3.3 Frameworks Shaping Sociological Research
As you learned in The Scientific Method and Sociological Research, sociologists design their research by building on existing scholarship. We use many different frameworks to shape our approaches to research design, data collection, and analysis. In this chapter, we offer a closer look at some common approaches: interpretive frameworks, grounded theory, and critical sociology.
Interpretive Framework
While many sociologists rely on empirical data and the scientific method as a research approach, others operate from an interpretive framework. An interpretive framework, sometimes referred to as an interpretive perspective or approach, is a sociological research approach that seeks in-depth understanding of a topic or subject through observation or interaction. This approach is not based on hypothesis testing. Interpretive frameworks allow researchers to have reflexivity. Reflexivity refers to the ability of the researcher to examine how their social position influences how and what they research (Cambridge 2022). It requires the researcher to evaluate how their feelings, reactions, and motives influence how they think and behave in a situation.
While systematic, this approach doesn’t follow the hypothesis-testing model that seeks to find generalizable results. Instead, an interpretive framework seeks to understand social worlds from the point of view of participants, which leads to in-depth knowledge or understanding of the human experience. Ethnography is one research method that uses an interpretive framework. You will learn more about this method in the next section.
Interpretive research is generally more descriptive or narrative in its findings. Rather than formulating a hypothesis and method for testing it, an interpretive researcher will develop approaches to exploring their topic that may involve a significant amount of direct observation or interaction with subjects, including storytelling. This type of researcher learns through the process and sometimes adjusts the research methods or processes midway to optimize findings as they evolve.
Grounded Theory
Grounded theory uses an interpretive framework to make sense of the social world. Grounded theory is an approach developed by sociologists Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss (1967) at a time when researchers were questioning positivism. As you learned in Chapter 2, positivism refers to Auguste Comte’s theory that science produces universal laws, science controls what is true, and objective methods allow you to pursue that truth. A counter perspective, anti-positivism, offers a different theoretical perspective that suggests social researchers should strive for subjectivity as they work to represent social processes, cultural norms, and societal values.
Grounded theory offers a different approach to analysis that is sometimes used in qualitative research and aims to help with the development of theory (Charmaz 2003). This systematic theory is “grounded in” or based on observations. It uses induction or inductive reasoning, which means you use specific observations or evidence to arrive at broad conclusions. With grounded theory, the research starts by gathering observations before creating categories to organize the data in. After initially organizing the data into categories, they begin to look for patterns and relationships among categories (Glaser and Strauss 1967). A few methods that commonly utilize a grounded theory approach are participant observation, interviewing, and secondary data collection of artifacts and texts.
Critical Sociology
Critical sociology focuses on the deconstruction of existing sociological research and theory. This approach to methods is informed by the work of Karl Marx, and feminist, postmodern, postcolonial, and critical race scholars. Critical sociologists propose that social science is embedded in systems of power. Power is constructed by the set of class, caste, race, gender, and other relationships that exist in society. Consequently, power cannot be treated as purely objective. Critical sociologists view theories, methods, and conclusions as serving one of two purposes: they can either legitimize and rationalize systems of social power and oppression or liberate humans from inequality and restriction on human freedom. We’ll explore examples of this approach in the section “A Closer Look: Indigenous Knowledge and Decolonizing Research Methods” later in this chapter.
Licenses and Attributions for Frameworks Shaping Sociological Research
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“Frameworks Shaping Sociological Research” by Jennifer Puentes is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
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“Interpretive Framework” definition is from “Ch. 2 Key Terms” by Tonja R. Conerly, Kathleen Holmes, Asha Lal Tamang, Introduction to Sociology 3e, OpenStax, which is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
“Anti-positivism” definition is from “Ch. 1 Key Terms” by Heather Griffiths and Nathan Keirns, Introduction to Sociology 3e, OpenStax, which is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
“Critical Sociology” is remixed from “2.1 Approaches to Sociological Research” by Tonja R. Conerly, Kathleen Holmes, Asha Lal Tamang, Introduction to Sociology 3e, OpenStax, which is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Edited for clarity.
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“Reflexivity” definition is modified from the Cambridge Dictionary and included under fair use.
a statement that proposes to describe and explain why facts or other social phenomena are related to each other based on observed patterns.
the scientific and systematic study of groups and group interactions, societies and social interactions, from small and personal groups to very large groups and mass culture; also, the systematic study of human society and interactions.
a sociological research approach that seeks in-depth understanding of a topic or subject through observation or interaction; this approach is not based on hypothesis testing. Interpretive frameworks allow researchers to have reflexivity so they can describe how their own social position influences what they research.
an explanation for a phenomenon based on a conjecture about the relationship between the phenomenon and one or more causal factors.
the ability of the researcher to examine how their own social position influences how and what they research. Reflexivity requires the researcher to evaluate how their own feelings, reactions and motives influence how they think and behave in a situation.
the study of people in their environments to understand the meanings they give to their activities.
an interpretive framework sometimes used in qualitative analysis with the goal of developing theory; an approach developed by sociologists Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss (1967) that offers an alternative to positivism.
Comte’s theory which suggests that science produces universal laws, science controls what is true, and objective methods allow you to pursue that truth.
the view that social researchers should strive for subjectivity as they work to represent social processes, cultural norms, and societal values.
the social expectations of how to behave in a situation.
shared beliefs about what a group considers worthwhile or desirable.
research methods that work with non-numerical data and attempt to understand the experiences of individuals and groups from their own perspectives. With qualitative approaches, researchers examine how groups participate in their own meaning making and development of culture.
a sociological approach that focuses on deconstruction of existing sociological research and theory. Critical sociologists view theories, methods, and conclusions as serving one of two purposes: they can either legitimize and rationalize systems of social power and oppression or liberate humans from inequality and restriction on human freedom.
a category of identity that ascribes social, cultural, and political meaning and consequence to physical characteristics.
a set of people who share similar status based on factors like wealth, income, education, family background, and occupation.
a term that refers to the behaviors, personal traits, and social positions that society attributes to being female or male
a group of people who live in a defined geographic area, interact with one another, and share a common culture.
a combination of prejudice and institutional power that creates a system that regularly and severely discriminates against some groups and benefits other groups.