Research in Sociology and Pearson Education

Researchers, through their work, tend to shape the lives of people in the society and the perceptions that people hold over issues in the society (Macionis, 2013). Therefore, a researcher intending to carry out a research or study must understand the ways of life of those people. Understanding the ways of life of the people or society a researcher intends to study in his/her research helps in providing credible information and findings (Macionis, 2013), that can be relied upon by other people. However, failure to familiarize with the ways of life, for example in a study of the Amish people, will result into problems, especially if the research is not an Amish (Macionis, 2013).

The Amish people, for example, are against active military service. In case the researcher tends to ask many questions about military service, this may be taken as offensive against the belief of the Amish, who believe in the teaching found in the Bible that “love thy neighbor.” Therefore, any research questions or comments that revolve around violence or active military service may not be answered or may be answered using misleading answers (Macionis, 2013). Furthermore, the Amish people are against photography and all the forms as well as methods of photography are forbidden. This means that, if a research is to involve photography, the researcher may not be welcomed to carry out the study, hence result in failure of the research.

The home is considered the center of the Amish life (Macionis, 2013). This means that, in case the research wants to carry out the research in other locations apart from the home, this will result in the Amish becoming unreceptive and fail to respond in case it is an interview. Therefore, getting to understand the different ways of life of the people to be studied is important to a researcher for credible and reliable research findings and results (Macionis, 2013).

References

Macionis, J. (2013). Sociology. Pearson Education.