The document outlines three main approaches to social research: positivist, interpretivist, and critical. It provides comparisons of the key assumptions and methods of each approach. The positivist approach views reality as objective and seeks to discover universal laws through quantitative methods. The interpretivist approach sees reality as subjective and aims to understand how people construct meaning through qualitative research. The critical approach seeks to critique and transform social relations by uncovering hidden truths through analytical methods like discourse analysis.

1. Three
Approaches
in
Social
Research
Assumption
Question
Positivist
Interpretivist
Critical
Mode
of
Research
Kuantitatif
Kualitatif
Studi
Pustaka
Pioneer
Auguste
Comte
(1798
–
1857),
Emile
Durkheim
(1858-­‐1917).
Max
Weber
(1864-­‐1920)
Karl
Max
(1818-­‐1883),
Sigmund
Freud
(1856-­‐1939)
Purpose
Research
is
scientific:
to
discover
and
document
universal
laws
of
human
behavior
To
develop
an
understanding
of
social
life
and
discover
how
people
construct
meaning
in
natural
settings.
To
critique
and
transform
social
relations:
uncover
myths,
reveal
hidden
truths
and
help
people
to
change
the
world
for
themselves.
Ontological
Assumption
What
is
the
nature
of
reality?
• Reality
is
objective
and
singular,
apart
from
the
researcher.
• Social
reality
is
out
there
to
be
discovered,
independent
of
human
consciousness.
• Reality
is
subjective
and
multiple
as
seen
by
participants
in
a
study.
• Social
reality
is
created
out
of
purposeful
actions
of
interacting
social
beings.
What
people
perceive
it
to
be.
Historical
realism:
reality
is
seen
as
constantly
shaped
by
social,
political,
cultural
and
similar
factors.
Nature
of
human
beings
Social
forces
almost
as
if
they
had
a
life
of
their
own
and
operated
regardless
of
people’s
personal
wishes.
People
are
engaged
in
a
process
of
creating
flexible
system
of
meaning
through
social
interaction.
To
discover
what
action
means
to
the
people
who
engage
in
them.
Reification
(motive:
niat)
is
giving
the
creations
of
your
own
activity.
So
discover
what
the
motive
is!
Theory
of
social
reality
Determinism:
human
behavior
is
determined
by
causal
laws
over
which
humans
have
little
control.
Voluntarism:
people
have
a
large
amount
of
free
will
to
create
social
meanings.
So
so:
people
are
constrained
by
the
material
conditions,
cultural
context
and
historical
conditions
in
which
they
find
themselves.
But
people
can
develop
new
understandings
or
ways
of
seeing
that
enable
them
to
change
these
structures,

2. relationships
and
laws.
Fact
Object:
fact
is
neutral,
separate
from
values
and
social
construction
Subject:
fact
is
made
of
created
meaning
with
people
creating
and
negotiating
meanings.
Object-­‐subject:
facts
of
material
conditions
exist
independent
of
subjective
perceptions,
but
facts
are
not
theory
neutral.
Instead,
facts
require
an
interpretation.
Epistemological
Assumption
What
is
the
relationship
between
the
researcher
to
that
researched?
Researcher
is
independent
from
that
being
researched.
Researcher
interacts
with
that
being
researched.
Axiological
Assumption
What
is
the
role
of
values
• Value-­‐free
and
unbiased
• Objective,
value-­‐free
• Value-­‐laden
and
biased
• Relativism:
everything
is
relative
and
nothing
is
absolute
Research
is
a
moral-­‐political
activity
that
requires
researchers
to
commit
to
a
value
position.
Methodological
Assumption
What
is
the
process
of
the
research?
• Deductive
• Cause
and
effect
• Static
design
–categories
isolated
before
study
• Context-­‐free
• Generalization
leading
to
prediction,
explanation
and
understanding
• Accurate
and
reliable
through
validity
and
reliability
• Inductive
• Mutual
simultaneous
shaping
of
factors
• Emerging
design
–categories
identified
during
research
process
• Context-­‐bound
• Patterns,
theories
developed
for
understanding
• Accurate
and
reliable
through
verification
Looking
at
hidden
conditions
which
constrain
people
and
thus
liberating
people
from
this
constraint.
Model
of
Study
• Experiment
• Surveys
• Ethnographies
• Grounded
theory
• Case
studies
• Phenomenological
studies
• Feminism
• Class
theory
• Conflict
theory
• Hermeneutic
• Discourse
analysis
• Deconstructionist
theory
Rhetorical
Assumption
What
is
the
language
of
research?
• Formal
• Impersonal
voice
• Informal
• Personal
voice

3. • Based
on
set
of
definition
• Evolving
decision
The
above
table
is
narrated
on
the
basis
of
reading
on:
Neuman,
W.
Lawrence.
2004.
Social
Research
Methods:
Qualitative
and
Quantitative
Approaches.
Boston:
Allyn
and
Bacon.
Creswell
1994.
Research
design:
Qualitative
and
quantitative
approaches.
London:
SAGE
Publication.
Walter,
Maggie
(Ed.).
2006.
Social
Research
Methods:
An
Australian
Perspective.
Oxford:
University
Press.
in
which
the
first
two
authors
contribute
a
lot
to
the
content
of
the
table.
1
*
R
Zain,
Materi
Metodologi
Penelitian