Positivism Approach in Sociology in Kurdistan Region

Abstract

This study tries to present a dominant approach in sociology in Kurdistan region which according to a primary presupposition is positivism. The study aims to examine this assumption through those dissertations and PhD thesis which have been carried out during two last decades in department of sociology in both university of Sulaimani and Salahaddin university. In result, it appears that the majority of the researches are quantitative, survey is the most widely used data-gathering technique and mostly they employed the language of variable and number. By these characteristics described above positivism can be named as a dominant approach. There is no clear theoretical framework in the researches that drive the research process and interpretation of resulting findings, Although, few claimed to follow structural functionalism, but it cannot be seen a methodological reflection of the theory nor the scientific steps which they derive form positivism as a paradigm. In this research, we also shed light on the extent to which the researches meet the necessary requirements of quantitative method. It also makes clear that in Kurdistan region sociology has not exceeded its early step yet.