Sociologists do fascinating research. Some examples include research conducted at Ohio State University that neighborhoods with more dogs have lower crime rates. At Cornell University, researchers concluded that after childbirth, women’s earnings drop substantially more than men’s. Indiana University sociologists have found that in relationships, the educational level of one spouse impacts the health of the other spouse. Sociology has even been used to study how highways shape the infrastructure of cities. Sociology can be used to study just about anything, so let’s take a few moments to consider how sociologists do sociology.
Sociological research involves a series of sequential steps commonly referred to as the scientific method. These steps start with defining the problem and asking what question is being addressed. Without a clear question, there can be little confidence in the results. Next comes a literature review. It is important to have an idea of what has already been studied and which conclusions have been drawn. This is not only to avoid unnecessary replication of previous research but also to have a clear understanding of what aspects of the topic need further investigation. After getting a big picture of the topic, the researcher develops a hypothesis, an educated guess about a relationship between two or more situations, events, or factors. Using the aforementioned research study on dogs and crime rates, the hypothesis might have been that dogs are a form of “neighborhood watch” since their barking acts as a community alarm system that alerts humans that something is amiss. Now, any dog owner would say that this hypothesis is common sense. If your dog starts barking like crazy, something is up, and you should go look. The act of looking brings more eyes to the situation, and most criminals aren’t comfortable with folks watching them commit crimes. But common sense doesn’t verify the truth of a hypothesis, and there are a host of variables that impact the situation. For example, is the neighborhood made up of guard dogs that bark at the drop of a leaf or companion dogs that won’t leave their human’s side to check on what is happening outside? Do residents without pets pay attention to the surveillance barks of other people’s dogs or call the police to complain about the noise? Do people trust each other’s dogs to be good watchdogs? What about the dogs that just bark constantly because they are locked in the house all day with nothing else to do? With these questions, you can see that common sense is often more nuanced than we realize. The work of sociology is to go beyond the bounds of common sense and use various research methods to collect data and draw conclusions that either support or refute the hypothesis.
The work of doing sociology involves selecting one or more methods to investigate the topic. In a study on dogs in a neighborhood, one could employ both qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative research design involves data collection using interviews and fieldwork, observation, photos, texts, and other subjective measures. In contrast, quantitative research design is data collection using systematic and numerical measures to generalize across groups of people. In other words, the researchers could conduct focus groups with people who live on streets with and without dogs, but they could also collect pet registration data and compare it to the crime rates in various neighborhoods.
Whether it is a study on barking dogs or highway infrastructure, the sociologist’s next steps involve analyzing the data, drawing conclusions, and reporting the findings. Ideally, these findings will not only be shared with other academics but also the general public. If all goes well, and the steps of the scientific method are followed, what we learn from sociological research will improve our world for humans and dogs alike!
