Methodology

Abstract

Methodology is the study of how sociological claims to specialized knowledge of societies ate validated. Methodological issues are thus fundamental to all the areas of sociology covered in this book. The aim of this chapter is to examine and illustrate some of the major technical and theoretical issues involved in gathering and interpreting data. It should help you to understand and illustrate:

• What is meant by methodology and the importance of epistemological, ontological and technical questions in social research

• The key strategies of social research and the myth of quantitative versus qualitative research

• Why there is a discrepancy between the ideal and actual in the process of doing social research

• The distinction between ‘realism’ and ‘relativism’