Sociology February 2012 Archive

In-depth interviewing is a method of qualitative research in which the researcher asks open-ended questions orally and records the respondent's answers. Interviewing is typically done face-to-face, but can also be ... Read More

Last week, the Association of American Medical Colleges announced dramatic changes to the Medical College Admissions Test. These changes, which will be implemented in 2015, plan to test aspects of ... Read More

Statistical procedures can be divided into two major categories: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics includes statistical procedures that we use to describe the population we are studying. The ... Read More

Focus groups are a form of qualitative research that is used most often in product marketing and marketing research. During a focus group, a group of individuals - usually 6-12 ... Read More

After researching moral identity, sociologists at the University of California, Riverside and California State University have recently developed a theory of the moral self that may help explain some of ... Read More

When we talk about computer programs used in sociological research, most people think about programs designed for use with quantitative data, such as SAS, SPSS, and STATA that are used ... Read More

Immersion is a form of qualitative research that allows the researcher to fully and deeply understand a group, a subculture, a setting, or a way of life. Qualitative researchers often ... Read More

A recent study by sociologists at Louisiana State University and Baylor University found that counties with greater concentrations of small, locally owned businesses have healthier populations compared to those that ... Read More

Military sociology is the sociological study of the military. It examines issues such as military recruiting, race and gender representation in the military, combat, military families, military social organization, war ... Read More

Language and social interaction have a reciprocal relationship: language shapes social interactions and social interactions shape language. Language is central to social interaction in every society, regardless of location and ... Read More

It was once believed that family income was the biggest factor in determining adolescents' weight, with adolescents living in low-income families more likely to be overweight or obese. A new ... Read More

A new study published in the Journal of Social Science and Medicine suggests that parents' education levels have an affect on their children's' mental health. The study used 29 years ... Read More

The opportunity structure in a society is the distribution of people's access to occupations and other ways for supporting their live and achieving goals. The concept plays a central role ... Read More