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The most common methods of Sociology are discussed below:
The term ‘method’ means an apt way of doing something. Every science has to use an appropriate way or a suitable method of investigating into its field of study.
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Sociology, as we have discussed earlier, is also a science. It would also therefore, use certain methods by which sociological facts could be collected, analysed and put into proper form and certain conclusions drawn from them.
The question of proper methodology is of great significance in Sociology because the claim of our subject to be regarded a science depends upon the use of a methodology which can eliminate the possibility of personal bias from influencing our comprehension and evaluation of social facts.
Sociology is still in its infancy. It has therefore, not been able to find a method of its own appropriate for its researches. It has however, met with appreciable success in analysing the social phenomenon and its use of methods employed by other social sciences is quite proper.
Sociology, like every other science is a objective study of natural systems and since the social system, like all systems, evolves in course of time, it must be investigated m the very process of its evolution through methods used in such branches of study.
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As the social phenomenon is very complex and the data to be collected are very large it is difficult to suggest which particular method should be employed by Sociology. The sociologists have, therefore, been employing various methods for investigating social phenomenon.
According to Chapin, there are three main methods of Sociology. These are the historical method, the statistical method and field work observation method. Ellwood has mentioned five methods: anthropological or comparative method, historical method, survey method, deductive method and philosophical method. Hart also has mentioned five methods. These are common sense method, historical method, observation method. Laboratory or experimental method and statistical method.
I. The Scientific or Experimental Method:
Every science employs scientific or experimental method for the study of its material. This method consists of observation, recording, classification, hypothesis, verification and prediction. Observation means “looking at” things.
It is of two kinds:
(a) Spontaneous and (b) controlled. The former is conducted when the phenomenon in question is spontaneously happening as when an astronomer is observing the course of star or a sociologist is witnessing a riot. Controlled observation which is also called experimentation takes place when the phenomenon can be observed in the circumstances devised by the observer himself.
Experimentation can be defined as investigation in which the situation or subjects are systematically manipulated by the investigator and controlled observation made so that a definite hypothesis about the relation of variables can be tested.
Experimentation is possible only in natural sciences like Physics and Chemistry but it is not possible in social sciences like Sociology. Some people still have doubts as to whether social behaviour is really capable of being treated scientifically.
In Sociology, as we have discussed earlier it is not possible to have the laboratory method because the raw material of sociological investigation is human being for whom it is not possible to live within certain fixed conditions.
It has been said that when the experimental method is adopted, investigations tend to become ‘artificial and trivial’. However, this method has been used with great success over a very wide range of situation and types of behaviour.
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Sociology does observe the behaviour of the people under conditions in which they live. However, every possible precaution need be taken to conceal from the subjects that observation is in progress and that measurements are being made.
The second stage in the scientific method is recording of all the data obtained in the observation. Recording must be accurate and objective. The sociologist records a situation as observed by him.
The third stage in the scientific method is the classification. Once the facts are observed and recorded we must classify them in a certain order. By classification we arrange our material in such a way that those facts which possess common characteristics are grouped together. Classification thus enables us to correlate the facts that we have collected and established some relationships between them.
Next comes the stage of hypothesis which means giving some sort of possible explanation for the correlation between the acts classified. Classification has enabled us to sift the relevant from the irrelevant. The correlation found between certain events and the study of their nature and mutual inter-action leads us to formulate a provisional explanation of the fact.
But it is not necessary that our hypothesis should be correct. It is to be purified, testing it on similar facts and if it is found to be incorrect it has to be discarded and a new one is to be formulated in its place. This process goes on till its truth is verified.
Then comes the last stage of prediction which means that the generalisation established on the basis of observation of facts would be valid in future also if the conditions specified in our principle will, prevail. The physical science can make true prediction but Sociology can give only rough prediction as its subject-matter is so varied and complex.
