Question

What are the five stages of Social Research described by the August Comte?

Hint:

Comte borrowed his method from natural science: observe, compare, trace history, measure, and (rarely) experiment.

Answer 1

Step 1: Recall Comte's scientific approach to society.
Comte wanted sociology to study society the way physics or biology studies nature, so he laid down methods borrowed from natural science.

Step 2: Walk through the five methods.
First comes plain observation of facts, then comparison across cases, then the historical method to study change over time, then statistics to measure patterns, and finally experimentation, used only in a limited way in social study.

Final Answer:
The five stages are observation, comparison, historical method, statistical method, and experimentation.