soc 101 7

1. Should there be limitations on who has access to the research findings of a Sociolgist? If so why? I do not believe that there should be limitations on who has access to the research findings of a sociologist. For the most part knowledge is power. What I mean by that is if there is a positive notion that there could be a confirmation that something we are doing as a society is good, than why would we not want to know as a society to be able to teach further generations to do that same thing because it works! The same could be said for the findings that we have done something bad so that we can change it as a society so that it works.  An example is that we know that  drugs are an epidemic in this country. we also know that because of rights that were established many years prior to protect individuals in this country, we have loop holes that are present in the legal system. If research is done to find out why the use of drugs is so previlent, and we can as a society learn to stop the usage we will not have to fight it legally. Problem solved and history is made to be taught.

Why do you think Sociologists might chose work under less than ideal conditions? I believe that a Sociologist would chose to work under less than ideal situations such as being around rapists or drug addicts because of the fact that there is a reason behind every behavior in society. Obviously if there is more than one singled out case of a certain behavior than there must be a criteria behind the actions. Finding out what that criteria is must happen for the future of that behavior to be stopped. Society as whole holds the key to future behavior. Behavior is a learned aspect of life, although there are psychological triggers as to why the behavior starts,  social reminders are the core ingredient to what is right and wrong and why there is not total anarchy. Religion, culture, environment, all are a part of how a person acts and reacts to the given situation that they are in. Sociologist need that information to study so that they can figure out why those who have chosen that lifestyle did so.

 

2.  The question presented was “Why do sociologist tend to work under less ideal conditions?”My feelings on this question is because how else would anything interesting get answered to the fullest. If one wanted to know why rapists behave the way they do they would not ask a non rapist or they would not survery the public, because what would the public know? A non rapist would not fully know why a rapist behaves the way they do, they may in a sense think they know why they behave like that. But the truth is they have no clue because they do not live inside the head of said rapist. That is why sociologist volunteer to get in deep and dirty because they are interested in the topic and want truthful results. Take “Super Size Me” as an example. Morgan Spurlock wanted to know the truthfull effects mcdonalds has on the human body and obesity results. He went in less ideal conditions and ate only McDonalds for thirty days and recorded how he felt each day and measured his weight. People enter the sociology field because they have a curiosity or interest in certain questions or topics that need answering. If one wanted to work in ideal conditions they would not enter the sociology field. Someone needs to get the rightful truth and answers. We cannot be naive and think we know it all when we don’t. 

 

3. Sociologists might choose to work under less than ideal conditions in order to obtain a realistic perspective of social issues and to more readily find ways to solve them, despite the increased level of danger in the work. As the text mentioned, purely experimental research is designed to preclude any outside factors from interfering with the variables being examined. This makes such experimental research unrealistic by nature of its design, and though it is useful for determining how two variables are related, it does not necessarily yield a practical solution to a given social issue. Thus, researchers take to the field to investigate the complicated interactions that take place in various social situations. Due to the inherent dangers of some social situations, sociologists doing participant observation research in these situations are directly immersed in the danger themselves. This situation is both good and bad for the sociologist. It is good for the reason that genuine research can not only be conducted, but also experienced by the sociologist, but it is also dangerous for the individual researcher. This personal research allows the sociologist to observe firsthand the causes and effects of issues like alcoholism or drug addiction. In addition to experiencing the reasons for the issues, the sociologist can witness how people deal with their situations, giving them the insight of how these social issues are dealt with in everyday life. Without personally investigating such problems and merely relying on statistical data, sociologists can possess only a limited grasp on the situation and its effects on society and individual people. Although the physical being of the researcher is at stake, it is deemed by many to be worth the risk since the findings of the researcher can be used to better understand the problem and possibly find solutions, eventually helping the rest of society.

 

give a paragraph reply to each these answer!