JBC: Advertisement/Society

This chapter highlights the importance of not only advertisement, but it's production, content, and its reception through the method of sociology. Advertisements are everywhere around us, televisions, bus signs, outdoor benches, billboards, and on product packagings. Some sociologist thinks about the normative part of the world; however, many tend to make more connections with empirical observations. What are normative and empirical you may ask. Normative is a term describing a specific idea of how the world should be, and empirical describes an approach that uses data collections about the world as it is. 

Many believe that marijuana is good for us and uses them on a daily basis. It is true that marijuana is good for us on certain aspect but the truth of its side effect is that "... marijuana use has been shown to impair functions such as attention, memory, learning, and decision-making. Those effects can last for days after the high wears off. Heavy marijuana use in adolescence or early adulthood has been associated with a dismal set of life outcomes including poor school performance, higher dropout rates, increased welfare dependence, greater unemployment, and lower life satisfaction", explained in the article "Marijuana and the Developing Brain" by Kirsten Weir. This is an example of 'tradition', where many people have a thought towards certain things.

There's a difference between quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data are information presented through measures, and qualitative data are information introduced through words. Collecting these quantitative data may involve in surveys or questionnaires that can easily be turned into numbers. Although surveys have many advantages like having a great number of participants, it also has its disadvantages; answering questions dishonestly, for example. Qualitative data can be collected through Interviews or ethnography. The qualitative researcher may go and participate or choose to observe and collect data. From a small number of cases to wide social trends, there are many methods to collect data.