Vol. 3, Issue 1, Part E (2017)

Abstract
One of the debates that had been raging since its origin is: Is sociology a science? To understand this, we must first learn what is science and scientific method, and then evaluate the discipline of sociology on the parameters of a scientific discipline. We will also look at some of the major theoretical strands of research methodology. Subsequently, we will also have a brief look at some of the key arguments of the methodological debate related to the scientific nature of the discipline in sections on positivism and its critique, and fact, value and objectivity. We need to understand that how we conceive of society cannot be separated from the question of how we should proceed in our study of it. In other words, what methodology a researcher would adopt in carrying out his research would largely be determined by the perspective or orientation that he has towards social reality. In this article, different theoretical and methodological perspectives have been discussed. The emphasis on the objective measurement of human social behaviour forces the positivist scholars to rely more on the quantitative methods while conducting research. While on the other hand, anti-positivist scholars who emphasize on the interpretative understanding of the social behaviour rely more on qualitative methods.