Sociology thus cannot make direct use of Experimental Method as the human behaviour is too complex and difficult to be brought under controlled condition for observation, comparison and experimentation. As George Cornewall Lewis remarked, “We cannot take a portion of the community in our hands as the king of Bioldigang took Gulliver, tried it in different aspect and place it in different positions in order to solve social problem and satisfy our speculative curiosity”.
Besides, there are not only no scientific aids to tend precision to sociological measurements but the factors which influence social phenomenon, such as human emotions and opinions, are also incapable of being precisely computed.
Let it at once be admitted that “scientific” experimentation is not possible in Sociology. However, experiments are being made by observing the facts as they actually exist, by classifying them, establishing correlation between them, giving provisional explanations, formulating general sociological principles and trying to make prediction as their basis.
As a matter of fact the use of scientific method differs from discipline to discipline according to nature of its subject-matter. Due to the peculiarities of human behaviour scientific method cannot be used to the same extent and in the same sense in Sociology in which it can be used in Physiological sciences.
So, it must be admitted that the hopes of sociology are not as bright as the hopes of physical sciences. Sociology has not yet developed-scientifically proved doctrines. In Sociology there have developed trends, techniques of social behaviour, but there have not developed ‘theories’ which can be predicted and proved with scientific empirical studies.
As a matter of fact, the study of sociology is yet limited largely to descriptive analysis. It provides logical description and explanation of important social institutions. These analyses may contain some elements of scientism but they do not provide scientifically verifiable evidence and theories.
The Problem of Objectivity:
Objectivity stands for remaining true to one’s mission and not be influenced, affected or dominated by any other feeling or factor. A physical scientist disallows his feelings dominating or influencing the subject in hand. But since social action— the subject matter of Sociology is complex and variously interpreted; it becomes difficult for a sociologist to maintain objectivity in its analysis.
Objectivity needs scientific attitude, consistent thinking, stark pursuit of accurate data, stubborn determination to analyze the facts, analysis of cause and effect, open mind free from any kind of bias, like or dislike, and penetrative insight for deep observation.
It is not easy to obtain objectivity. Sociologists, always experience constraints imposed deliberately or informally, consciously or unconsciously upon them by the society. But that does not mean the abandonment of the objective of a generalising sociology.
Although strict objectivity may not be attained, however, it is possible for a discriminative student of sociology to attain a reasonable amount of objectivity which will be consistent with logical and systematic thinking.
II. The Historical Method:
The Historical Method consists of a study of events, processes and institutions of past civilizations for the purpose of finding the origins or antecedents of contemporary social life and thus of understanding its nature and working.
History and Sociology are so much inter-related that some of the sociologists like G. E. Howard regard history to be past Sociology, and Sociology present History, it is evident that our present forms of social life, our customs or ways of living have their roots in the past and they can, therefore, be best explained when they are traced back to their sources. This can be possible only with the help of History. Social heritage is another name for history.
But this method cannot help us in studying all the problems of Sociology. The scope of Sociology cannot be limited to the study of facts provided by History.
The historical facts, as contained in life histories, diaries, etc., may be revealing but they have little use for scientific investigation, they may not be able to answer all the questions that may be raised, by a sociologist. Further, the historical facts also run the risk of not being studied objectively by the interpreters.
The Historical Method, therefore, was being not wholly adequate and dependable for the study of social phenomenon, calls for the employment of other methods for enquiry into field of sociology.
III. The Comparative or Anthropological Method:
The main task of Sociology, as we have seen, is to ascertain relations and inter-relation between different aspects of social life. Sociology cannot make proper use of the experimental method and all its various stages of observation, classification, hypothesis, generalisation etc. with regard to a particular social phenomenon in a laboratory as the physical sciences can do.
But a sociologist can surely experiment in the laboratory of the world by employing the Comparative Method. This method involves comparisons of various kinds or groups of people in order to find out the differences as well as similarities in their ways of life and thus to find out clues to man’s social behaviour.
This method has been used by many sociologists to find out what elements in social life are functionally со-related. Taylor used this method in the study of the institutions connected with the family among primitive people and was able to show that the practice of mother-in-law avoidance was со-related with the custom of matrilocal residence.
