seeing’ things. Observation is a technique, which facilitates direct understanding of social phenomena. Observation ensures reliablity, and better understanding. The word ‘observation’ is used here and elsewhere to include all forms of sense perceptions used in recording responses, as they impinge on our senses. We make, however, a distinction between a response and a datum.

Response : It is a some manifest kind of action.

Datum : It is the product of the recording of the response.

3. Reliability and Inter-subjectivity : There are two other important conditions imposed on scientific observations, as opposed to other observations. These are reliability and inter-subjectivity. They have to do with the two components of the observation process here called pereception and recording.

4. Some principles Introduced by Galtung : Galtung introduced the following principles :

1. Principle of Reliability or Inter-subjectivity : Repeated observation of the same responses by the same observer shall yield the same data.

2. Principle of Inter-objectivity :

Repeated observation of the same responses by various observers shall yield the same data.

3. Principles of validity : In connection to the above referred both principles another principle of validity is usually, mentioned, with the understanding that an observation is valid if one has observed what he desires to observe.

Validity, in this way, clearly has to do with the relation between the manifest and latent, since observations by definitions always are at the manifest level.

Data shall be obtained of such a form and in such a way that legitimate inferences can be made from the manifest level to the latent level.

Conclusion : Looking to the above conditions, we may view that scientific observation is planned and scientific. Also, it is relevant to a problem, which serves formulated research purpose. It is valid as well as reliable.

(a) Periods of intense use and periods of disuse mark the history of case study research.

(b) Case study research excels in bringing to us an understanding of a complex issue or object and can extend experience or add strength to what is already known through previous research.

(c) Case studies stress detailed contextual analysis of limited number of events or conditions and their relationships.

(d) Researchers have used the case study research method for several years across a variety of disciplines.

(e) Social scientists in particular, have made wide use of this qualitative research method to examine contemporary real life situation and provide the basis for the application of ideas and extension of methods.

Definition of Case Study :

Researcher Robert K. Yin defines the case study research method as an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenmenon within its real-life context, when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident, and in which multiple sources of evidence are used,

Concept of case study :
1. Case study method is an ideal methodology when a holistic, in-depth investivgation is required.

2. Case studies have been used in varied social investigations, especially, sociological studies and are designed to bring out the details from the view point of the participants by using multiple sources of data. It is, therefore, an approch to explore and analyze the life of social unit-an individual, a family, an institution, a culture group or even an entire community.

II. Characteristic of Case Study :

1. The case study ‘strives towards a holistic understanding of cultural systems of action.

Cultural systems of action refer to sets of inter-related activities engaged in by the actors in a social situation.

2. The case studies must always have boundaries.

3. Case study research is not sampling research. However, selecting cases must be done so as to maximize what can be learned, in the period of time available for the study.

4. Case studies tend to be selective, focusing on one or two issues that are fundamental to understanding the system being examined.

5. Case studies are multi-perspectival analysis. This means that the researcher considers not just the voice and perspective of the actors but also of the relevant groups of actors and the interaction between them.

1. Various related methods are used in case study namely :

(?) Social surveys

(b) Questionnaires

(c) Interviews

(d) Attitude scales

(e) Projective techniques

2. Besides above referred five techniques, personal documents, diaries, autobiographies, latters, life history, data etc. are also used.

3. Both case study and survey differ in degree not in kind. Those who favour surveys critcize case study for being unrepresentative and for dealing with artificial situations. The advocates of case study method are critical of surveys for their reduced ability to control vital variables, for following events rather than ranking them.

4. The application of these (already discussed in above paragraphs) approaches, however, depends on what we need to find out and on the form of question to which we seek an answer.

5. Many research inquiries have employed both the approaches during different phases of their research, using the result of one to inform and redefine other, thus, producing conclusion that both are precise and representative.

Criticism of the Case Study Methodological Implications :

1. The case study method is very time consuming and very demanding of the researcher. The possibility of becoming involved emotionally is much greater than in survey research, thus, making detached and objective observation difficult and sometimes, impossible.

2. Another problem in the use of case study method is that, since, only one example of a social situation or group is being studied the result may not be representative of all groups or situations in the category. In other words, the specific mental hospital ward, slum, or suburb may not be typical of all mental hospital wards, slums, or suburbs.

3. Critics of the case study method believe that the study of a small number of cases can offer no grounds for establishing reliability or generality of findigs. Others feel that the intense exposure to the study of some specific cases biases the findings.

4. Some critics dismiss case study research as useful only as an exploratory tool.

Conclusion : However, researchers continute to use the case study research method with success in carefully planned crafted studies of real-life situations, issues and problems.

1. Questionnaire poses a structured and standardized set of questions, either to one person or to a small population, or most commonly to respondent in a simple survery.

2. Structure here refers to questions appearing in a consistent, predetermined sequence and form. The sequence may be deliberately scrambled, or else arranged according to a logical flow to topics or question formats.

3. Questionnaire are distributed through the mail or by hand, through arrangements such as the ‘drop-off’ where a field - worker leaves the questionnaire for respondents to complete by themselves, with provision either for mailing the complete from back to the research office, or for a return call by the fieldworker to collect the questionnaire.

4. A questionnaire administered in a face-to-face interview, or over the telephone (growing in popularity among researchers) is usually termed ‘schedule’. In deciding upon one of these methods, researcher balances the cost, probable response rate and the nature of the questions to be posed.

5. The set of structured questions in which answers are recorded by the interviewer himself is called interview schedule or simply the schedule.

6. Interview schedule is distinguished from the questionnaire in the sense that in the later (questionnaire) the answers are filled in by the respondents himself or herself. Though the questionnaire is used when the respondents are educated, schedule may be used both for the illiterate and the educated respondents.

7. The questionnaire is particularly useful when the respondents are scattered in a large geographical area but the schedule is used when the respondents are located in a small area so that they can be personally contacted.

8. The wording of the questions in the questionnaire has to be simple, since the interviewer is not present to explain the meaning and import of the question to the respondent. In the schedule, the investigator gets the opportunity to explain whatever the respondent requires to know.

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