a) http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Sociology/Introduction
1.Summary
This article is talking about concept of sociology, method of research, history and the current situation. In short, sociology is research of society that changing continuously. We have reached a situation where we have no choice that exposing ourselves to other societies due to the development of technology and other things. This was modernity of our society. Sociology was emerged early in the 19th century to understand this modernity.
Early sociologists thought that sociology is similar to natural science. For this reason they studied sociology using scientific and quantitative methodological approaches.
But unlike natural science, human's behavior was complicated. So sociologists began using qualitative methodological approaches.
Today, sociologists are not just studying one area. They are studying about various fields.
2.What I learned/What I was interesting
Reading this article, I newly learned that sociology was emerged recently relative to other studies. Likewise, I learned that there is an international sociologist association. I was interesting about quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches that how to study sociology.
3. Discussion point
Reading this article, I wondered that which is more effective ways in researching sociology among quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches. And I would like to discuss the pros and cons of both ways.
I agree your opinion that two different approaches have both pros and cons. If I use qualitative methodological approaches to my research, it will give me a new perspective on issues. But it won't be easy to generalize research's result. On the other hand, if I use quantitative methodological approach, it has an advantage that it can be easily generalized(compare to the qualitative methodological approach). But it also has its own disadvantage. It's just my opinion but I guess the answer is "It depends on research what you're doing". For example, if your theory is related to macro-sociology, then using quantitative methodological approach is an effective way to research. However, if you are on a research close to micro-sociology qualitative approach is going to be a better choice.
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