He showed that in all those families where the husband goes to live with his wife’s people, the practice of the mother-in-law avoiding her son-in-law is found. Similarly, Weber also finds direct relation between the practical ethics of a community and character of its economic system.
But the application of this method is not as simple as it may appear. The first difficulty in the application of this method is that social units have different meanings in different countries.
The institution of marriage, for instance, has different meanings for the people of India and for westerners. We consider it as an indissoluble sacred bond of union between husband and wife whereas the western people take it as a union of loose type breakable at the will of either party.
IV. Inverse Deductive Method:
Sociology makes use of Inverse Deductive Method on a large scale. This method was advocated by J. S. Mill and involves the following procedure:
In the first place, it assumes that there is relation between different elements of social life. By the use of Taylor’s method of tracing adhesions, we inquire what elements in social life are functionally correlated. As we have mentioned above, Taylor had applied this method to the comparative and statistical study of the institutions connected with the family among the primitive peoples and showed that the practice of mother-in-law avoidance is co-related with the custom of matrilocal residence.
Similarly, it has been suggested that there is some relationship between industrialisation and capitalism, between urbanisation and disintegration of the family, between war and class differentiations and so on. The rise of nobility and the extensive development of serfdom appear to be correlated with the growth of the economic system.
Secondly, after finding the correlation between the institutions, we come to the study of sequences i.e., finding whether there are any regularities in the changes of the institutions, and whether the changes in any one institution are correlated with changes in other institutions, e.g., we may inquire whether changes in class structure are connected with changes in the economic organisation or again whether changes in the forms and functions of the family are connected with changes in the economic order in religious beliefs or in morals.
Thirdly, if the laws of co-relative changes or sequences are established they provide what J. S. Mill called the middle principles of sociology. Finally, such laws would not, however, yield the final explanation of social phenomenon; they would require to be related to more ultimate laws of Psychology and Social Psychology which govern the life and evolution of human societies as such.
Thus Sociology cannot make use of either deductive method or inductive method. It makes use of inverse deductive method which is a combination of inductive obtained by means of the comparative method or by statistical method with deduction from more ultimate laws.
V. The Ideal Type Method:
The Ideal Type Method of investigating social phenomenon has been expounded by Max Weber, Simmel and Durkheim. According to this method an ideal is constructed from concrete cases and then a particular case is evaluated according to the degree of its approximation to the ideal.
For example, if a sociologist is interested in a problem, say, of “friendship” or “democracy” he will create an ideal conception of friendship or democracy on the basis of concrete cases and then, he will measure the particular case of friendship or the working of democracy in a particular country to that ideal and ascertain its value accordingly.
According to Weber, an ideal type of social behaviour involves a description of certain aims and normative controls, from which springs a notion of the rational course of action. The ideal type analysis and scales of personal values have proved very valuable for descriptive and analytical studies.
This method has further been employed with profit in Marxian interpretation whether the ideal types are classes having conflicting objectives.
This method can be used:
(a) As a means of interpreting particular situations;
(b) As a generalizing concept by means of which we can disentangle a similar element from the variety of its manifestation;
(c) As a means for detecting the causal force of other factors.
But this method has its difficulties the construction of an ideal is not an easy task. It is a subjective process, influence of personal preference cannot, therefore, be ruled out in constructing an ideal. Secondly, the ideal once fixed cannot be good for all times as it is liable to change with the change in situations. Thirdly, this method is not adequate to understand the complexity of society.
VI. The Statistical Method:
The Statistical Method is used to measure social phenomenon mathematically that is with the help of figures. According to Bogardus, “Social Statistics is mathematics applied to human facts.” Odum writes, “Statistics which is the science of numbering and measuring phenomena objectively is an essential core of research.
Explaining the meaning of statistical method, James Smith writes, “Statistical method is a term used to describe the process of interpreting facts by the use of statistics and statistical theory.”
