Sociological Methods in Brief

In this lecture, Dr. Andrew Jorgenson presents an overview of methodological tools used in sociological research. He notes the distinctions between exploratory analysis and hypothesis testing and between inductive and deductive reasoning and he highlights differences among data types. He provides examples of qualitative research approaches, including ethnography and case study methodologies, and quantitative research approaches, overviewing multivariate regression and other techniques. He provides several examples of studies from environmental sociology that use methodological techniques. He concludes by noting that research questions should determine the methods that are used, and that environmental sociology embraces diverse methodological approaches to answer a range of research questions.