RESEARCH

METHODOLOGIES

JAMIA MILIA ISLAMIA

M.A. PUBLIC ADMINSTRATION
SEMESTER – III

Topic: What do you understand by interpretivism in social

research?
Name: Vaishnavi Sudha
Roll no.: 202208876
INTRODUCTION

SOCIAL RESEARCH
Social science research can be defined as the act of re-examining the social
world with the goal of better understanding or explaining why or how people
behave. This definition emphasises the rediscovery process that is always rooted
in research. Therefore, the word ‘research’ can be interpreted as ‘renewed
search ‘or ‘re-examination’
P.V. Young defines social research as “the systematic method of discovering the
new facts or verifying the old facts, their sequences, inter relationship, causal
explanations and the natural laws which govern them.” Stephenson defines
social research as “a manipulation of things concepts or symbols for the purpose
of generalizing to extend correct and verifying knowledge, whether that
knowledge aids in the construction of a theory or in the practice of an art.”
Social research is also defined as comprising of defining and redefining
problems; formulating hypothesis or suggesting solutions; collecting organising
and evaluating data, making deduction and making conclusions; and at last
carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulated
hypothesis.

A method used by social scientists and researchers to learn about people and
societies so that they can design products/services that cater to various needs of
the people. Investigating these topics can help social scientists learn more about
how individuals, groups and societies interact, develop and function.
Understanding this practice and what it involves can help you determine if you
want to pursue a career in psychology, sociology or anthropology
Organizations may use social research to improve their marketing practices, and
government institutions can use this research to inform legislature and other
policies.
Various aspects of human behaviour need to be addressed to understand their
thoughts and feedback about the social world, which can be done using Social
Research. Any topic can trigger social research – new feature, new market trend
or an upgrade in old technology.
Researchers often decide the best way to study a specific social trend, principle
or dynamic using a particular method. Some studies are best conducted by
analysing specific numerical data, while other studies are better suited to the
analysis of detailed descriptions. Similarly, some studies are best done through
primary research, while others are best done through secondary research.

Social Research is conducted by following a systematic plan of action which

includes qualitative and quantitative observation methods.

Qualitative methods rely on direct communication with members of a market,

observation, text analysis. The results of this method are focused more on being
accurate rather than generalizing to the entire population.

Quantitative methods use statistical analysis techniques to evaluate data

collected via surveys, polls or questionnaires.

Case studies

Case studies are a type of qualitative research that involves an in-depth analysis
of a particular individual, group or situation to analyse trends and establish
themes. Researchers may conduct the interviews or observations for case
studies, or they may analyse information that already exists. For example, a
social research case study may involve analysing the personality of a person
who survived exposure to a severe amount of radiation to learn more about the
long-term social and cognitive impacts of this incident

Surveys

our first and very commonly used social research method is Surveys. Surveys
refer to a set of pre-designed questions given to a pre-defined sample of a huge
population.

Ethnography

Ethnography refers to a social research method, where researchers engage in the

participants’ social circle and get to know their views about the social
environment. It mainly focuses on how the people recognize themselves against
the social group.

The ethnographic environments may look like a country, town, mall, zoo, etc.
anything but with a boundary. These are the places where the people gather with
some purpose in their mind like worshipping, vacation, industrial visits,
partying, etc. The researchers’ interest is to study their behaviour in those
environments.
ADVENT OF INTERPRETIVE SOCIOLOGY

Interpretive sociology focuses on the meanings people attach to their social

world. It shows that reality is constructed by people themselves in their daily
lives. This approach diverges from positivistic sociology by recognizing that the
subjective experiences, beliefs, and behaviour of people are intrinsic aspects of
what we observe or in other words there is no such thing as a purely objective
phenomenon.

In simple words, this approach tells us that in order to study and understand
society and social phenomena, we must ‘enter or step into the shoes of the
other’ and nothing can be understood from the outside.

His approach to sociology can be seen as an attempt to compromise with

positivism and its aims to create a scientific sociology. Weber defined sociology
as a “science which attempts the interpretive understanding of social action in
order thereby to arrive at a causal explanation of its course and effects”

Weber argued that the overall objective of the social sciences was to develop an
‘interpretive understanding of social action’. Since the central concern of the
social sciences was with social action and since human actions necessarily
involved subjective meanings, the methods of enquiry of social science also had
to be different from the methods of natural science.

Weber also wanted to establish an alternative approach (to positivism) as it

would focus on understanding subjective experience and not be merely based on
observation or adherence to facts.

As a result, the perceived facts that are inherent to the positivist observational
method can take on an entirely new meaning from the perspectives of different
individuals. Weber persistently emphasized the role of interpretation in the
cultural and social sciences.

He also underlined that, social scientists should never be content to just

understand the ‘rules’ of a society but they must ‘interpret’ and ‘explain’ the
actions and beliefs of social agents.

Interpretive sociology employs rational understanding of motivations. Max

Weber suggested that we understand ‘the chopping of wood’ or ‘aiming of a
gun’ in terms of motive. We know that the woodchopper is working for a wage;
for his own use or possibly is doing it for recreation. But he might also be
working through a fit of rage (an irrational case)
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN POSITIVIST AND INTERPRETIVE
SOCIOLOGY

POSITIVISM
1)The concept of positivism was
developed by the French
sociologists Auguste Comte and
Emile Durkheim, modelled
along natural or rational
sciences- physics or chemistry.
2) Positivist sociology aims to
understand social institutions by
relying on observation and
knowledge or facts.
INTERPRETIVISM
1)Interpretive sociology was
initiated by German sociologist Max
Weber and developed by George
Simmel and others.
2) Interpretive sociology aims to
understand the meaning behind
actions through the subject’s
position within a system of
meanings

BRANCHES OF INTERPRETIVISM
Interpretive approach has given rise to diverse theoretical traditions of sociology
under the general category of social constructionist approach. Some of the
prominent ones are symbolic interactionism, dramaturgy, phenomenology and
ethnomethodology.
The notion of the social construction of reality lies at the heart of symbolic
interactionist perspective Anthony Giddens describes the study of everyday life
as telling us how humans can act creatively to shape reality and that social
behaviour is guided to some extent by forces such as roles, norms and shared
expectations.
Max Weber’s contribution and emphasis on the importance of Verstehen
(interpretive understanding or subjective meaning) for understanding social life
was most important. It also demonstrated Weber’s ability to bridge ‘macro’ and
‘micro’ perspectives. In the following sub-sections, brief overviews of the
interactionist perspectives will be discussed, in order to understand how and
why these theoretical traditions are integral to interpretive sociology.
LIMITATIONS OF INTERPRETIVISM

The major ones are:

1)It is possible that observation may be influenced by personal bias.
2)Direct observation also requires prior knowledge of the culture being studied.
3)It assumes that people in society consider their actions to be rational, which
may not always be the case.
4)It also has been regarded as an inadequate account of action since it remains
excessively individualistic.

CONCLUSION
Interpretive theory is more accepting of free will and sees human behaviour as
the outcome of the subjective interpretation of the environment. Interpretive
theory focuses on the actor’s definition of the situation in which they act.
Although symbolic interactionism traces its origins to Max Weber’s assertion
that individuals act according to their interpretation of the meaning of their
world, the American philosopher George Herbert Mead introduced this
perspective to American sociology.
Symbolic interactionism is a major framework of sociological theory. This
perspective relies on the symbolic meaning that people develop and rely upon in
the process of social interaction. The notion of the social construction of reality
lies at the heart of symbolic interactionist perspective.