It is obvious that Statistics can be used with advantage where the problem can be expressed in quantitative terms as in measuring the growth of population, the increase of birth and death rates, rise and fall in income etc. Prof. Giddings was the first great sociologist to emphasise the importance of statistics for sociological researches.
Much of the research work in Sociology is currently being carried on with the help of the data collected through statistics, for example, in studying population, migration, economic conditions, human ecology etc.
But the great difficulty in adopting the statistical method is that mostly the social problems are qualitative and not quantitative. This method can, therefore, be used in a limited sphere only.
In American sociology statistics have played an important role. There sociologists have been able to reduce more and more of sociological data to quantitative terms and thus to deal with them statistically.
VII. Sociometry:
A new method of sociometry has been recently evolved by some sociologists for the measurement of such nonstatistical relations as envy, class conflicts, social adjustments etc. Sociometry is a set of techniques to measure in quantitative and diagrammatic terms attractions and repulsions in interpersonal relations.
The approach has been very useful in the study of small group structures, personality trait and social status. It discloses the feelings people have for one another and provides various indexes or measures of interaction.
The sociometric test can be very helpful in the assignment of personnel to work groups in such a way as to achieve a maximum of inter-personal harmony and a minimum of inter-personal friction.
This technique is, in a sense, a combination of ideal type analysis and statistics. The method was at first initiated by G. L. Moreno in his book. We shall survive. Though it was primarily and chiefly used by psychologists but its value in the study of sociological problems is now being gradually recognised. This method is simple and reliable; however, it measures only one aspect of inter-personal attitudes and is not quantified.
VIII. The Social Survey Method:
The social survey method consists in the collection of data concerning the living and working conditions of people in a given area with a view to formulating practical social measures for their betterment and welfare.
Some of the definitions of social survey are the following:
1. Mark Abrams:
“A social survey is a process by which quantitative facts are collected about the social aspect of a community’s composition and activities”.
2. A. F. Wells:
“Social survey is fact-finding study dealing chiefly with working class poverty and with the nature and problems of a community”.
3. E. W. Burgess:
“A social survey of a community is the scientific study of its conditions and needs for the purpose of presenting a constructive programme of social advance.”
4. Bogardus:
“A social survey is the collection of data concerning the living and working conditions, broadly speaking, of the people in a given community”.
Thus social survey is concerned with collection of data relating to some problems of social importance with a view to formulating a constructive programme for its solution. It is conducted within a fixed geographical limit. Social surveys are of various types.
These are:
(i) General or specialised surveys;
(ii) Direct or indirect surveys;
(iii) Census survey or sample surveys;
(iv) Primary or secondary surveys;
(v) Initial or repetitive surveys;
(vi) Official, semi-official or private surveys;
(vii) Wide-spread or limited’ surveys;
(viii) Public or confidential surveys;
(ix) Postal or personal surveys;
(x) Regular or adhoc surveys;
It involves the following steps;
(i) Definition of the purpose or objects;
(ii) Definition of the problem to be studied;
(iii) The analysis of this problem in a schedule;
(iv) The delimitation of the area or scope;
(v) Examination of all documentary sources;
(vi) Field work;
(vii) Arrangement, tabulation and statistical analysis of the data;
(viii) The interpretation of the results;
(ix) Deduction;
(x) Graphic expression.
These surveys are very useful as they do not only provide detailed accounts of the social and economic facts but also bring home various social evils prevalent among the people of the area concerned and thereby draw the attention of the government to eradicate these evils by passing appropriate legislation.
America and England have been making use of social surveys, both general and specialized, since long on a very large scale to solve some of their social problems. India and other underdeveloped countries are also now benefiting from social surveys both in the urban and rural areas which they are conducting either on their own or with the co-operation and help of other advanced countries.
IX. The Case-Study Method:
A case study is defined as “an investigation of an individual or group in which the variables which are measured and whose empirical relations explored are characteristics of the individuals or group and not a sub-unit of it.” It is a form of qualitative analysis involving the very careful and complete observation of a person, a situation or an institution.
