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
Sociologists analyze human society and interaction using varied ideas and trends. There are three main thought processes used when deciphering social interactions. Structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism are used to understand how society works. There are strengths and weaknesses that are attributed to each of the theories.
The type of research conducted often depends on the epistemology of the researcher. Epistemology is considered the justification of knowledge; it is about the relationship between the researcher, knowledge, and how knowledge is created (Carter...
Within scientific research there is always a strong debate between those that prefer quantitative methods and those who prefer qualitative ones. proponents of quantitative methods have built the standards in experimental research and in researches performed on a large number of subjects and which use sampling criteria and statistical analysis techniques. On the other side, the qualitative method uses procedures of qualitative nature both at the level of collecting the data as well as the level of analyzing them (Tagliapietra, Trifan, Raineri & Lis, 2009). The gathering data procedures include: interviews, group discussions, observations, journals; while the analysis procedures include coding, categorizations and systematic confrontation between the categories and their dimensions. Such research is often defined as an explorative one, opposite to “classical” scientific research aiming to confirm / disconfirm initial hypothesis. Among the qualitative methods used in the scientific research we can list: Focus Group, Speech Analysis, Conversation Analysis, Grounded Theory and Phenomenological Interpretative Analysis (Tagliapietra, Trifan, Raineri & Lis, 2009).
Sociology is described as “looking at the world a particular way” (Matthewman & West-Newman, 2013) When opening your mind to this, it is then easier to discover the reasons why we do certain things and why things are the way that they are. There are three main schools of sociological theorising, which are conflict theory (creating a social hierachy), Micro Interactionism (studying social interactions), and Functionalism (how social events contribute to social order). These ideas are defined by sociologists Karl Marx, Max Weber, Durkheim, Irving Goffman, and ---- in an effort to reveal the inner functioning’s of the world.
May, T., 2011. Social research : issues, methods and process. 4th ed. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill/Open University Press.
When studying in the field of Sociology everyone is going to approach topics in a different manner. There are three categories in which people use to understand society. The approaches are known as sociological perspectives and are the functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist perspective. Each perspective explains about the social world and human behavior. None of them is right or wrong they just have different viewpoints.
1. Sociologist may be accused of looking into the obvious but their ability to "make the familiar strange" counters the argument by bringing into account the fact that sociologist question everything. Sociology makes the most sure person even a little unsure. It questions what commonsense is and why it is commonsense. Sociologist look to find deeper meaner in all aspects of society.
Babbie, E. (2007) The Practice of Social Research. Thomson Higher Education. Belmont. (USA) Eleven Edition.
When answering sociological questions one must always do some kind of research. Whether it may be documentary research, surveys, experimentation, or even ethnographic research. Of course there is no one best way of researching to find an answer. Each way of research has their own strengths and weaknesses. The one way of research that will be discussed in this essay is documentary research.
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.
Sociologists employ three major theoretical perspectives in sociology today. They are the structural-functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective, and the symbolic interactionism. The structural-functionalist perspective is done at a macro level and its focus is on the relationships between the parts of society. The Conflict perspective is done at a macro level and its main focus is on how the wealthy controls the poor and weak. Symbolic Interactionism is done at a micro and it focuses on the use of symbols and face to face interactions.
Research philosophy, refers to the development of knowledge adopted by the researchers in their research (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). In other words, it is the theory that used to direct the researcher for conducting the procedure of research design, research strategy, questionnaire design and sampling (Malhotra, 2009). It is very important to have a clear understanding of the research philosophy so that we could examine the assumptions about the way we view the world, which are contained in the research philosophy we choose, knowing that whether they are appropriate or not (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009). According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2009), three major ways of thinking about research philosophy are examined: ontology, epistemology and axiology. Each of them carries significant differences which will have an impact on the way we consider the research procedures. Ontology, “is concerned with nature of reality”, while epistemology “concerns what constitutes acceptable knowledge in a field of study and axiology “studies judgements about value” (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2009, p110, p112, p116). This study is intent on creating some “facts” from objective evaluations which are made by the subjects. Therefore, epistemology will be chosen for this study as the way of thinking about the research philosophy.
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,