i havent done sociology and social policy....if it was specifically linked to crime id do the realist approaches like left realism has policies aimed at tackling structual factors of inequality and right realism is about the individual and reducing the opportunity for crime and increasing the risk. but if it came up as a theory and method question id struggle to not link it to crime :/
interactionism i havent done seperately from crime either
but its just like social constructions and relative concepts in terms of peoples interpretations and the meanings they attach to things
thats all i really know, sorry!
and value freedom is about whether research can be objective and neutral
the view that it can is mostly concerned with positivists
so waffle on about objective methods and trying to be like a science
then challenge that with kaplan who says science doesnt actually use objective methods
values are inevitable as soon as a researcher picks one topic over another
marxists say values reflected in research are likely to be those of the organisation funding it - eg rowntree trust and poverty
but that isnt always true - eg leicester uni funded by government to study hooliganism in 80s but research was critical of gov policies
then theres the imposition problem of methods, social desirability (taking on the values of the researcher to look good) and going native in participant observation makes you lose objectivity and take on values of group being studied
webers really important in VF debate - he says values are relative and inevitably linked to the society the researcher works in
gomm says VF depends on who controls the values - so marxists would say values in research represent capitalism
gouldner is also a main person - says VF is a myth and researchers cant escape their domain assumptions
then youd talk about how most sociologists now think we shouldnt be value free
becker - need to show values of underdog
marxists - advocate sociology which is political
new right - give right wing explanations with right wing values
so research should be value laden
i think most questions on VF would focus on how it cant be and shouldnt be not really how it can
i think...
haha