The sociologist’s choice of research method will depend on how much time and money they have for the research. For example, large-scale cross-sectional surveys may employ many researchers and cost a lot of money. On the other hand, small-scale projects with one researcher using covert or overt observation may be cheaper to carry out.
Another influence on the choice of research method is whether the sociologist wants to collect quantitative or qualitative data.
Ethical issues are also a factor that the researcher has to consider and this may influence them to use already published studies so as to avoid the researcher effect.