Objectivity in Science?

Read the item below and then discuss together the questions that follow: Sociologists may wish to study what are seen as the relevant issues of a particular time; they are likely to react to what are seen as the social or political issues of the day. Similarly,...

The Practical Consequences of Research

In an article about values, Roger Gomm gives the example of a sociologist carrying out a survey for a housing authority, showing housing patterns in terms of the ethnic origins of the tenants. Maps were drawn up to illustrate these patterns, but the sociologist was...

The Importance of Questions

We have seen that funding bodies may not want to ask certain questions, but sociologists themselves may be ignoring important questions by their focus on alternatives. For example, a focus on the influence of home background on educational success does not focus on...

Something to Think About : Objectivity

Question 1: Explain what is meant by the phrase, ‘by not taking sides, the sociologist is in fact taking the side of the powerful’. Question 2: Make a list of all the factors mentioned in this Topic that might influence a sociologist’s choice of subject matter. Can...