SOCI1513 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Operationalization, Scientific Method, Operational Definition
Document Summary
Defining the problem is necessarily the first step of the research process. This image lists the various stages of the scientific method. The first step of the scientific method is to ask a question, describe a problem, and identify the specific area of interest. The topic should be narrow enough to study within the context of a particular test but also broad enough to have a more general practical or theoretical merit. For many sociologists, the goal is to conduct research which may be applied directly to social policy and welfare, while others focus primarily on refining the theoretical understanding of social processes. Subject matter ranges from the micro level of individual agency and interaction to the macro level of systems and the social structure. Like other sciences, sociology relies on the systematic, careful collection of measurements or counts of relevant quantities to be considered valid.
