In this questionnaire, researchers attempt to compare the societies of the past and the present. When discussing crime, the sociologist might ask, "Why are crime rates higher today than 50 years ago?" » In this study intended to help focus the sociological imagination, we might try to better understand why crime rates have increased. To see the world from a more sociological perspective, we then need to look at the difference in crime between past society and today's society. Researchers might consider that there is more deviance today than before, which could lead to an increase in crime rates. Today's society could have developed subcultural groups that adopted norms that encouraged or rewarded criminal behavior. This is a way for a sociologist to consider this situation as a developmental factor.