Standard Occupational Classifications

  1. What is the Standard Occupational Classifications and why is it important to sociologists who study work?
  2. Give an example of how workers in the same occupation, but in different industries, might have different working conditions
  3. How does the government define employment? How does the government define unemployment? Which groups are excluded from the counts? Why are both of these measures controversial?
  4. What is generalizability? When are research findings generalizable and when are they not?
  5. A researcher wants to discover what makes a manager an effective leader. Explain the difference between using participant-observation and surveys for this kind of research and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
  6. Create a table that shows the weekly work hours for years 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 for the following countries: The United States, France, Sri Lanka, Germany, Argentina, and Saudi Arabia. You will need to make up the data for this table. Be sure to effectively title and label the table. Read Box 2.5 to make sure you have included all parts of a table. Create a table that shows the weekly work hours for years 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 for the following countries: The United States, France, Sri Lanka, Germany, Argentina, and Saudi Arabia. You will need to make up the data for this table. Be sure to effectively title and label the table. Read Box 2.5 to make sure you have included all parts of a table.