Sociology 3307F/G Lecture Notes - Postmodern Feminism, Postpositivism

• School: Western University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: Sociology 3307F/G
• Professor: Georgios Fthenos

Document Summary

Focused on meaning words, gather meaningful data (specific, detailed) Examine perceptions, motivations, and experiences that are significant (meaningful) to people. Rather than focusing on numbers/stats. , qualitative research analyzes texts (written words, images), talk, and interactions. Examines social processes, not probabilities or predictions. Creative craft, not series of techniques; no recipe for qualitative research. Ontology beliefs about nature of reality. Epistemology beliefs about how valid knowledge can be gained (what is perceived to be real) Theory account of social reality; provides framework for analyzing data collected from the social world. Methodology theory of how knowledge building should occur; connects philosophical framework with methods used. Positivist social world is patterned; researchers seek to discover causes/effects. Interpretive social world is constructed through meaningful action understand actor"s motivations, perceptions, experiences. Critical social world is constructed through power relations; unveil, critique power/privilege. Inductive (critical, interpretive) generate theory from data. Qualitative/quantitative rooted in philosophical traditions with different epistemological/ontological assumptions.