How does a sociologist approach the study of sociology?

Question

what do you think??? need some good feedback 15 easy points

Answer 1

Sociology is the scientific study of human social behavior and human association and results of social activities.  Sociologist can study anything from rape as a tactic of war to racism in the public education system.  Sociologist will approach sociological issues different ways depending on what they are studying, what they wish to learn, which of the sociological paradigms they subscribe to, etc.  

Here are some examples of Sociological approaches:

Macrosociology (study of society as a whole)

   -Structural functionalism (society is interdependent and functions for the whole of society, etc.)

   -Conflict Theory (Society in constant flux due to conflict and power struggles, etc.)

Microsociology (study of small scale interactions)

   -Symbolic Interaction (Social interactions is based on meaning; social processes, etc.)

Ethnomethodology (study of processes by which meanings are created and shared)

Exchange Theory (analysis of choices society based on perceived cost/benefit analysis), ETC.....

Answer 2

A sociological study is a scientific study of a certain aspect of social reality. Being a science, the scientific method is used, but the sequence might be a little bit different from the scientific method followed in the natural sciences. Basically, in sociology, there are two types of methodology being used in doing a study: quantitative and qualitative.

For quantitative researches: survey, experimental set-ups, polls

For qualitative researches: interview, focus group discussion, participant observation, content analysis

Out of these methods, one can produce tabulations, tables and graphs (quantitative), or narratives and life histories (qualitative).

A sociologist is often interested in looking at the "taken-for-granted realities" of everyday life that people take as a given.