Is it true that practical factors are the most important factor when choosing a method of research?
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muqrimarhaingmailcom (student)
Sociologist have argued that practical factors tend to be more important than the other factors when choosing a method of research. Although the use of practical factors may be important criticisms have been made stating that the two other factors also carry an equal importance when choosing a method of research.
Sociologist claimed that funding is essential when starting a research. Without sufficient funding a sociologist would not be able to continue or would unexpectedly be able to start the research in the first place. Thus, to overcome this sociologist require the assistance of government or specific organization to take interest and provide the sufficient funds to carry the research. A common different between both parties is that and organization tend to take up researches that can enable them to sell it to other companies ,improve quality of life and extend the knowledge of society. However governments tend to invest on researches in specific fields such as transport, health, crime and housing. Overall funding can be seen as a key factor in choosing a research method. (Haralambos & Holborn)
In addition the choice of topic crucial in deciding a method of research. When doing a particular study, researchers must initially decide on the topic of the research. Moreover, they must be aware that people may be offended by the topic being researched. An example, many sociologist are concerned about the extent of research in the negative side of African Caribbean life, with studies on school failure, lower levels of job success and even claimed that higher rate of criminality have led to critics arguing that a continued association is made between race and criminality or race and failure.
Academic specialization secondly need to be considered. Sociologists tend to specialize in certain fields of various areas of sociology. Thus, the sociologist field specialty is needed to be taken into account to. An example, a sociologist may only study the family and not other fields such as health issues. Although the sociologist may know in the other topics, they might not specialize or have and extensive knowledge on other area beside their own field. As a result, they may lack the understanding and would not be able to compare to specialized sociologist of that certain field. (Haralambos & ...
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Academic specialization secondly need to be considered. Sociologists tend to specialize in certain fields of various areas of sociology. Thus, the sociologist field specialty is needed to be taken into account to. An example, a sociologist may only study the family and not other fields such as health issues. Although the sociologist may know in the other topics, they might not specialize or have and extensive knowledge on other area beside their own field. As a result, they may lack the understanding and would not be able to compare to specialized sociologist of that certain field. (Haralambos & Holborn)
Furthermore, personal reasons is also a factor that needs to be looked into. Each sociologist have their reasons to undertake researchers. Whether to accomplish a goal, gain fame or purely base on curiosity are some examples. Each research choices tend to often be influenced by such desires. For example, a sociologist that has a family that needs to be taken care of may tend to choose questionnaires instead of participant observation.
Lastly ,the nature of the researcher may affect the method of research that the sociologist may choose. Different sociologist have different methods of doing researches. If the sociologist is a positivist they often conduct large scale methods for example questionnaires and if the sociologist is an interpretivist they often choose research methods that shows the true nature of individuals for example participant observation.
On the other hand, some sociologist argue the view in regard to the importance of practical factors tend to be over exaggerated. Ethicality have been said to be a prime argument in the choosing of research methods. The effect on the people being researched have been argued to be an ethical factor. Researcher imposition have commonly been criticize when a sociologist conducts their research. The effect they may have on the research due to their presence and a way to overcome it. Furthermore, the legality morality have been criticize by many sociologist. In the event the sociologist that are doing covert researches are dragged into acts that are illegal, this action are often risky as the law is still broken, despite it being a research. For example, Howard parker in his research on the study of Liverpool delinquents, took part in the theft of car radios so that his cover would not be exposed.
In addition, the effect on the wider society, where in today’s society the topic of privacy and the rights of an individual is regarded as highly. Thus, sociologist must be aware that this factor may cause legal issues such as prosecution. To conclude, sociologists must be aware of this issue, whether they would disclose the research to keep the validity of the research or to expose and inquire permission and risk the validity of the research their researching.
However, critics have regard theoretical factors as an important influence in the choosing of research methods. The theory of research method, where sociologists tend to hold strong theoretical beliefs in a study they deem to be more important. An example, in which feminist sociologist may look upon and further research on studies that examine women in society, and to uncover the ways in which patriarchy, or the power of men has been used to control and oppress women. Consequently, the research a sociologist will do may be influence by this and must be considered when choosing the method of research.
The theory of techniques of the studies. There are two camps in which this belongs to, top down and bottom up theories. Top down theories approach perspectives such as functionalism and Marxism, where they claim that the best way to understand society is to view it as a real thing which exists above and beyond us individual, whereas bottom up approaches focuses on perspectives, such as interactionalism they stress the out view that the only way to understand society is to look at the world through the eyes of other individuals. Both have different views that the researcher must reevaluate when doing the research.
Lastly, the interpretation of research finding, the last conclusion and step needed towards a research. It is largely depended upon what the researcher is looking for, and that in turn depends on the theoretical approach the research emphasizes with. For example, a feminist researcher will be more keen to understand the position of women whereas Marxist will be looking for signs of class struggles and functionalist on the other hand will look on the key indications to prove that set of common beliefs exist.
In conclusion, the view that practical factors are the most important tend to be overstated. There are other factors such as ethical factors and theoretical factor that also weigh and importance and contribute to the choosing of a research method. For a sociologist to maximize the choosing of research methods there is a need to take into account different factors and to not focus on only one factor.
