“What problems do you confront?” an approach to doing qualitative research

Social life is filled with problems — situations that are perceived and defined as problems by individuals as they interact with each other. As such, these problems are often of more concern to those individuals than are other matters. The sociologist can gain insight into the structure of social relations by focusing the investigation on those problems rather than directly on the underlying structure. That is, the discussion of the problems that those being studied see in their situation or setting is revealing of the structured relations in those settings. This approach to doing social research is illustrated by two of the author's studies — one a study of an emergency department, and the second a study of how commercial art galleries affect the production and consumption of art.