Sociology and Culture Research Methods

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Sociology and Culture Research Methods Issues in Behavioral Science GLT1 Kimberly N. Smith Wgu.edu Research Methods of Sociology and Culture Anthropology: Sociology and Culture Anthropology are scientific studies of the human being and the manner in which they live. Scientific study methods are built through observation, experimentation, generalization and verification. The main difference between Sociology and Anthropology is in the methods used for research and the groups they study. Anthropology and Sociology science research use quantitative and qualitative methods for gathering and processing the data of their research. Quantitative research consists of the investigation through statistical, mathematical or numerical data and / or computer methods. Qualitative research is an in-depth study of human beings and the reasons that govern their behaviors. Sociology is the study of how people are shaped by external patterns and processes, or social context. The groups that are studied and observed are usually large, modern, industrial societies. Sociologists gather and analyze information. Once the information has been analyzed the goal is explain why something happened and predict under what circumstances it is likely to occur again. There are several research methods used to gather the data, two of the most common ones are Surveys and Participant Observation. The Survey research method is used to gather specific information from mass amounts of people. A perfect example of a Survey research method is the U.S. Census that occurs every ten years. This type of research is used to gather information in a very short period of time and again covering large amounts of people. The information is usually basic, designed to answer specific information. Such as the census survey which targets the family household, size, income bracket and
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