Refer to people who share a common characteristic without necessarily interacting or identifying with one another.

Social categories refer to people who share a common characteristic without necessarily interacting or identifying with one another. These categories are used by society to help label people and to see what type of group they belong to. People who share a common age, gender, education, income or any other identifier are put into social categories, even though they do not necessarily communicate with each other. These categories an be beneficial for organization, but they can also come with a lot of stigmas or prejudices.

The best sociological research method would have to be using experiments although it has some disadvantages as well