TY - JOUR
T1 - Qualitative sociology in Israel-A brief survey
AU - Cohen, Erik
PY - 1988/3
Y1 - 1988/3
N2 - Despite the proliferation of quantitative studies in Israeli sociology, qualitative approaches remain vigorously pursued by a large number of academic sociologists, who address a wide variety of problems by a heterogeneous mix of theoretical approaches, methodologies, and research techniques. While these studies yielded a rich harvest of respectable publications, the majority are not conducted in terms of theories and methodologies which are presently at the forefront of qualitative research in the United States and Europe. This is true even for the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which is still the leading exponent of QS in Israel. It is difficult to decide whether some of the currently fashionable approaches, such as French neostructuralism and American ethnomethodology, propose viable programs which will have a major impact on sociology or are just passing fashions. Nevertheless, Israeli sociologists should pay more attention to these and similar current developments on the international scene and examine critically the usefulness of these developments for their own research interests and projects. The same is true in the field of application of the new computer technologies to qualitative data. Very few Israeli sociologists have made any serious efforts in the development or application of such technologies in their studies. It is in these areas that greater attention and a possible partial reorientation of QS in Israel will be necessary in the future, if Israeli qualitative sociologists are to keep the place which they currently occupy in the international professional community.
AB - Despite the proliferation of quantitative studies in Israeli sociology, qualitative approaches remain vigorously pursued by a large number of academic sociologists, who address a wide variety of problems by a heterogeneous mix of theoretical approaches, methodologies, and research techniques. While these studies yielded a rich harvest of respectable publications, the majority are not conducted in terms of theories and methodologies which are presently at the forefront of qualitative research in the United States and Europe. This is true even for the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which is still the leading exponent of QS in Israel. It is difficult to decide whether some of the currently fashionable approaches, such as French neostructuralism and American ethnomethodology, propose viable programs which will have a major impact on sociology or are just passing fashions. Nevertheless, Israeli sociologists should pay more attention to these and similar current developments on the international scene and examine critically the usefulness of these developments for their own research interests and projects. The same is true in the field of application of the new computer technologies to qualitative data. Very few Israeli sociologists have made any serious efforts in the development or application of such technologies in their studies. It is in these areas that greater attention and a possible partial reorientation of QS in Israel will be necessary in the future, if Israeli qualitative sociologists are to keep the place which they currently occupy in the international professional community.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34247769305&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/BF00988692
DO - 10.1007/BF00988692
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AN - SCOPUS:34247769305
SN - 0162-0436
VL - 11
SP - 88
EP - 98
JO - Qualitative Sociology
JF - Qualitative Sociology
IS - 1-2
ER -