Now that you have learned about sociological theory and research practices, it’s your turn to think like a sociologist. Pretend you are a social researcher and that you want to answer a question about social life using sociological tools. Complete the following exercise:
- Ask a question about society that you think a sociologist could research. Explain why you think a sociologist might find it important to answer this question.
- Identify one theoretical approach (refer to previous lesson/pp. 39-50) that you think would be appropriate for your study and justify your choice by explaining how you would connect it to your question and topic.
- Identify one research method that you think would be appropriate for your study and justify your choice by explaining how you would use it to answer the question.
- If you think that more than one theory and/or method is appropriate, make sure you thoroughly explain why each of your choices is relevant. Do not simply review theories and methods; you must directly justify their usefulness in your proposed study.
In short, pretend you’re a sociologist and discuss how you think you’d use the tools you’ve learned about so far to answer a real question.
Your report may be represented in one of the following formats:
- Slide/PowerPoint presentation. A presentation should be approximately 10 slides.
- Informal report. Please follow the guidance/format in the document attached at the bottom.
In either case, make sure you are representing your thought process and your answers to the above questions adequately.