Sociology: Understanding Traditional Models

The Traditional Model

• Deductive approach: starts with a theory
• Nomothetic approach: focuses on causal models
• Quantitative approach: uses numerical variables

Auguste Comte

• Considered the father of positivism and sociology
• Believed social phenomena can be studied using natural science techniques
• Goal: search for causal laws in the social world through empirical observation

Emile Durkheim

• The first rule of sociology: consider social facts as things
• Determine the cause of a social fact by looking at preceding social facts, not individual consciousness
• Understand people's social conditions to understand their behavior

Criticisms of Positivism

• Other approaches, such as inductive, ideographic, and qualitative approaches, also add value
• Inductive approach: starts with observations and develops a theory
• Grounded theory: a stream of work that advocates for the inductive approach
• Ideographic approach: focuses on understanding specific cases
• Qualitative approach: prioritizes richness over precision

Research Goals and Questions

• A research goal is a statement that guides the research
• A research question should be specific, clear, and aligned with the research purpose
• Common mistakes: not specifying a specific end goal, not making the research question explicit
• A good research question includes the question, aim, and is simple, yet precise

Types of Research Questions

• Exploratory: little to no knowledge on a topic
• Descriptive: about properties of a research object
• Examples: what ways does the municipality of Rotterdam use performance indicators?

Research Methods

• Experiment: tests the effect of an intervention, relies on randomization and control
• Interviews: good for measuring perceptions, opinions, and course of events
• Observation/Ethnography: focuses on interaction between people, close to the action
• Limitations: time-consuming, relies on key actors, interview bias

Validity and Reliability

• External validity: can the findings be generalized to other contexts?
• Reliability: consistency and stability of the measurement
• Conceptual framework: a set of interrelated constructs, definitions, and propositions
• Operationalization: translating theoretical concepts into empirical variables
• A good theory has purpose, procedure, and predictive power

Theory and Validity

• Theory: a set of coherent statements to describe, explain, or predict a phenomenon
• Why theory? 3 values: explanation, prediction, and description
• Validity: construct validity (measuring what you want to measure) and internal validity (making causal statements)