Theory and Methods: Value Freedom

Value Freedom

Positivists such as Durkheim and Comte believed that sociology was the science of society and therefore needed to follow scientific principles in order to gain credibility. It was the job of sociology to find societies problems and fix them with objective data that could be verified by others within the field in order to create reliable solutions.

Using the method of induction, Durkheim believed that his research was value free because he found trends within official statistics that were gathered in a scientific way.

Modern Day Positivists: Continued with the theme of value freedom whilst conducting research for the government as a way of discovering social trends. Their approach could be argued to be completely value free as instead of choosing a topic of interest, these researchers are hired by organisations to conduct research in order to increase their understanding. These modern day positivists have no interest in creating sociological theory but believe that by doing their work in this way then they can boost the credibility of sociology.

Gouldner: Refers to modern day positivists as 'spiritless technicians' as they ignore their own values and are therefore completely at the mercy of their 'paymasters'. He argues that sociology should be filled with values in order to drive work and make it interesting. He suggests that value freedom is both undesirable and impossible as he believes that in one way or another, values will always effect the outcome of the research. He suggests that within sociology people need to take sides rather than be value free.

Weber: Argues that all research is subjective regardless or not of the researcher intentions. He argues that there are four stages of the research process:

1. Choice of topic area: Researchers choose a topic area they are interested in and are therefore using their values.
2. Data collection and hypothesis testing: This area of research can and should remain objective.
3. Interpretation of findings: Once the data has been given, it is inevitable that they will be adapted to fit a particular value based on theoretical perspective.
4. How the findings are used in society and the impact they have: Researchers, value free or not, are still responsible for the impact their research has on society.

Even though Positivists claim that their research is value free, they are being subjective, even if they don't want to be. Their research can be manipulated by their employers who give them a remit, which in turn makes their research subjective.

Interpretivists argue that sociology should be subjective and therefore not value free.

Mead: Argues that researchers put themselves in the place of the individual in order to achieve verstehen. By doing this, researchers can obtain highly valid results and are therefore highly subjective as it is all about learning how individuals feel.

Tess Ridge: Undertook qualitative research in order to see poverty from a child's perspective. By taking this approach, Interpretivists believe they gain a true picture of the situation and therefore oppose the need for objectivity on sociological research.