Ground Rules for Social Research by Denscombe

Ground Rules for Social Research by Denscombe

Author:Denscombe
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00


Key point

Positivism is an approach to social research that seeks to apply the

natural science model of research to investigations of social phenomena

and explanations of the social world.

Interpretivism

Interpretivism is an umbrella term for a range of approaches that reject some of the basic premises of positivism. As with the term positivism, there are points on which experts disagree and there are terms that are sometimes used to mean different things by different people. Some writers, for example, use the term constructivism instead of interpretivism. This hints at the dangers of trying to cover a diverse range of approaches and terminologies in a straight- forward way. Having made this point, the term ‘interpretivism’ itself tends to be used extensively by social researchers and in common use conveys the notion of a broad philosophical position that represents an alternative to positivism. It is generally regarded as making the following ontological assumptions about the nature of social reality:

• Social reality is subjective. It is constructed and interpreted by people – rather

than something that exists objectively ‘out there’. From the interpretivists’

point of view the social world does not have the tangible, material qualities

that allow it to be measured, touched or observed in some literal way. It is a

social creation, constructed in the minds of people and reinforced through

their interactions with each other. It is a reality that only exists through the



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