Skills focus. Social science is the study of various aspects

_________________________________________

Social science is the study of various aspects... human society. The social sciences include sociology, anthropology, economics, history, psychology and political sciences. These academic disciplines have a common focus... the social behavior... people, yet each has a particular orientation... studying such behavior. Anthropologists usually study cultures of the past and preindustrial societies that remain... existence today. Economists explore the ways... which people produce and exchange goods and services. Historians are concerned... the peoples and events... the past and their significance... us today. Political scientists study international relations, the workings... government and the exercise... power and authority. Psychologists investigate personality and individual behavior.... contrast to other social sciences, sociology emphasizes the influence that society has... people's attitudes and behavior. Humans are social animals; therefore, sociologists scientifically examine our social relationships... other people. The range of social scientific methods has expanded.

An important aspect of sociological research is the decision as to how data should be collected. A research design is a detailed plan or method for...(1).... Sociologists regularly use experiments, participant observations, surveys and unobtrusive techniques to generate data for their research.

Experiments. When sociologists wish to study a possible cause-and-effect relationship, they may conduct experiments. An experiment is an artificially created situation that allows the researcher either to confirm or...(2)... under study. In the classic method of...(3)..., two groups of people are selected and compared: theexperimental group which is exposed to the experiment and the control group which is not.

Participant observation. It is a research technique in which an investigator collects information...(4)... and observation of a group or a community under study. In some cases, the sociologist actually «joins» the group for a period of time to get an accurate sense of how it operates. In conducting participant observation research the investigator may face several problems. Firstly, in our society many people dislike the feeling of «being studied». Thus, if the group sees the researcher as an outsider and an observer — rather than a member of the group — its members may feel uneasy and hide many thoughts and emotions. On the other hand, if the researcher hides his or her purpose, he or she is being somewhat dishonest and this may also...(5).... Finally, sociologists must learn to see the world as the group sees it. This raises a delicate question regarding the effect of the group on the observer and the observer on the group. The sociologist must retain a certain level of detachment from the group under study and the observer cannot allow the close associations or even friendships that inevitably develop or influence...(6).... Data acquired through these techniques may be analyzed either quantitatively or qualitatively.

Surveys. Almost all of us have responded to surveys of one kind or another. A survey is a study, generally in the form of an interview or a questionnaire, which...(7)... concerning how people think and act.

Each of these forms has its own advantages. An interview can obtain a high response rate because people find it more difficult to turn down a personal request for an interview than to throw away a written questionnaire. On the other hand, questionnaires have the advantage of being cheaper. Also, since the questions are written, the researcher knows that there is some...(8)..., whereas five interviewers can ask the same question in five different ways.

Unobtrusive measures. They include...(9)... that have no impact on who or what is being studied. Some social scientists studied people's spending and eating habits by examining household garbage left out on the street. This is...(10)... of the use of unobtrusive measures in social scientific research.

The basic techniques of unobtrusive measures are the use of statistics and studying cultural, economic and political documents, including newspapers, periodicals, radio and television tapes, diaries and songs.

It is important to realize that research designs need not be viewed as mutually exclusive. Two or more methods used together may be especially informative. For example, unobtrusive methods have proved to be valuable as a supplement to...(11)... One investigator wished to examine the relationship between reported and actual beer consumption. He obtained a «front door» measure of consumption by asking residents of houses how much beer they drank each week. At the same time, a «backdoor» measure was developed by counting the number of beer cans in their garbage. This backdoor method produced a considerably higher estimate of beer consumption.

Recent decades have seen the rise of new analytically, mathematically and computationally strict techniques, such as agent-based modeling and social network analysis. Sociology should not be confused with various general...(12)... which bear little relation to sociological theory or social science research methodology.