SOC221H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Antipositivism, Participant Observation, Verstehen
Document Summary
You expect different ways of interpreting things. A report on social life that focuses on detailed and accurate description from the field. Refers to data collected in natural settings; naturalistic observations; and holistic understandings of cultures or subcultures. Based on the assumption that actually observing social life is more valid than hearing people"s accounts their perceptions and recollections. Central goal: researchers immerse themselves in a social setting and gather data that is then interpreted. Better to observe what happened yourself than to ask someone else since there are biases and error in recollection. Ethnography/participant observation : going out into the field and collecting info through your own observations. Being exploratory is field research"s greatest strength. Explanations are not causal explanations, it is trying to make sense of what is happening. When we discover what is really going on, familiar things can be recognized for what is actually strange about them.
