Why Join Gangs Sociology

As a sociologist studying why youths join gangs, the approach that would be taken is the inductive approach. A sociologist should aim to answer questions as; do youths join gangs to gain a social status within their community? Or do they join gangs as a mean of protection? A lot of factors play a significant role in what makes youths turn to gangs. To make sure all possible factors are looked upon, it would be key to, observe youths within gangs and then base your hypothesis off of your observations. During the observation period, we would collect and analyze data related to the behaviors of the youths in gangs. This data and analysis would then be used to form a theory that is tested through the formation of a hypothesis (Kendall 40). Using …show more content…
When studying a subject matter that is sensitive, it is best if the sociologist does not interfere too much with the sample population. I feel that field research may be fit to collect this type of data. Interviewing the subjects one on one give the interviewer and the interviewee more time and focus to open up about their decisions for joining a gang at such a young age (Howard,2010). The field research would also contain observations of these groups. The sociologist and their team conducting the interviews and field research would have to follow a set of ethics, that all sociologists should follow. These ethics include professional competence. One should strive to maintain the highest level of competence in their work. The ethics that are to be also followed include; integrity, professional and scientific responsibility, respect for right, diversity, confidentiality and safeguarding privacy and dignity, and social responsibility (Code of Ethics, 2009). Sociologist are professionals that are expected to remain professional while on the field. The participants that agree to be included in the study have rights, such as not wanting to reveal their identity, that Sociologist must respect. They have to treat the information they receive as, a research doctor would with a medical record, and not reveal the content unless given permission by the …show more content…
The interaction, however, needs to be done in a way that the interviewer does not become uneasy and uncomfortable to reveal their stories. It means that the researcher should understand the population well to determine the best behavior to adopt when performing the research. Similarly, the observation method also requires a good knowledge of the study population, to avoid misunderstanding and inconveniences, which may evoke conflict between the two. This is extremely important in the type of research, as field research and interviews are easy outlets for participants to feel like they are being treated as animals being studied (Creswell & Clark, 2007). If misunderstandings do take place, the accuracy of this study would decline, as participants may start to become dishonest. The research samples which are highly structure are coded without additional segmentation of the