Sociology

Sociology Study Guide

Case Study: The most common type of field observation, the case study provides a detailed record of an event, either past or present, a group, or a social process. When studying a past event, the researcher pieces together as complete a picture as possible using interviews, news articles, and public records. Advantages Disadvantages Reveals tremendous insights Sacrifices precision Large amount of data available Table 7: Advantages and Disadvantages of Case Studies Research Evaluation: Sometimes, researchers use already-available information. This is known as research evaluation . Public information is available from several places, like the Census Bureau. A wealth of information is also available from other sociologists. This already-in-existence data is quicker than creating new experiments, but it is also subject to trusting others for accurate information. Other Research Methods: Here is a listing of other, lesser-used, methods of sociological experimentation. Approach Explanation Comparative Analysis Comparing multiple systems from different points of time. Replication Repeating a study to verify accuracy. Unobtrusive Measures Keeping out of the way of subjects; not imposing self on subjects. Community Studies Lot of information is collected about a small area to provide enough detail to understand the community. Table 8: Description of Other Research Methods Sociological ResearchMethod Like all scientific research, sociological studies follow a basic step-by-step process. The ideal model is listed below; it is important to realize that the model is a guideline, not a list of necessary steps. Some details can be overlooked if it is for the betterment (or increased accuracy of) your experiment, but overall these are the steps to take when designing your experiment or observation.

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