Examine the view that theoretical issues are the most important factor influencing sociologist’s choice of research methods.

Sample answer:Some sociologists do surveys and use other quantitative methods. Other sociologists use ethnographic methods and interviews; these are qualitative methods. Some people could try to argue that one approach is better than the other,

Research is a primary component of sociology. Valid and relevant sociological research is dependent upon a commitment to applying the scientific method in a systematic and organized way in order to ensure maximum objectivity and consistency in research. Complete the following matrix based on a social problem of your choice. The matrix will serve as a guide for creating a preliminary plan for the basic steps of the scientific method.

Concrete example 1 I plan on using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. I’ve spoken to a few people at a soup kitchen that I voluntary at and ask if it would be ok if they would fill out a questionnaire for me. Then I can back this up by interviewing the ones that fill out the questionnaire.

Research is an important step that many sociologist take in order to get answers to many of their questions. It is hard for many sociologist to lengthen their research with the findings they record. It is why many use, “the sociological research” which is based on a model and methods that many sociologist use while picking a topic and getting results. It is both helpful and useful for those who want to get results on a certain topic or issue. Not only does it make things easier but it also helps others to understand a reason behind an issue that revolves around our world now a day.

Sociological research questions the topic, the problem, the cause of the problem, and effects of the problem. Questions will provide insight to understand, define, cause and challenges of the issue. However, keep a journal to write keywords and notes from reviewing research that already existed by jotting down ideas to give you a deeper knowledge to formulate the question. Therefore, taking notes and breaking down questions to find the leading foremost points to formulate the research question was a successful

The two different methods that can be used in observation is with participant observation and visual sociology. The participant observation is an observation of people being studied. This method is not often successful, sociologists are needed to participate in the participant's daily life that is being observed. The people that will help with this method will be people in their social group ( family, friends, professors, coworkers etc.) This method is needed for the sociologists be objective observers and be the actual participants in the social of their study. The observers record their observations in notes, which will be useful for examination of the study. In the visual sociology, the techniques that are being used here are photography and videotape. These techniques are methods for interviewing.

Many different factors can influence methods, self interest can affect whether the sociologist is prepared to carry out time consuming methods, also time available and funds available can be a factor. Research methods that take long to analyse, such as statistics, might be to time consuming and large scale interviewing or surveys may not be very cost effective. Methods can also be , in some situations, unethical therefore a different approach would be needed. The biggest influences are methodologies and theories. If the sociologist leans towards positivism their research methods will be hard data and high in reliability, meaning the data will be strong in consistency, precise and if repeated the same results would thought to have been found. Data findings will be numerical, large scaled and statistical meaning it is quantitative data. This method is scientific and favours social surveys and use

Scientist confine their research to the laboratory, because that is the only environment where their research would not be contaminated by animals, humans, or weather. The laboratory is their safe haven. A place where everything is done by a fine-tooth comb. However, Sociologist research is different when it pertains to how they do their research. Sociologist research is the study of the world around them. They must go out into the world and conduct surveys, which includes interviews, and questionnaires, and they must observe (Cite 2). This type of research cannot be done inside of a laboratory. When sociologist conduct interviews they must go out into the community that they live in, to public places, to schools, and to different areas of the world, and ask questions pertaining to their topic that they are studying, and then record the answers. When the sociologist conduct questionnaires, they must ask their participants a set of questions that they already have prepared. These are questions that will help them with their research.

• The quantitative procedures utilize excessively couple of variations and offers a mediocre approach, hence contextual considering of subject is absent. Henceforth, they tend to be less suited for sociology contrasted with objective learnings (Barr, 2004).

In general, sociologists tend to conduct their research outside the confines of the laboratory. The reasons for this are somewhat obvious; sociologists study society and relationships within society, and in order to effectively study and understand human nature in its natural environment, it is necessary to conduct research outside the laboratory and directly in the society. Sociologists still conduct research in a lab, however, but the risk of creating artificial environments and thus obtaining unrealistic results is so great, that many sociologists have opted to research outside the lab, a process also known as qualitative or field research. While there are many pros and cons to field research, most sociologists consider this method an excellent and necessary way to effectively study society.

Building up a sociology research question is the critical steps that will recognize the use of critical thinking that requires having a clear mind, to demonstrate a clear and relevant topic that may be challenging asking question still essential to the research. Therefore, during the research in sociology question will need to explain the significance of the relationship between variables to realize the subject

The first of the three assigned readings describes how sociologists conduct, collect, and apply their research. During this section the readers is introduced to a general research model that sociologists use. However before going in depth on the research model the applications of common sense while doing sociological research must be established. During this paragraph James M. Henslin uses an example of rape to portray the importance of sociological research and that one should not assume or use common sense for everything. Henslin then begins to explain the research model. This model has eight steps starting with selecting a topic all the way to sharing the results. He highlights the six research methods and explains when and how one should use a particular method. The

Positivist sociologists would argue that unstructured interviews are a disadvantage for sociologists to use in sociological research because it cannot be quantified. As unstructured interviews are mainly open-ended questions, the answers cannot be pre-coded. This lack of quantitative data makes unstructured interviews less useful for establishing a cause-and-effect relationship and hypothesis testing that positivists prefer. For example, it is impossible to quantify how a woman might feel after experiencing domestic violence, making it difficult to establish a relationship between the actions taken against women and the long term psychological effect. Therefore, unstructured interviews are a disadvantage when used in sociological research. However, interpretivist sociologists may see the

I decided to use qualitative methods to obtain data for my investigation, since I thought they would allow me more depth and detail. My research techniques were participant observation and interviewing.

There are different major concepts in sociology for the research purposes including objectivity, subjectivity and value freedom. Social researcher is not allowed to influence his view due to his values in value freedom concept. It is generally accepted idea that the human being has got values but in will be considered that the sociologist has no values. It can be considered in the sense that personal values have nothing to do with the results of the sociologist’s research. Karl Marx was one of the first these theorist to articulate the notion that science is a social fact. Objectivity is a