Sociologists must understand how to collect and analyze data precisely. Sociology utilizes the scientific method to collect and evaluate data accurately. There are multiple ways to gather data including “experiments, surveys, participant observations and using existing data” (Macionis). An important aspect of the scientific method is to produce valid, reliable and unbiased results. Personal bias is the influence of the researches own beliefs that is introduced into the data which could undermine it unintentionally. An example of personal bias is only sampling data from friends or family members because they often share common values or beliefs with the researcher. Sociologists need to make sure their data is credible without their own bias influencing it.
The first step of the scientific method is to ask questions about the topic. For example, who will win the presidential election and why? After the questions have been asked, a hypothesis can be formed. Donald Trump will win the election, is a hypothesis because it’s an educated guess with no evidenced supporting it. Sociologists would need to research and collect data from the votes of the people which can then be used as proof to back up their hypothesis. Using credible and citing sources is a good way to ensure the evidence gathered is reliable and valid because credible sources are supported with facts. Reliability ensures that the data can be reproduced consistently and the validity ensures the precision of the evidence.
The type of data collection a sociologist would use for a political election is called a survey, which is the next step in the scientific method. A survey is quantitative research method used gather a large amount of data sampled from a random pool. The Am...
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...sed to determine the outcome of a result. The scientific method allows researchers to provide accurate data. This includes political polls, life expectancy, divorces, or graduation rates.
It’s important that sociologists ask questions to provide a basis to their argument and form hypothesis in order to start collecting data. Data that is collected from individuals should always be safe and participants should never be placed in danger. After data has been collected and researched, it will be tested and reproduced to ensure the accuracy of the results. The job of the researcher is to ensure data is consistent and reliable. Once the data is reliable and valid, the researchers can publish their material and state a theory. A theory is an organized set of concepts that explain the body of data. The point of the scientific method is to make sociologists critically think.
Sociology is a science because methodological study is used to study the behavior of people in society in their environment. The same steps using the scientific method in a research process: observation, hypothesis testing, data analysis, and generalization is used when conducting sociological research.
The scientific method is how psychologists gain knowledge about the mind and behavior. It is used by all scientists. The experimental method is the one way to engage the scientific method, and the only way to find a cause and effect in relationships. It is summarized in five steps, observing some phenomenon in the world, forming a hypothesis which is an educated prediction about relationships between two or more variables, examining the gathered information by using empirical research, determining what the results are and drawing them, and evaluating the results whether it will support the hypothesis or not. Researchers, at the end, submit their work for publication for all to see and read (King, 2016). There are three types of psychological research in the scientific method, descriptive research, correlation, and experimental research (King, 2016). The article The Effects of Negative Body Talk in an Ethnically Diverse Sample of College Students (Katrevich, Register, & Aruguete, 2014) is an example of the experimental method.
Sociology is and what do sociologists study. It is also vital to look at the three basic
Sociology is the scientific study of human social activity. In the effort to study human social activity sociologists brake it down into objects of analysis. The three objects of analysis are population, social structure, and the individual. Each can be differentiated but each is also integrally related to the other two.
For decades there have been many questions that sociologists generally ask themselves when examining a social phenomenon. One well known sociologists is C. Wright Mills. Mills came up with the concept of sociological imagination. It is used to describe the ability of individuals to think away from routines that they are used to in everyday life and look at them from an entirely new perspective. Using this concept, mills applied it to asking and answering imaginative thoughts of sociological questions. Mills came up with three questions that many thinkers have consistently asked in their investigations of humanity and society. The three questions are what is the structure of this particular society as a whole? , where does this society stand
When studying in the field of Sociology everyone is going to approach topics in a different manner. No two people are going to have the exact same view on a particular subject. There are however, three major categories in which people might choose to approach topics. The approaches are know as sociological perspectives and are the functionalist, conflict, and interactionist perspectives. These perspectives name different ways in which different people choose to analyze a subject, and how they look at a society as a whole. The following paragraphs compare and contrast the three, and identify major characteristics of each.
