Sociology and Science

When Robert was a graduate student his major research professor would often say: There is only one field of sociology that has any chance of having standing as a science. What was it and why? It was demography, and the reason was that they didn't talk to people, they only counted them.

When sociologists interview people or ask them to complete a questionnaire you are learning about their opinions, beliefs, and recollections, all of which are unstable and questionable as real data. The only  possible way out of this dilemma is to measure something that is more stable like a person's education or income, and then compare persons with such "structural" differences on their opinions, beliefs, etc.
Unfortunately, a great deal of sociological research today is based solely on recollections, beliefs, and attitudes, and often comparisons are made about what people report that they believed at different points in times ---not exactly what we would call "hard data." The only solution is to pay less attention to people and what they say, and more attention to the collective products of what people create--that is, their social institutions, like their educational system, or their economy, or their criminal justice system.
The sociological study of social institutions may be the best way to move beyond what people say and to realize some of the advantages of demography.