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How Sociologists Conduct, Collect And Apply Their Research By James Henslin

Decent Essays

The first of the three assigned readings describes how sociologists conduct, collect, and apply their research. During this section the readers is introduced to a general research model that sociologists use. However before going in depth on the research model the applications of common sense while doing sociological research must be established. During this paragraph James M. Henslin uses an example of rape to portray the importance of sociological research and that one should not assume or use common sense for everything. Henslin then begins to explain the research model. This model has eight steps starting with selecting a topic all the way to sharing the results. He highlights the six research methods and explains when and how one should use a particular method. The …show more content…

He begins this excerpt by introducing the setting (St. Louis) and its high concentration of drug use. When he decides to infiltrate the setting he immediately realizes that gaining the trust of street corner drug dealers will be a challenge as he is a white affluent male. In the beginning many of the dealers assumed he was a police officer. He then tells stories of the numerous run ins with the police and quotes Polsky stating “If one is effectively to study adult criminals in their natural settings, he must make the moral decision that in some ways he will break the law himself” (78). After months of observation and communication with some of the dealers Jacobs finally was able to comfortably interview them in order to gather his data using the unobtrusive observation method. The following excerpt by Elliot Liebow briefly describes Leibow’s participant observer study of the lives of homeless women. While Leibows study is not as risky compared to the work of Jacobs, however similarly they both struggled to be accepted by the population they were studying. He states on multiple occurrences throughout this excerpt that he was not going to think of anyone as mentally ill, an

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