Sensitizing concepts

Author / Creator

Bowen, Glenn A. author

Available as

Online

Summary

Sensitizing concepts are, broadly speaking, background ideas that inform the overall research problem. They usually provide a starting point for data analysis and function as an analytic lens or in...

Sensitizing concepts are, broadly speaking, background ideas that inform the overall research problem. They usually provide a starting point for data analysis and function as an analytic lens or interpretive mechanism throughout the process (Bowen, 2006; Padgett, 2004). The term originated with Herbert Blumer, a critic of social theory and proponent of symbolic interactionisma theoretical perspective that addresses how society is created and maintained through repeated interactions among individuals and methods of social research (see Blumer, 1969). Contrasting sensitizing concepts with definitive concepts, the late American sociologist explained: A definitive concept refers precisely to what is common to a class of objects, by the aid of a clear definition in terms of attributes or fixed bench marks. A sensitizing concept lacks such specification of attributes or ...

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