In this questionnaire, researchers attempt to compare societies of the past and present. When dealing with crime, the sociologist might ask, “Why are crime rates higher today than they were 50 years ago?” In this study, to help focus the sociological imagination, we might seek to obtain information to explain why crime rates have increased. To see the world in a more sociological perspective we must therefore consider the difference in crime between past and present societies. Researchers may believe that there is more deviance today than before, which could result in a higher crime rate. Today's society may have developed subcultural groups that adopted norms that encouraged or rewarded criminal-like behavior. This is one way in which a sociologist can consider this situation as a factor of development