Chapter 2

• Describe the work of the classical era’s social theorists, including Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and others.
• Outline the tenets of structural/functional, conflict/critical, and inter/actionist theories.
• Describe the scientific method.
• Describe the various methods of sociological research and the types of questions each one can help us answer.
• Describe how sociologists engage in secondary data analysis.
• Identify the key issues in social research, including reliability, validity, trust, legality, and objectivity.