The Yale sociologist Kai Erikson wrote a book called Wayward Puritans in which he drew on court records from colonial Massachusetts to understand deviance in the past. He learned that the rate of out-of-wedlock births was much higher than it is now and that the amount of alcohol consumed per capita was higher as well. What research methodology was Erikson using?

Comparative-historical

Explanation:

 The comparative historical research is one of the type of approach that basically helps in examining or evaluating all the historical phenomenon and the social structure.

 By using the comparative historical approach or method we can easily comparing the different types of societies and the cultures and the main objective of this approach is that it helps in understanding the main mechanism.

According to the given question, Erikson is the sociologist and he is using the comparative historical research methodology for evaluating the given situation Therefore, Comparative historical is the correct answer.    

answer; scientific;