Mohammad Reza Taleban*

Abstract

Speeches and actions are essential elements of human activity in their social life, and the ties between them have always been a major concern for social scientists, in particular sociologists.

The issue of mismatching speech with behavior could be a methodological problem as the most common research methods and techniques used by sociologists (i.e. surveys and interviews) are focused on the unproven assumption that there would be a connection between individuals' answers to research questions about their actions and their actual actions in social life. This article examines the methodological implications of this argument from the viewpoint of some sociologists that what people say is often a poor prediction of what they do. As a result, researchers who base their claims on people's verbal statements should make it clear that they are not analyzing what people are doing, unless they show that people's statements about a particular action have the power to predict that action.

Keywords: Speech, Action, Attitude, Social Situation, Symbolic Interactionism

* Associate Professor, Research Institute of Imam Khomeini and Islamic Revolution, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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