2.1 Using Sociological Data to Describe Social Phenomena

LO 2.1: Describe how sociologists use data to describe social life.

Sociologists use data to describe social life. They then develop, test, and refine sociological theory to explain this data. Sociological theory are testable explanations of social phenomena (see Chapter 1). Sociologists follow scientific principles for gathering, evaluating, and interpreting evidence to test their theories. Thus, sociological explanations may differ from everyday common sense, journalistic accounts, and social media gossip.