Sociological Methods and Theory / Week 2 / Cindy Paskalina Kweesar

Summary:

As Aguste Comte wants, sociology has scientific methods used to understand and predict an event. As I discussed earlier in my previous blog post, sociologists always view an event from a different perspective and continue to question it. To get things that can be considered valid, they must use methods that are acknowledged as true. This includes determining the type of approach, making hypotheses and deductions, conducting experiments and evaluations and finally drawing conclusions from the results of the research that has been done.

Although it almost looks the same as science studies, research in social studies (sociology) has several obstacles that are difficult to avoid. For example, humans as the main subject of sociology are very complex creatures. Unlike testing the thickness of a steel, sociological research cannot be done by just “putting humans” in the lab. This will only eliminate the factors that influence and are very important to be taken into account in a study.

Besides that, another problem is how the subjectivity of the researcher can influence the validity of the results of the research conducted. Every researcher has an opinion, and ignoring the opinion of the researcher in the factors that influence the results of the research will become very ignorant.

Besides methodology, the important thing of a research is theory. According to Hedriksen (1992), the notion of theory is an arrangement of hypotheses, concepts, and pragmatic principles that form the general framework of reference for a questionable field. Theory consists of two components, the data and the proposed relationship. Without these two things, a theory would not be recognized as the truth.

In sociology, there are several prominent theories, including Conflict Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, Role Theory, Feminist Theory, and many more. These theories are considered good in resolving a social event that is happening. But this does not rule out the possibility of challenging these theories.

What was interesting/what did you learn

Feminist theory is not about focusing on women or even making women feel superior to men. This theory will only provide equal opportunities for women and men to see a social event. It is very interesting to know although women were often eliminated from the making of a theory, figures such as Dorothy E. Smith, Myra Marx Ferree, Joan Acker, and many more opened the opportunity for female sociologists to work in this field. The liberal Feminist Theory states that not only women but men are also harmed by society because they have to meet certain expectations. I strongly agree, because this kind of limitation, will greatly limit the freedom that everyone should have.

Discussion Point

Humans are very complex creatures, the experiences they experience greatly influence the decisions taken in the present. How does a sociologist observe subjects who are influenced by experiences that cannot be observed right away and still retain the truth of their research results?