Interactionists are the best stalkers

     Sociologists are pretty much educated stalkers in my book. They go around observing people from from far away as well as up close up. Some even are undercover while observing the people they are hanging out with. I don't know about you but to me this is just a little creepy. It puts me on the edge when I think about it. People who look and act like ordinary people could actually be sociologists watching your every move to see if you do something that interests them. They then record everything you do and add it to their pile of research. This may just be me but this makes me feel like i'm part of a museum display. My conclusion, as I said, is that sociologists are educated stalkers. 

     Sociologists can also take two different approaches to study the "museum exhibits" around them. There is the positivist and interactionist approaches. The approach that I believe gains a deeper knowledge of sociological issues would be the interactionist approach. This is because interactionists like to collect more qualitative data than quantitative data. Qualitative data deals directly with people's experiences, as well as their feelings about, and interpretations of, the situations they find themselves in. So sociologists who take the interactionist approach like to interview people more and interact with them. These are the real stalkers. They may work undercover or have one on one conversations with individuals. Interactionists like to get an understanding of how their clients feel about certain situations. In other words, interactionists want to know your thoughts and feelings in a deeper way than just by you filling out a multiple choice questionnaire.