What is Sociological Research?
Empirical research is the foundation of sociological study. In the first part of lesson one you learned that sociology is the scientific study of society and human behavior. As a science sociology relies on empirical data to understand society. This data is acquired through sociological research. This part of the lesson will introduce you to sociological research. You will learn the difference between true sociological research and common sense as well as how sociologists conduct empirical research. This lesson has very practical implications because everyday we are presented with data from “so-called” studies or surveys that may not be valid or reliable. In this lesson you will learn how to evaluate those studies. When we say that sociological research is empirical we mean that it is an attempt to answer questions through the systematic collection and analysis of data. Sociologist study a wide range of topics related to human behavior but not all questions can be measured empirically.
