Principles of Sociological Research
Chapter 16  Key Themes

• Objectivity: an approach to knowledge acquisition that claims to be unbiased, impersonal and free from prejudice. It is commonly, though not exclusively, associated with positivism. For a critique of objectivity as a central theme of modernist sociology, see Chapter 19 'Modernity, Postmodernity and Social Theory'. For a more grounded discussion, look at Chapter 15 'Knowledge, Religion and Belief'.
  
• Reliability refers to when a research procedure or instrument produces the same results when repeated. It is a feature valued above all by positivistic empiricists and Chapter 14 'Crime' provides some important examples of findings using reliable techniques.
  
• Validity refers to the quality that means data measures or describes what it claims to measure or describe. The theoretical framework within which validity is seen as vital can be found in Chapter 18 'Making Social Life: theories of action and meaning'. To see the importance of validity in a substantive area of social life, Chapter 9 on family life would be instructive.