A walk on the applied side: Sociology and training research

This article presents a topic that sociologists rarely research but which holds great promise for the future—training. Sociologists spend a good deal of time investigating education but generally neglect the field of training. Little effort is spent on investigating training, why it’s done, how it’s done, what effect it has, who gets it, when it’s appropriate, or where it takes place. Sociologists tend to leave these issues to psychologists of various specialties or to professional trainers and training developers. The article identifies some major training-related issues, sociological specialty areas that apply to training-related research, areas of research that are of likely interest to sociologists and what sociologists might do to get involved in training research. He is on loan from the Armstrong Laboratory, Technical Training Research Division at Brooks AFB, TX, 78235. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Air Force or the Department of Defense. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Southwest Sociological Association Annual Conference in March 1993.