Examples of sociologist in the following topics:
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- See this link for a sortable table of famous sociologists: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Sociology/Famous_Sociologists
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- Value neutrality is the duty of sociologists to strive to be impartial and overcome their biases as they conduct their research.
- This inevitably renders truly value-free research inconceivable; however despite this, sociologists should strive for value neutrality.
- According to Max Weber, a German sociologist and philosopher who profoundly influenced social theory, value neutralityis the duty of sociologists to strive to be impartial and overcome their biases as they conduct their research, analyze their data, and publish their findings .
- Many sociologists believe it is impossible to set aside personal values and retain complete objectivity.
- Some sociologists attempt to remain uncritical and as objective as possible when studying cultural institutions.
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- Sociologists study religion the same way they study other social institutions, like education or government.
- To do this, sociologists employ demographic techniques, survey analysis, ethnography, and various other methodological approaches.
- It is important to note at the beginning of this chapter that sociologists study religion not to prove, disprove or normatively evaluate religion.
- Sociologists aren't interested in whether a religion is right or wrong.
- This requires sociologists to assume a relativistic perspective that basically takes a neutral stance toward issues of right or wrong or true or false.
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- Today, sociologists study a broad range of topics.
- For instance, some sociologists research macro-structures that organize society, such as race or ethnicity, social class, gender, and institutions such as the family.
- Other sociologists study social processes that represent the breakdown of macro-structures, including deviance, crime, and divorce.
- Additionally, some sociologists study micro-processes such as interpersonal interactions and the socialization of individuals.
- It should also be noted that recent sociologists, taking cues from anthropologists, have realized the Western emphasis of the discipline.
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- The goal of this chapter is to introduce the methods employed by sociologists in their study of social life.
- The primary aim is to illustrate how sociologists go beyond common sense understandings in trying to explain or understand social phenomena.
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- Applied sociologists work in all kinds of fields.
- To address this problem, governments and international organizations, such as the UN, worked with sociologists and demographers (sociologists who study population) to devise strategies to reduce population growth.
- Thus, applied sociologists took findings from pure research and applied them to solving real-world problems.
- Outside the academic world, sociologists apply their skills in a variety of settings.
- For example, a sociologist might work compiling and analyzing quantitative demographic data from the U.S.
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- society is constantly changing, making it difficult for sociologists to maintain current understandings; in fact, society might even change as a result of sociological investigation (for instance, sociologists testified in the Brown v.
- it is difficult for sociologists to strive for objectivity and handle the subjective components of scientific practice - especially when the phenomena they study is also part of their social life
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- For example, Peter Berger, a well-known sociologist, argued, that what distinguishes sociology from common sense is that sociologists:
- Thus, to obtain sociological knowledge, sociologists must study their world methodically and systematically.
- With induction, sociologists gather data on the ground and formulate theories about what they find.
- In this way, sociology is more rigorous than common sense, because sociologists test and modify their understanding of how the world works through scientific analysis.
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- Quantitative sociologists tend to use specific methods of data collection and hypothesis testing, including: experimental designs, surveys, secondary data analysis, and statistical analysis.
- Rather than attempting to measure or quantify reality via mathematical rules, qualitative sociologists explore variation in the natural world people may see, touch, and experience during their lives.
- Qualitatively oriented sociologists tend to employ different methods of data collection and analysis, including: participant observation, interviews, focus groups, content analysis, visual sociology, and historical comparison.
- Further, qualitative sociologists typically reject measurement or quantities (essential to quantitative approaches) and the notion or belief in causality (e.g., qualitative sociologists generally argue that since there is no demonstrated possibility of ever exploring all potential variables or influences in one study, causality is always incomplete and beyond empirical means).
- While there are sociologists who employ and encourage the use of only one or the other method, many sociologists see benefits in combining the approaches.
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- Ethical considerations are of particular importance to sociologists because of the subject of investigation - people.
- Because ethical considerations are of so much importance, sociologists adhere to a rigorous set of ethical guidelines.
- Sociologists also have professional ethical principles they follow.
- Sociologists who manipulate their data are ostracized and can have their memberships in professional organizations revoked.
- For example, if Microsoft were to fund a sociologist to investigate whether users of Microsoft's product users are happier than users of open source software (e.g., Linux, LibreOffice), the sociologist would need to disclose the source of the funding as it presents a significant conflict of interest.