State your key research question and ask yourself the primary purpose of your sociology research. Sociologist Earl Babbie, author of "The Practice of Social Research," writes that the three main purposes of social research are exploration, description and explanation, although most studies serve more than one of these purposes. For example, a study of urban gangs that asks why young people of different ethnicities join gangs is explanatory but may involve description as well.
Choose a unit of analysis. This is what you will examine in order to summarize your findings and explain differences among your subjects. In most sociology research, individual people are the units of analysis. A study of gangs, for example, would use individual gang members as the units of analysis.
Select the research methods you will use to collect the data needed for your study. Sociologists rely on surveys, interviews, document analysis and field research, in which they observe the daily lives of their subjects. Other sociologists rely on existing data, such as economic and social data collected by government agencies. All research methods have their strengths and weaknesses. Recognizing this, most sociologists use multiple research methods in which the strengths of one technique compensate for the weaknesses of another.
Design any data collection instruments you will use, such as questionnaires and observation forms. These instruments structure your data collection, forcing you to pay attention to the information you want to collect for your study and helping you filter extraneous information. Field research is a time-consuming endeavor, so make sure you have appropriate instruments that will focus your research work.
Choose a sample, if applicable, for your study. This is a subset of people drawn from a larger population. Observing a sample enables a researcher to draw conclusions about the larger population. Rarely can sociologists study an entire population, which means they must draw a sample. A study of youth gangs, for example, may consist of members of the three largest gangs in a particular city.
Begin your data collection and analysis, following the plan outlined in your research design.