Statistical analysis is another historical approach because the data collected can only be concerned with what has already occurred. Probabilities must assume that the future will be like the past. Unknown events may change the probabilities.
Experimentation
Sociologists will sometimes use the laboratory to conduct controlled experiments. These controlled experiments usually involve small groups of people who are carefully selected by age, background, common interest, or any other quality that the sociologist thinks necessary to perform the experiment. If the sociologist wants to test the reaction of people to a particular problem, he may perform several controlled experiments. First, he may divide the group in half, sending all the men to one room and all the women to another room. He may then present the problem to both groups and observe their reactions. From this experiment, the sociologist may begin to draw conclusions on the behavior of men or of women when presented with a particular problem.
Other possibilities for the sociologist would be to divide the groups by age--all the older members in one place, and all the younger members in another--by religious belief or by background. The sociologist could decide not to divide the group at all, but to present the problem to the whole group and observe the reaction or solution to the problem.
Controlled experiments are used to give indications of how a certain group of people may react to a certain problem. Once the sociologist has this indication, he must verify his findings with several other groups before he can draw the conclusion that one group reacts differently from another in similar situations.
Field Observation
Besides descriptions, statistics, surveys, and experimentation, another method used by sociologists is field observation. Field observation means that the sociologist goes out to live in the area he wants to study. This area is known as "the field," or place of study. If a sociologist, for example, wanted to study the living conditions and the people in a small farming town, he would move to that town, live and work with the people there, and observe how these people react toward each other, toward outsiders, and toward their everyday surroundings. When he had finished his study, he would write his findings in a case study.
The same sociologist may choose to do another case study of a very large city. In this case, he would live and work in the large city and record his field observations on how people in large cities react toward each other, toward outsiders, and toward their everyday surroundings. He would record his findings in a case study. He might eventually compare the experience in the small farm town and the large city and draw some conclusions about the people in each group.
