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Methodology of Social Research Sukanya Das, Lovely Professional University

notes Unit-18: Techniques and Methods of Qualitative Research

contents
objectives
introduction
18.1 study Methods of sociology
18.2 General Methods/Scientific Methods of Sociology
18.3 summary

18.4 Keywords
18.5 review Questions
18.6 further readings

objectives

After studying this unit students will be able to:
y Gather quantitative facts related to social activity
y Construct a sub-imagination
y Acquire material and arrange it in a serial manner
y Decide the problem so that the researcher can focus his study on one point.

introduction

August Compt has definite view that there is no place of gambling or speculation in scientific study.
in other words, the results obtained from spiritual or philosophical thinking can be true as well as
imaginative, hence the results to be true or imaginary is just a matter of chance whereas scientific
study cannot be and should not be dependent upon ‘chance’ or ‘speculation’. therefore, every science
adopts one or several definite and organized study-techniques for its experimentally proved study
work. This is known as techniques and these techniques serve as base for scientific research. Basically,
these techniques are similar for all forms of science; only necessary changes are made in their form
depending upon the study object in each science. thus, we can say that technique is that method using
which we decide the structure of the study-work; do critical analysis of the data and the results.

18.1 Study Methods of Sociology

As far as study techniques of sociology are concerned, it is said that the sociology techniques are not
much proven but their quantity is plenty. Probably, that is the reason that french mathematician had
once said that sociology is the science of maximum techniques but least results. the above statement of
Poincare was a big claim. Botomore has written, “ the truth in Poincare’s statement is that there has
been a lot of dispute regarding the correct techniques of sociology and every sociology philosopher’s
inclination has been to expand the new techniques towards a particular subject.” By writing this,
Botomore means to say that the study of society is much tougher unlike the study of nature.

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