ABSTRACT
So far we have been talking about the logic behind observing and measuring the social world. Now it is time to look at the specific methods that sociologists employ to collect data. In order to organize the overview of these methods in a way that facilitates comparisons between them, we can relate them back to studies of advertising. Advertising is a broad enough social phenomenon that it can be studied from different angles. This overview of methods will illustrate how different methods offer specific advantages and lend themselves to providing data that are well suited to some questions more than others. We’ll examine methods in relation to the study of advertising production, methods that lend themselves well to the study of advertising content, and also methods that are well suited to studying how people receive and respond to advertising.
