🌍 A macro view
Positivists take a macro view. They look at society as a whole, at large-scale structures and big groups, rather than at one person's feelings.
Approaches to Research » Positivism: Studying Society Like a Scientist
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Cambridge spec: 1.1.1
- What the positivist approach is and how it uses the scientific method
- Key ideas: social facts, a macro view, quantitative data, patterns and trends
- The difference between causation and correlation, and between objectivity and reliability
- The strengths and limitations of positivism
Can you study people like chemicals?
Watching a busy crowd from above is how positivists see society: big groups and patterns, not one person's feelings
Sociology is the study of human society and of how people behave in groups. Sociologists ask questions such as: why do some families have more money than others, why do some students do better at school, and why do crime rates change? To answer questions like these properly, they need a method, a planned way of collecting evidence. Without one, we only have opinions.
Here is the big question. A chemist can test a chemical in a lab and get the same result every time. Can we study people in the same way? Sociologists who say yes follow the positivist approach. They believe society can be studied scientifically, using the same kind of careful, evidence-based method as the natural sciences.
Key terms:
- Positivism: the approach that says society can be studied scientifically, using facts and numbers.
- Scientific method: a step-by-step way of finding out the truth by collecting and testing evidence.
The scientific method
Positivists copy the way scientists work. They follow clear steps:
- Hypothesis: a statement that can be tested, for example "students who attend school more often get higher exam results".
- Testing: collecting data to see whether the hypothesis is supported.
- Evidence: using the results to decide whether the hypothesis is right or wrong.
The steps are clear, so another researcher can follow them and check the work.
A macro view and social facts
👥 Social facts
A social fact is a way of acting or thinking that exists outside the individual and puts pressure on them, such as laws, rules and customs. Durkheim said these social facts shape our behaviour, whether we notice or not.
Because social facts are outside us, positivists argue they can be observed and measured, just like objects in nature.
Quantitative data, patterns and trends
Positivists prefer quantitative data. This is information in the form of numbers, such as percentages, rates and totals. Numbers are easy to count, compare and show in tables and graphs.
With numbers, researchers look for patterns (similarities or differences between groups at one time) and trends (changes over a period of time). For example, they might compare the exam results of girls and boys, or see whether the number of students finishing school has gone up each year.
Key terms:
- Macro view: looking at society as a whole and its large structures.
- Social fact: a force outside the individual, such as a rule or custom, that shapes behaviour.
- Quantitative data: information in the form of numbers.
- Pattern: a similarity or difference between groups.
- Trend: a change over time.
Causation and correlation
When two things change together, we call this a correlation. A cause is something that actually makes the other thing happen. Positivists want to find causes, but they must be careful. A correlation does not prove causation.
Worked example
On hot days, ice cream sales go up and so do cases of sunburn. The two are correlated, but ice cream does not cause sunburn. A third factor, hot sunny weather, causes both. To show a real cause, a sociologist needs to test the link carefully and rule out other explanations.
Durkheim and suicide rates
Durkheim never interviewed anyone - he compared official statistics from different countries to find social causes
The classic positivist study was by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim in the late 1800s. He asked whether something as personal as suicide could have social causes. He did not interview individuals. Instead he gathered official statistics on suicide rates from different countries and different groups.
He found clear patterns. Rates were quite steady within a society from year to year, but different between groups. Durkheim argued that this showed that social facts, such as how closely people are connected to their community, affect behaviour. A very personal act, he said, is shaped by society. His study is the model for the positivist approach because it used numbers, looked for patterns and took a macro view.
Objectivity and reliability
⚖ Objectivity
Objectivity means the researcher's own opinions and feelings do not affect the results. The facts speak for themselves.
🔄 Reliability
Research is reliable if another researcher could repeat it in the same way and get the same results.
Positivists value both. Using fixed steps and numbers makes the research easier to repeat and keeps the researcher's opinions out of it.
Strengths and limitations
✅ Strengths
- Large amounts of data can be collected and compared.
- Results are easy to show in graphs and tables.
- Studies can be repeated, so findings can be checked.
- It is more objective, as the researcher stays out of the way.
❌ Limitations
- People are not chemicals. They think and make choices, so they are harder to predict.
- Numbers show what is happening, but not why people act as they do.
- Feelings and meanings are hard to turn into numbers.
- Looking at society as a whole can miss what life is like for individuals.
Some sociologists disagree with positivism and take a different approach. You will meet it in the next lesson, Interpretivism: Understanding People's Meanings.
Common mistakes
Writing that correlation "proves" causation. It never does by itself. Another common slip is to mix up the two terms: objectivity is about the researcher's opinions staying out, while reliability is about getting the same results when the research is repeated.
Exam-style question
(a) Define the term 'social fact'. [2 marks]
(b) Identify two features of the positivist approach. [2 marks]
(c) Explain one strength and one limitation of the positivist approach. [4 marks]
Model answer
(a) A social fact is a force outside the individual, such as a law or custom (1), which puts pressure on people and shapes how they behave (1).
(b) It uses quantitative data, which is numbers (1). It follows the scientific method, for example by testing a hypothesis (1). [Other correct answers include a macro view and looking for patterns and trends.]
(c) Strength: positivist research is reliable (1) because the fixed steps and numbers mean another researcher can repeat it and check the results (1). Limitation: it cannot explain why people act as they do (1) because numbers do not capture people's feelings or reasons (1).
Exam tip
In part (c), do not stop at naming the strength or limitation. Add a "because" to explain it, as that is what earns the second mark each time.
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