I. Meaning of the Empirical Method: The empirical method refers to the collection of data from the field. The facts of social life are studied and described as they exist. The techniques used in this method are observation, survey, experimental, case studies.
II. The Techniques of Data: Sociologists use different types of techniques for data collection keeping in view the nature of the problem under study. We will discuss here the most important techniques of data collection, which are as follows:
1. Observation.
2. Survey.
3. Cast study.
4. Questionnaire.
5. Interview.
A brief description of all the above five points is given below:
1. Observation: Observation is used as a tool of collecting information in situations where methods other than observation cannot prove to be useful, e.g. voters' behaviour during election time. The purpose of observation is to explore significant events and situations. capturing human conduct as it really happens.
There are four types (or ways) of observation:
1. Participant Observation and Non-Participant Observation.
2. Participant as Observer.
3. Observer as Participant.
4. Observer as Observer.
1. Participant Observation and Non-Participant Observation:
(a) It is one of the techniques of data collection. In small and pre-literate society, this technique can be usefully employed. But its use can become challenging and problematic, when the society we are observing is complex. He takes the role. The method achieves good results when the identity of the observer is not quite apparent.
(b) The main characteristic of participant observation is that analysis is carried out sequentially and each stage is different by logical sequence. That is, each succeeding stage depends on some analysis in the preceding stage. They are further differentiated by different forms of conclusions.
(c) In some cases, participant observation becomes very difficult and fought with risks particularly when the issue being inquired has sensitive and explosive dimensions, e.g. exploring the situation of communal riot.
(d) Participant Observation is a method in which the investigator becomes a part of the situation he is studying. He involves himself in the setting and group life of the research subjects. He shares the activities of the community observing what is going on around him, supplementing this by conversions and interviews.
2. Participant as Observer: This is not a disguised participant. An observer enters the community as an observer not as a role performer. Here the identity of the observer is known.
3. Observer as Participant: In this case, the observer visits a person and establishes a relationship and puts certain questions and observes the situation. The observer is here 'observer' as well as 'participant' with the interviewer.
4. Observe as Observer:
(a) In this case, observers observe the situation but those being observed are not aware of it. The observer has to be perceived in terms of skills and training.
(b) The quality of the observer is more important than investigators in other forms of data collection. Observation especially, participant observation, relies much on the attributes of the researcher for both amount and quality of information.
(c) Exact knowledge of the subject (or issues), previous experience, ability to deal with varied situations, adaptability, flexibility, ability to get along with others, and to remain unbiased and free from ideological constraints, are of great significance. Training must concentrate on the issues that are central to the study.
2. Survey: Social survey is a systematic and comprehensive study of a particular community with a view to analyze social problems with a diagnostic purpose in mind, so that it is also accompanied by a certain set of recommendations. The purpose of the survey is to provide information. The more accurate and comprehensive the information the better can be the planning. The goals of the community can then be achieved more fully.
The techniques of survey are: mail questionnaire or interview to elicit information directly and interpreting the resulting data by means of statistical analysis. It provides an alternative to the experimental method or participant observation and is widely used in sociology. Surveys may use sampling in order that inferences may be made from the sample about a wider population with a known degree of accuracy, as in government surveys and investigation of public opinion. When the populations are small, sociological surveys may cover whole groups rather than samples. Even when taking a sample from a wider population, sociologists may treat the sample as a self-contained whole and may not attempt to form the wider population from the sample. Surveys may be used in case study research. Sociologists use different types of survey in their research depending upon the nature of the study.
3. Case study:
Various related methods are used in case study namely:
(a) Social surveys.
(b) Questionnaires.
(c) Interviews.
(d) Attitude scales.
(e) Projective techniques.
Besides the above referred five techniques, personal documents, diaries, autobiographies, letters, life history, data etc. are also used.
Criticism of the Case Study Methodological Implications:
1. The case study method is very time consuming and very demanding of the researcher. The possibility of becoming involved emotionally is much greater than in survey research, thus, making detached and objective observation difficult and sometimes, impossible.
2. Another problem in the use of case study methods is that, since only one example of a social situation or group is being studied, the result may not be representative of all groups or situations in the category. In other words, the specific mental hospital ward, slum, or suburb may not be typical of all mental hospital wards, slums, or suburbs.
3. Critics of the case study method believe that the study of a small number of cases can offer no grounds for establishing reliability of generality of findings. Others feel that the intense exposure to the study of some specific cases biases the findings.
4. Some critics dismiss case study research as useful only as an exploratory tool.
4. Questionnaire:
1. A questionnaire poses a structured and standardized set of questions, either to one person or to a small population, or most commonly to respondents in a simple survey.
2. Structure here refers to questions appearing in a consistent, predetermined sequence and form. The sequence may be deliberately scrambled, or else arranged according to a logical flow to topics or question formats.
3. Questionnaire are distributed through the mail or by hand, through arrangements such as the 'drop-off' where a field-worker leaves the questionnaire for respondents to complete by themselves, with provision either for mailing the complete from back to the research office, or for a return call by the fieldworker to collect the questionnaire.
4. A questionnaire administered in a face-to-face interview, or over the telephone (growing in popularity among researchers) is usually termed 'schedule'. In deciding upon one of these methods, researchers balance the cost, probable response rate and the nature of the questions to be posed.
5. The questionnaire is particularly useful when the respondents are scattered in a large geographical area but the schedule is used when the respondents are located in a small area so that they can be personally contacted.
6. The wording of the questions in the questionnaire has to be simple, since the interviewer is not present to explain the meaning and import of the question to the respondent. In the schedule, the investigator gets the opportunity to explain whatever he requires to know.
5. Interview:
1. The set of structured questions in which answers are recorded by the interviewer himself is called interview schedule or simply the schedule.
2. The interview schedule is distinguished from the questionnaire in the sense that in the later (questionnaire) the answers are filled in by the respondents himself or herself. Though the questionnaire is used when the respondents are educated, schedule may be used both for the illiterate and the educated respondents.