“A social problem is a social condition or pattern of behavior that has negative consequences for individuals, our social world, or our physical world (Leon-Guerrero, 2011).” Sociologists seek to figure out the causes and consequences of social problems. Sociologists struggle with how they should go about a specific problem in regards to solving that solution. For sociologists, their job is to study what occurs in regards to social problems. They wish to remain objective which is why they struggle with solutions. “The result would be that sociologists would be seen as just another interest group with its own vested interests, with sociologists looking out for what benefits them instead of being a group that the public and government can trust to report valid data and provide objective knowledge about a subject so that others can make more informed judgments as to what should be done (Crone, 2011).” Sociologists then lean towards helping solve social problems by analyzing social patterns in social problems. They do this while remaining objective. To ensure sociologists stay objective, they study practical examples of how previous social problems have been solved.
This chapter taught me the importance of understanding statistical data and how to evaluate it with common sense. Almost everyday we are subjected to statistical data in newspapers and on TV. My usual reaction was to accept those statistics as being valid. Which I think is a fair assessment for most people. However, reading this chapter opens my eyes to the fact that statistical data can be very misleading. It shows how data can be skewed to support a certain group’s agenda. Although most statistical data presented may not seem to affect us personally in our daily lives, it can however have an impact. For example, statistics can influence the way people vote on certain issues.
Sociologists develop theories to explain and analyze society at different levels and from different perspectives. Sociologists study everything from the micro level of analysis of small social patterns to the “big picture” which is the macro level of analysis of large social patterns.
Numerous sociologists have contributed to research society and social interactions. In other words, society has been studied through how humans interact and shape their environment. There are many developed theories and different approaches for these findings, and sociologists have helped us understand the ways society functions. Amongst their many findings is that we construct reality through our interactions with others. This is also known as the social construction of reality, which is defined as different social behaviors, patterns and rules, influencing the human perception of reality. Social behaviors, like ethnocentrism and cultural relativism, plays a role in human behavior. Understanding, significance, and meaning are developed not
one another. Sociologists look at these groups by means of the sociological perspective. This involves looking at a certain behavior like it has never been looked at it before. When done right one can come to a deeper level of understanding about behavior.
Sociology is a social science that enables people to understand the structure and dynamics of society. By using a scientific approach, and by critically analysing society using qualitative and quantitative methods, sociologists can find patterns and connections within human behaviour to provide explanations of how society affects people. Sociological views are based on theories that have been tested through unbiased research and attempt to take all values into account. Common sense theories are generally individualistic and naturalistic assumptions that are based on opinions than can vary depending on an individuals class or cultural background. During this essay I will aim to provide examples of the differences between the sociological viewpoint, and the common sense viewpoint of human behaviour, using theories of some renowned sociologists.
Sociologist are invariably trying to decipher the social aspects of the environment around us. When examining these social phenomena, sociologist take a systematic approach in order to extract information. Typically, there are four questions that sociologist come to ask themselves: the empirical, theoretical, comparative, and developmental questions. C. Wright Mills coined a famous phrase called, Sociological imagination. According to Mills, sociological imagination is defined as an awareness or an insight of the environment around us. With this imagination, we are then able to gain a sociological perspective of the world. The application of sociological imagination will enable you to ask questions, and view the interactions of society, and
To Quote Anthony Giddens: "Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. It is a dazzling and compelling enterprise, having as its subject matter our own behaviour as social beings. The scope of sociology is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of passing encounters between individuals in the street up to the investigation of world-wide social processes“(1989). Gidden’s statement describes sociology as a study that helps us understand our own behaviour as human beings in a social word. Sociologist study everything from the interaction between people in the street to the interaction between different countries. Sociologists aim to study how societies have changed over, how societies are structured and organized, the norms of society. It’s also important to understand that not all sociologists agree with each other, Sociologists often debate with one another to prove/disprove certain theories and concepts. By studying Sociology is it helps us analyze social conflicts on a micro and macro scope. Through a macro level, we can study large-scale social organization and large social categories it also examinees social processes and patterns society as a whole. We can analyze individuals much deeper on a micro level. This way we study a human by face-to face interactions. Its important as humans to understand the way our society came together and the reasons to how elements work and function together. Sociology gives us a deeper
Research today has become a central part of Sociology. Research in Sociology faces numerous puzzles and suspicions; challenges blind faith and unravel the mystery that surrounds the truth. According to Pauline V. Young “...sociological research is a systematic method of exploring ,analysing and conceptualising social life in order to extend ,correct ,or verify knowledge,