RI Approaches in the Social Sciences 2023

Approaches in the Social Sciences – A Summary (Students’ Version) Approach Positivist Social Science (PSS) Interpretive Social Science (ISS) Critical Social Science (CSS) In a nutshell The approach of the natural sciences: preference for quantitative data, experiments, surveys, statistics. Positivists seek rigorous, exact measures and ‘objective’ research. The dominant approach in the Western countries, especially in the 60s and 70s (still so in North America but not so in Europe) “Postivist social science is an organized method for combining deductive logic with precise empirical observations of individual behavior in order to discover and confirm a set of probabilistic causal laws that can be used to predict general patterns of human activity.” (95) There is only one logic of science so social science must be like natural science Example of fields: public health administration, criminal justice, market research, policy analysis, program evaluation The world of society is not the same as the world of nature. Emphasis on gathering qualitative data to acquire an in-depth understanding of how people create meaning in everyday life and maintain their social worlds. The primary goal for SS according to ISS is empathetic understanding – deep understanding with shared meaning. “In general, the interpretative approach is the systematic analysis of socially meaningful action through the direct detailed observation of people in natural settings in order to arrive at understandings and interpretations of how people create and maintain their social worlds.” (101-2) Social research must be reflexive: it must criticize itself as well as its subject matter. Combines PSS and ISS to inquire beyond surface illusions to uncover the real structures in the material world to help people build better lives. “In general, CSS defines social science as a critical process of inquiry that goes beyond surface illusions to uncover the real structures in the material world in order to help people change conditions and build a better world for themselves.” (108) Some proponents (Title of Work) ▪ Auguste Comte (The Course of Positive Philosophy) ▪ John Stuart Mill (A System of Logic) ▪ Emile Durkheim (Rules of the Sociological Method) ▪ David Hume ▪ Max Weber (Essays in Sociology) ▪ Wilhem Dilthey (Introduction to the Human Sciences) ▪ Talcott Parson (The Structure of Social Action) ▪ Karl Marx (Capital; Theses on Feuerbach) ▪ Theodor Adorno (Sociology and Empirical Research) ▪ Max Horkheimer (Traditional and Critical Theory) ▪ Sigmund Freud, Herbet Marcuse Typical process of research ▪ Deduce hypothesis from a general theory; this hypothesis will likely explain complex patterns in terms of a few key variables; ▪ Make predictions based on hypothesis (which must be measurable); ▪ Gather data to precisely measure the factors that the theory identifies; ▪ Use statistics to formally test the predictions