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Unit-18: Techniques and Methods of Qualitative Research

3. stress should be to find out such data by which the entire life of the person can be notes
described.
4. All the life events of a person should be described in the original form.
5. People should be chosen only from the related geographical region.
6. A trained personnel should only be made in-charge of this activity.
Importance—this is the only method to understand the personal problems in a detailed manner. the
social thoughts and values of a person can be understood only using this method.
limitations—it is requires more time and money re-examination of data is also not possible.since
the study is not based upon sampling process, several other difficulties also arise. There is also a
possibility of partiality.Whatever it may be, the case study method is gaining popularity for the study
of sociology.
3. sociometry—Moreno was the first sociologist who diverted the attention of scholar towards this
method in this field. Jenings said, “In general sense, this method is meant for representing the mutual
relationships among the members of a group on a special occasion”.
Calculative method helps us to do calculation, the outer facts are made clearer. for example, by
calculation, it can be made clear that how many people in the country are unemployed, but why are
they unemployed cannot be answered. to know this internal fact, we have to depend on sociometry.
in this perspective, Moreno formulated certain scales and certain norms using which not only can we
describe the internal processes of our society, but also we can measure them.

18.2 General Methods/Scientific Methods of Sociology

sociology has also accepted methods recognized by other sciences. they are known as General Methods
or Scientific Methods of sociology. The following are the main steps of this method-
1. formulation of problem—the topic which we will be discussing will be known as the main
problem. for example, child crime, unemployment, marriages, etc.

Did You Know? It is necessary to fix the main problem so that the researcher can focus his
study at one point and does not let it spread elsewhere. By deciding the
problem, a certainty can be achieved in the study-work.

2. Formulation of Hypothesis—After classification, the rule that is resident in the basis is
extracted out because the validation of the rule is still pending, hence it is still not considered
a rule yet.
3. observation- observation can be of two types-
(i) Participant—in which one has to become a member of the group to examine.
(ii) Non-Participant—in which the examination is done as an outside member of the
group.
4. collection of Data—observed data are noted. it is necessary to store the data because it is
not possible to remember the data using one’s own memory.
5. Classification of Data—After collection of the complete data, it is arranged in a definite order.
This ordering of data is known as classification. The result of classification is that several
hundred facts can be divided into five or seven groups.

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