SOCIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION

Two Requirements for Sociological Investigation:

a.) Apply the sociological perspective.
b.) Be curious and ask questions.
Types of Truth:
a.) Faith or Belief
b.) recognised by experts
c.) agreement between ordinary people
d.) scientific truth
(science: logical system that bases knowledge on direct, systematic
observation)
(empirical evidence: information we can verify with our senses)
*common sense v. scientific evidence

THREE WAYS OF DOING SOCIOLOGY

1. POSITIVIST SOCIOLOGY: the study of society based on systematic
observation of social behaviour; supposes the existence of an objective
reality
(concepts: a mental construct that represents some past of the
world in a simplified form)
(variable: a concept whose value changes from case to case)
(measurement: a procedure for determining the value of a
variable in a specific case)
(descriptive statistics: mathematics that takes into appropriates
an average sample population for the study of the entire population)
in performing a study, one must operationalise the variables by
specifying exactly what is to be measure before assigning values to the

variables and exercise objectivity by having personal neutrality in

conducting research
WEBER: value-relevant research topics but value-free
investigations
(replication: repetition of research by other investigators)
data must always be reliable [consistent in measurement]
and valid [actual measurement of what is intended to be measured]
RELATIONSHIP AMONG VARIABLES:
1.) cause and effect: a relationship in which change in one
variable (the independent one) causes change in another (the dependent
one); allows us to predict outcomes of certain events
to establish cause and effect, one needs:
1.) a demonstrated correlation;
2.) an independent variable that occurs before the
dependent variable;
3.) no evidence that a third variable could be
causing a spurious correlation between the two
2.) correlation: a relationship in which two (or more) variables
change together; ***a spurious correlation is an apparent but false
relationship between two (or more) variables that is caused by some other
variable
(control: holding constant all variables except one in
order to see clearly the effect of that variable)
SOME LIMITATIONS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIOLOGY
1.) Human behaviour is too complex for sociologists to
predict any individuals actions precisely.
2.) Because humans respond to their surroundings, the
presence of a researcher may affect the behaviour being studied.
3.) Social patterns vary; what is true in one time or place
may not hold true in another.
4.) Because sociologist are part of the social world they
study, they can never be 100 percent value-free when conducting

social research.
2. INTERPRETIVE SOCIOLOGY: the study of society that focuses on
discovering the meanings people attach to their social world; argues that
the proper focus of sociology is interpretation, or understanding the
meanings people create in their everyday lives
it differs with positivist sociology in four ways: a.) it focuses on how
people understand their actions rather than the actions itself; b.) it posits
the existence of numerous subjective realities rather than a single
objective one; c.) it deals mostly with qualitative data than quantitative
ones; & d.) puts a higher premium on fieldwork and less on laboratory work
WEBERS CONCEPT OF VERSTEHEN: does not only observe
what people do but also why they do it
3. CRITICAL SOCIOLOGY: the study of society that focuses on the
need for social change; asks moral and political questions; focuses on
inequality; rejects the principle of objectivity, claiming that all research is
political
FIVE WAYS GENDER AFFECT RESEARCH:
1.)
Androcentricity
2.) Overgeneralising
3.) Gender Blindness
4.) Double Standards
5.) Interference
RESEARCH ETHICS: informed consent

METHODS OF SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

(research method: a systematic plan for doing research; four common
methods: experiments, surveys, participant observation, and the use of
existing data)
1. EXPERIMENT: a research method for investigating cause and effect
under highly controlled situations; typically explanatory
(hypothesis: a statement of a possible relationship between two

(or more) variables; typically takes the form of if-then statements)

Follows four steps to confirm hypothesis:
1.) identify the independent and the dependent variables.
2.) Measure the initial value of the dependent variable.
3.) Expose the dependent variable to the independent
variable.
4.) Measure the dependent variable again and compare it
with the initial measurements.
more effective when using controlled and experimental groups
HAWTHORNE EFFECT: a change in the subjects behaviour
cause merely by the awareness of being studied
(ZImbardos Stanford County Prison Experiment)
2. SURVEY: a research method in which subjects respond to a series
of statements or questions on a questionnaire or in an interview; can yield
cause and effect clues but often produces mainly descriptive findings
(population: the people who are the focus of the research)
(sample: a part of the population that represents the whole)
(random sampling: observer draws sample from the entire
population at random so everyone in the population has equal chances of
being picked)
this often employs the use of questionnaires: a series of
questions a researcher presents to the subjects (close-ended format, openended format, self-administered survey, pretest)
and sometimes interviews: a series of questions a researcher
asks respondents in person (snowball sampling)
(Benjamins Study on Racism on African American Elites)
3. PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION: a research method in which
investigators systematically observe people while joining them in their
routine activities; allows an inside look at social life in any natural setting;
and these accounts on social life are called case study; cultural
anthropologists, on the other hand, calls this method fieldwork and the
results as ethnography; exploratory & descriptive

easier conducted with the help of a key informant

(Whytes Street Corner Society)
4. EXISTING SOURCES: (Baltzells Puritan Boston and Quaker
Philadelphia)

THEORY x METHOD

two ways of building theory from results of the study:

1.
inductive logical thought: reasoning that transforms specific observations
into general theory
2. deductive logical thought: reasoning that transforms general
theory into specific hypothesis suitable for testing

TEN STEPS in SOCIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION

1. Pick a topic.
2. Do preliminary research on the topic.
3. Narrow down your topic and identify the specific limits of the study.
4. Identify the requirements of the study.
5. Examine your topic if it goes well with the research ethics of
sociology.
6. Determine which method to use in carrying it out.
7. Gather the date using the most appropriate research method.
8. Study the data and look for patterns and other inferences.
9. State your conclusion in line with the results of the investigation.
10. Share what you have learned.