In the words of Yang, “The case study method may be defined as an all inclusive and intensive study of an individual, in which the investigator brings to bear all his skill and methods or as a systematic
Gathering of enough information about a person to understand how he or she functions as a unit of society.”
The case study method is employed in studying an individual case or that of a group, a community or an institution. The contention underlying it is that any case being studied is a. representative of many, if not all, similar cases and hence will make generalisations possible. Burgess assigns it the name of social Microscope.
This method is usually employed for the study of professional criminal and other social deviants and involves an investigation and an analysis of all the factors entering into the case and its examination from as many points of view as possible. H. E. Jenson writes, “Surely the typical survey is no more a case study of community than purely behaviouristic study of a personality is a case study of the individual: on the other hand I should say that the case study method is applicable to any size of group; that it is applicable from the study of the personality to the study of civilization itself. Any adequate sociological study shows fusion of case method and historical method.”
According to Goode and Harts, “It is a way of organising social data so as to preserve the unitary character of the social object being studied. Expressed somewhat differently it is an approach which views any social unit as a whole.”
Some of the techniques used in the method are interviews, questionnaires, life histories, documents of all kinds having a bearing on the subject and all such material which may enable the sociologist to have a deep insight into the problem. Thoroughness is the keystone of this method.
Case work is based on the principles of acceptance, self determination and confidentiality. The principle of acceptance refers to the attitude of the worker, his respect for the client as an individual which gives him a sense of security and encourages him to speak about his problem frankly; the principle of self determination allows the client to decide for himself rather than deciding for him; and the principle of confidentiality implies that the relationship between the case worker and the client is one of the trust and whatever is revealed to the worker is to be kept confidential and is not to be shared with anyone except in the interest of the client with his permission.
Case work is used in a variety of settings such as child care and child guidance institutions, schools, colleges, medical and psychiatric settings, family welfare, marriage counseling centres, institutions for the old and infirm as well as handicapped and also with people who suffer from addiction, character disorders, emotional disturbances and the like.
There are certain points which have been made in connection with the case-studies, Lewin pointed out that it would be misleading to use statistical methods until the cases which are combined into groups for numerical treatment are shown to be comparable.
Secondly, in order to understand or to predict the behaviour of an individual or group, diagnosis must be made so that the values of the constants to be inserted in the empirical laws may be found.
Sociology has not yet reached the stage where laws can be predicted accurately. Thirdly, a single case may be sufficient to refute law generalised from other cases. In such a case it is necessary to locate those variables which speak for different behaviour.
X. Questionnaire and Interview Method:
Questionnaire and interviews are very common and popular research tools of sociologists these days. The questionnaire is a list of important and pertinent questions concerning a problem. According to Lundberg, “Fundamentally, the questionnaire is a set of stimuli to which literate people are exposed in order to observe their verbal behaviour under these stimuli.”
It is sent to persons and associations concerned, requesting them to answer the questions to the best of their knowledge and ability. The object is to obtain knowledge about facts known to the informant but not to the investigator. From answers received to certain questions predictions are made about social behaviour.
It is necessary that proper care should be taken in formulating questions; they should not be ambiguous, too many or too personal, nor too difficult to be answered by a man of average intelligence and common understanding.
The questionnaire technique is being used all over the world to collect necessary data about a particular situation or problem. The Kothari Commission, 1964 had circulated a questionnaire regarding reforms in the educational system of the country and other matters connected with it. It was on the basis of the fact? Thus collected that the Commission had made its recommendations to the Government.
The Interview Method consists in having direct personal contact with persons or groups concerned who are, in any way, connected with the problem under study. Discussion of the problem with the person interviewed at personal level goes a long way out in clearly understanding his problems and remedying them accordingly.
This method has been employed in bringing out some outstanding works of which most prominent are A Medical Study of Sex Adjustment by Dr. Dickinson and Dr. Beam, The Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male and Female by Dr. A. C. Kinsay, etc.
