Unlock Elite Access: Level Up Your Preparation with Exclusive Content

Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions · Model answer

Analyze the importance of qualitative method in social research.

  • UPSC 2016
  • Research Methods and Analysis

Max Weber's insistence that sociology must grasp the subjective meaning actors attach to their own action — Verstehen — anchors the case for qualitative method: no amount of counting occurrences can answer what an act means to the person performing it, and that question sits at the centre of sociology's actual subject matter.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions.

What the full answer covers

  • Theory Generation: The Inductive, Grounded-Theory Function
  • Capturing Meaning and Motive That Positivist Coding Cannot Reach
  • Essential for Exploratory Research Where Categories Are Not Yet Known
  • Giving Voice to the Marginalised and the Hard to Reach
  • A Corrective Against Numbers-Only Official Statistics
  • Limits Honestly Conceded, and Why They Do Not Undercut the Case

Unlock this answer and 1,500+ more

  • 1,500+ solved UPSC Sociology PYQs from 1985 to 2026, Paper-1 and Paper-2
  • Topic-wise across all 25 syllabus units, newest exam year first
  • A full model answer for every question, shaped to 10 or 20 marks, with thinkers and Indian examples
  • Read online on lotusarise.com, plus PDF download

₹1,499₹2,50040% off

Get Sociology Optional PYQ Solutions @ ₹1,499 →

One-time payment · 12 months of access · Instant access · UPI, cards, RuPay

See every Research Methods and Analysis question (63 solved) →Already enrolled? Log in