ABSTRACT
In the social sciences, research methods are divided into three categories–survey research, quantitative methods, and qualitative methods. A distinction is made between two fundamentally different types of sociological inquiry; this allows researchers to see how research practices are embedded within these different forms of sociology. In sociologies of the hidden order, the workings of the society are believed to underlie, or to be hidden within, the visible actions and behaviors of members of society. In sociologies of the hidden social order, the term "research methods" refers to disciplined practices that sociologists use to uncover and document the hidden order of society. In sociologies of the witnessable order, claims are made about the orderlinesses of ongoing activities as those orderlinesses are observable to the participants engaged in producing them. Sociologists have heard of the marvelous consequences of scientific methods in fields such as physics and chemistry.