Many kinds of information can be obtained either by interview or by questionnaire. The questionnaire has the great advantage of anonymity, making for more truthful answers. It also serves to cut out uncontrolled personal influences, and there is less likelihood of bias in the coding of replies. The interview is in general more flexible.
Since the same question can have different meanings to different people, the interviewer can remove such misunderstanding. He can probe for true replies and make ratings based on the whole of the subjects’ behaviour. He can change the order of questions and prevent the subject looking over the whole list before answering.
XI. The Public Opinion Poll Method:
This method is used to seek and gauge the beliefs, sentiments and attitudes of the public on any given proposition. ‘Public poll’ is very popular in America, where data regarding public opinion about various social, economic and political situations are collected through this instrument very frequently.
The public gives its views by answering ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘do not know’ to the proposition. The results of the ‘public poll’ help the authorities concerned in modifying their policies accordingly.
XII. The Verstehen Approach:
This method for the study of social phenomena has been advocated by some sociologists of whom Max Weber is perhaps the most notable. “Verstehen” is a German word which means “understanding” or comprehension of sociological problems. The advocates of this method maintain that the observed facts are of little significance unless they are evaluated through discovery of their inner meaning.
The American sociologist C. H. Cooley ‘ maintained in his Sociological Theory and Social Research that in order to grasp the significance of the behaviour of individuals the observer must penetrate into their thought processes and sentiments and shares their states of mind. It is only then that the actions of the individuals can be best understood.
Explaining this technique further C. H. Cooley in his Life and Student writes that “understanding” is developed from contact with the minds of other men through communication, which sets going a process of thoughts and sentiments similar to theirs and enables us to understand them by sharing their states of mind.
It is evident from the nature of this approach that it can be used only by such persons who have a gifted mind and a high level of education and intelligence. Moreover, this method should not be used exclusively for understanding social problems, it should be utilised along with the scientific or empirical method, only then it would yield best-results.
XIII. Functionalism or Structural Functional Method:
The approach of functionalism is being given great importance in the study of social phenomena by some sociologists. By this method we try to interpret any part of society in terms of its functions and not in terms of its utility and origin. Functionalism, in other words, refers to the study of social phenomena from the point of view of the functions that particular institutions such as family, class, political institutions, religion, etc., serve in a society.
It is a functional analysis of the different parts of society. According to R. K. Merton, it depends upon a triple alliance between theory, method and data, Function is the contribution which a partial activity makes to the total activity of which it is a part.
The functional method assumes that the total social system of the society is made up of parts which are inter-related and inter-dependent, each performing a function necessary to the life of the group, and these parts can best be understood in terms of the functions that they perform or in terms of the needs they meet. And since they are inter-dependent we can understand them only by investigating their relationship to other parts as well as to the whole social system.
Merton has mentioned the following major procedures of functional analysis:
(i) Establishment of functional requirements;
(ii) Explanation of structure and process;
(iii) Search of compensating mechanisms;
(iv) Detailed description of the structure;
(v) Detailed description of the functional systems.
According to Merton, the following points should be carefully studied in the functional analysis of social phenomena:
(i) Location of statuses of participants in the social structure;
(ii) Alternative modes of behaviour;
(iii) Description of the attitude towards the pattern;
(iv) Motivation for participating in the pattern;
(v) Associated unrecognised regularities of behaviour.
The functional approach was employed by sociologists like Comte, Spencer and others and anthropologists like Malinowski and Radcliffe Brown. The American sociologists like Parsons and Merton have elaborated this method and given it the name of structural functional method, because of the emphasis that it lays on social structures or institutions in studying the social phenomena.
Structures refer to those arrangements within the system which perform the functions while functions deal with the consequences-involving objectives as well as processes-of patterns of action.
But this approach is not without defects. It is not proper to lay all the stress on the functional aspect of the society. Each social institution has uniqueness of the origin, utility, etc. Moreover the society is dynamic and this static approach is not going to take us very far.