(b).

Major Theoretical Strands of Research Methodology

Mainly, there are three theoretical patterns followed by sociological research.
(1)Scientific Sociology/ Positivism
(2)Critical Sociology
(3)Interpretive Sociology
Positivism and Its Critique/
Scientific sociology or PositivismScientific sociology or Positivism considers social
phenomena as concrete just like physical things.According to it, Social Phenomena
can be described by fixed rules and laws. It assumes that Social realityis out
there and it is the duty of a sociologist to observe that reality and unravel the
rules which dictate it. Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim are the
pioneers of this paradigm. All of these believe that there can be precision in
Sociology just like natural sciences have.
Various eminent sociologists like Max Weber and Karl Marx don t believe in the
ideal of objectivity of Scientific Sociology. It is highly criticized on following grounds.
(a)There is no fixed social reality and rules as envisaged by Scientific sociology.
Social reality ishighly dynamic and changes every moment.
(b)Study of society essentially involves study of human beings who make a society.
Human beingsare self-conscious beings as opposed to physical things. So sociology
can never be equalizedwith natural sciences.
(c)In case of Sociology, the studied phenomena itself knows that it is being studied.
This knowledgeoften tempts it to change its course of action and thereby
phenomena itself during the study.This is known as Hawthorne Effect.
(d)The researcher himself is a part of researches subject matter, the society, in the
case of sociology. It is highly probable that different researchers have different
conclusions regardingthe same phenomenon.Owing to these, it can be said that
describing social reality in terms of fixed laws can amount to turning a blind eye to
the reality itself.
Critical Sociology
Critical Sociology focuses on doing research as a tool to change the society. It
is more of an activist sociology than just sociology. It discards the ideal
of objectivity
and encourages the researcher to be a part of research itself. Marxist sociologists
are often seen to be doing critical sociology.While Scientific sociology tends to find
out the answer to the question, How does societywork? , it mainly focuses how
it can be changed. This approach is criticized on the ground that in its pursuit of
change it abandons the objective study and thus becomes merely a grand
philosophizing.
Interpretive Sociology
Interpretive Sociology focuses on study of the meanings i.e. the rational motivations
that people attach to their social actions. Max Weber is seen as the pioneer of this
field of sociology. Interpretive Sociologists believe that Society has a dual nature. It

does have some objective reality as Positivists believe but it also has a subjective
nature attached to it. It is the people who by interacting with a rational motivation
in mind create the social reality. A sociologist not only studies the objective
phenomenon of social action of individuals but must also have to study the
motivations behind it. Necessarily, these motivations cannot be observed just like
any physical phenomenon as they are the personal psychological facts in minds of
the individuals, they must be interpreted by the researcher. It is this special kind of
understanding by interpretation, named as Verstehen by Max Weber, which make
sociology different from natural sciences. A Sociologist should interpret the values
and motivations of the subject being but must take utmost care that he does not
impose his own values upon the research.This makes the work of a sociologist
highly difficult. Interpretive Sociology is criticized on the ground that it is not
possible for a researcher to keep his values apart from his research work. His values
and ideologies shall necessarily affect the findings of the research