Sociology 2206A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Secondary Source, Content Analysis, Discourse Analysis

• School: Western University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: Sociology 2206A/B
• Professor: Stephen Lin

Document Summary

Durkheim, marx, weber founded the social sciences used a historical method. Used in social change, political sociology, social movements, and applied to religion and family. Historical researchers have addressed the question of social institutions like medicine. Suited for research of examining the combinations of social factors that produce a specific outcome. Also appropriate for comparing entire social systems to see what is common. Confusion can arise because both positivist quantitatively oriented researchers and interpretive, and qualitatively oriented researchers study historical issues. Quantitative measures variables and replicates research to discover generalizable laws. They see no difference between quantitative social research and historical research. Historical research has 3 dimensions: o o. Is the focus on a single time period in the past, across many years, or a recent time period? o. Uses case studies and intensive examination on a small number of cases. The perspective of the researchers and both involve interpretation which introduces the location in time, place, and worldview.