A Summary of the Concept of Social Research

Earth could be thought of as an exchange center of two things among its sentient inhabitants, intellectual and genetic information. The exchange of genetic information is quite a straight forward concept, with the need for reproduction being necessary to the survival of a species. However the reasons behind transference of intellectual information and how that information is transferred through mass groups of people is what fascinates social researchers. Furthermore, these social researchers seek to identify order and regularity in the complexity of social life; in an effort to make sense of it all. This is essentially carried out by making representations of how people do or refuse to do things together, then by going into detail about whatever order they have found. The creation of representations of social life is essentially done for the purpose of better understanding why humans interact with each other in the ways they do. A study that suggests cities with the most severe housing segregation by race and income levels were the ones that experienced the most severe inner-city deterioration is a representation of one facet of society as a whole. This study attempts to shed light on an issue by examining the intricate relations of economic and racial influences leading to a similar situation happening throughout all urban environments.
To most effectively convey the order social researchers have uncovered, they publish their findings in: scientific journals, scholarly books, reports, and monographs; in textbooks and other teaching material; and sometimes in magazines, newspapers, and trade books. Most of these avenues of reaching a mass audience are in print form but social researchers will often use other media outlets to spread the news of their findings. Often social research is confused with journalism, though it is in fact distinctly different from it in many ways.
Regardless of the efforts of social researchers to bring to light issues in contemporary society, their findings don’t always please everyone. Often people prefer to remain ignorant to timeless questions regarding societies as a whole as well as their own unique social questions. Aside from people preferring to remain ignorant, the task of tedious conduction of the social research involving the collection of massive quantities of data scares away many from the prospects of pursuing it as a fulltime career. Thus leaving it a career path followed by those who are very passionate about social history and change moving forward. Also the evidence uncovered can often not be as specific as researchers would like it to be. Mainly this occurs in situations where the data does not give the exact message that the investigator would like to present.
As infinitely complex as social research is, some people are drawn to the challenge of deciphering the order within the supposed chaos. Often individuals who want to implement social change in some sort of way are drawn to the study of social research in order to find the answers they need to make their desired change happen. It is common for these people to have strong political commitments, and seek to ascend to roles of power in order to have their social visions materialize. Before reaching any office of high merit these scholars must translate their concerns into publications (representations of social life) reflecting the social concerns they have and they hope to raise awareness about.
A key characteristic is of social research is how often studies overlap and complement each other, due to the nature of society having more order than most people are capable of perceiving. This a process of clarification and tempering of the concerns and interests of those who practice the craft. This “purification” process of information begins with social researchers engaging in long-standing debates about society and social life when they conduct research. These researchers are obligated to base their recreations on in-depth and critical examinations of large quantities of systematically collected evidence. Social researchers as a whole judge the work on the representations of social life produced by these individuals.
Any individual looking to influence society on a broad scale, has to have a fundamental understanding of social research. Those great minds which are grounded in ideas that are backed by evidence have a very strong chance of ascending to a level where they are able to influence contemporary social policy. The job of the community of scholars and social researchers is to make sure that past social snares have the opportunity to be avoided in the future; as well as politicians and those in places of power are able to see both quantitative and qualitative data points that can help them make the best decisions for the good of the people they serve on a broad scale. Without the tireless efforts of social research, it is easier for politicians to hide their flaws and corruption is much more rampant. Hopefully in the future more individuals will become passionate about social change and look to follow in the footsteps of social researchers for the betterment of society in the future.