Taking information-gathering tasks, that would normally be done by in house, dedicated staff, and outsourcing to the public is known as:
a. public-assistance
b. community-collaboration
c. volunteer-reinforcement
d. crowd-sourcing

I think the correct answer from the choices listed above is option D. Taking information-gathering tasks, that would normally be done by in house, dedicated staff, and outsourcing to the public is known as crowdsourcing. It is the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined network of people in the form of an open call. 

The best sociological research method would have to be using experiments although it has some disadvantages as well