Sociological Theory: Positivistic, Interpretative, And Critical

Below is a free term papers summary of the paper "Sociological Theory: Positivistic, Interpretative, And Critical." If you sign up, you can be reading the rest of this term papers in under two minutes. Registered users should login to view this term paper.

Term Paper Title	Sociological Theory: Positivistic, Interpretative, And Critical
# of Words	1851
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	7.4

Sociological Theory: Positivistic, Interpretative, and Critical

Sociological Theory: Positivistic, Interpretative, and Critical

Comment on the three types of sociological theories, explain and argue, based
on your library or Internet research, which type of theory is the most
appropriate theory for sociology to adopt.

The three general types of sociological theory are positivistic, interpretive
and critical theory.In determining which theory is the most appropriate for
sociology to adopt,a basic understanding of each theory's strengths and
weaknesses is necessary.In defining each of these theories, it is important to
determine the ontological basis orthe theory's basis for determining what is
knowable; the epistemological basis or the theory's relationship between the
knower and the knowable; and, finally, the methodological basis or the theory's
method for gathering data and obtaining knowledge.

A.POSITIVISTIC

1.Ontology.

The positivistic theory is based on an ontology ofbeing a realist.The realistic
slant of positivism is also known as determinism.The positivist knows that a
reality is "out there" to be defined and categorized.The hard sciences from the
time of Newton and Decartes have traditionally relied on the positivistic
approach.The positivist hopes to be able to approximate "reality" in a detailed
generalization or theory on how reality operates.The theories of a positivist
generallytake the form of cause and effect laws describing the outside
reality.Robert Merton defined these theorems as "clear verifiable statements of
the relationships between specified variables."

2.Epistemology.

Positivism relies onan objective epistemology.The observer remains distant and
does not interact with the observation or experiment.Values and any other
factors that might lead to bias are to be carefully removed so that the cold,
monological gaze of science can be used to analyze the data.The positivist is an
objectivist.

3.Methodology.

The methodology of positivism is experimental and manipulative. The approach is
the same as propounded in most junior high science classes:begin with a
hypothesis on how "reality" works, then gather data and test the data against
the hypothesis.The question propounded initially is tested against empirical
data gathered in the experiment under carefully controlled conditions.

B.INTERPRETIVE

1.Ontology.

The interpretivist ontology is relativism.The belief, unlike the positivist, is
that knowledge is relative to the obser...

This is not the end of the termpaper! Register below to see the complete version of this term paper.

Membership Plans	Credit Card	Check

1 month membership

3 month membership (You Save 50%)

6 month membership (You Save 67%)

Copyright © 2002-2007 Mid Term Papers. All rights reserved. This term papers website is used for research purposes only.
If you have forgotten your username or password, please click here.
If you like to cancel your account, please click here.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22