(H) Henslin, Doing Sociological Research

In order to take proper research, three main concepts are taken into consideration for the most accurate results. Researchers look to find what society holds meaning to. They look to find what is important to the public and they come to find an interpretation of what is happening. They come to find what people like and don’t like depending on their reaction. With this information over the public, researchers can try to control how society reacts to certain things by behaving in a more acceptable manner. The second concept is that functionalism is what controls society to work in a well-fashioned manner or completely fall apart. Functionalism is what holds society and its people together and unless it’s interfered with from an outside influence. the final theory is the conflict theory in which society is in a constant battle with competing for ultimate power. Each major capitalistic enterprise is fighting for dominance but with each fight the balance of society continues to diminish. When conducting research, sociologists rely on a simple format to obtain the information they need. They simply pick a topic that interests them and looks towards something like a research model that helps them formulate their hypothesis and standing on the subject. they begin to take in their data through their choosing of either, surveys, random samples, questionnaires, interviews, these are forms of data that include integration with other people in society. They can also choose to look toward secondary analysis like already recorded data by other researchers. Documents have also become a reliable source to further back their own research to add more depth and reliability. Sociologists also come to create their own experiments on a rare occasion. Because most of their research relies on how society thinks, they tend to rely more on interactive data collecting like the ones mentioned above. Sociologists find a reliable way to obtain their research to make their hypothesis all the more reliable and accurate.