1.What is Methodology?
(Chapter 5 - Doing Sociology : Research Methods)

Ans: The word 'methodology' actually refers to the study of method. Methodological issues or questions are thus about the general problems of scientific knowledge-gathering that go beyond any one particular method, technique or procedure.

2.Explain Objectivity and Subjectivity in Sociology.
(Chapter 5 - Doing Sociology : Research Methods)

Ans:

• "Objective" means unbiased, neutral, or based on facts alone whereas "Subjective" means something that is based on individual values and preferences.
• All science is expected to be 'objective', to produce unbiased knowledge based solely on facts. But this is much harder to do in the social sciences than in the natural sciences.
• Social scientists study the world in which they themselves live — the social world of human relations. This creates special problems for objectivity in a social science like sociology.
• Sociologists are also members of society, they will also have all the normal likes and dislikes that people have. A sociologist studying family relations will herself be a member of a family, and her experiences are likely to influence her.
• The sociologist tries to take an outsider's perspective on her/his own work — she tries to look at herself and her research through the eyes of others. This technique is called ‘self-reflexivity’, or sometimes just ‘reflexivity’.
• However self-reflexive the sociologist tries to be, there is always the possibility of unconscious bias. To deal with this possibility, sociologists explicitly mention those features of their own social background that might be relevant as a possible source of bias on the topic being researched.
• Another problem with objectivity in sociology is the fact that, generally, there are many versions of the ‘truth’ in the social world. Things look different from different vantage points, and so the social world typically involves many competing versions or interpretations of reality.
• A further complication arises from the presence of multiple points of view in the social sciences themselves. Like its sister social sciences, sociology too is a "multi-paradigmatic" science.
• All this makes objectivity a very difficult and complicated thing in sociology. In fact, the old notion of objectivity is widely considered to be an outdated perspective. Social scientists no longer believe that the traditional notion of an "objective, disinterested" social science is attainable; in fact such an ideal can actually be misleading.

3.What is self-reflexivity?
(Chapter 5 - Doing Sociology : Research Methods)

Ans: The sociologist tries to take an outsider's perspective on her/his own work — she tries to look at herself and her research through the eyes of others. This technique is called "self-reflexivity", or sometimes just "reflexivity".

4.Why is objectivity a very difficult and complicated research method in sociology?
(Chapter 5 - Doing Sociology : Research Methods)

Ans:

• Objectivity means unbiased, neutral, or based on facts alone.In this method there is problem of bias.Because sociologists are also members of society, they will also have all the normal likes and dislikes that people have. A sociologist studying family relations will herself be a member of a family, and her experiences are likely to influence her.
• Another problem with objectivity in sociology is the fact that, generally, there are many versions of the ‘truth’ in the social world. Things look different from different vantage points, and so the social world typically involves many competing versions or interpretations of reality.
• A further complication arises from the presence of multiple points of view in the social sciences themselves. Like its sister social sciences, sociology too is a ‘multi-paradigmatic’ science.
• All this makes objectivity a very difficult and complicated thing in sociology.

5.What is Participant Observation ?
(Chapter 5 - Doing Sociology : Research Methods)

Ans: Participant observation refers to a particular method by which the sociologist learns about the society, culture and people that he or she is studying.

6.Why Participant observation is also called as field work?
(Chapter 5 - Doing Sociology : Research Methods)

Ans: In these disciplines, scientists could not only work in the laboratory, they had to go out into ‘the field’ to learn about their subjects (like rocks, insects or plants).

7.What is "informants" or "principal informants"?
(Chapter 5 - Doing Sociology : Research Methods)

Ans:

• The anthropologist usually depends on one or two people for most of the information. Such people are called "informants" or "principal informants".
• Informants act as the anthropologist's teachers and are crucially important actors in the whole process of anthropological research.