Methodological Complications in Sociology:an Assessment of Reliability and Validity

In order to swap social science into the group of natural sciences, social scientists have always tried since the beginning, and the use of the methods of natural science is the reward of this effort. However, in social sciences the complex, qualitative, intangible and changing nature of the facts, the perspectives of time and space, reliability, the fidelity and the objectivity are some major problems which are the biggest question mark when it comes to science. Any subject comes into the class of science only after meeting the criterion of credibility and certification. Its Measurement will be reliable, when repeated measuring results the same conclusions. Many scales have been developed for reliability and validity in sociological research. As a result, more reliable findings obtained by testing and re-examination. However, along with these scales, the above problems arise, and this is probably the root of the social sciences (especially in sociology where most of the research is based on intangible and behavioral variables). The nature of social phenomena is mostly qualitative and the variables keep changing according to their nature. There are different types of methods for measuring different variables by which more accurate measurement is possible. Anyway, absolute precision is not possible, even if in natural sciences. The research paper is an effort towards the behavioral dismantling of tools and methods, particularly focusing on the problem of reliability and viability in sociological research. The fundamental aim of this paper is to discuss the scientific status of projective tests widely used in social sciences (especially about the reliability and validity of techniques with special reference to Social Psychology).