According to conservative analyst julian simon, the fact that the planet supports six times as many people as it did when malthus was alive is cause for

I believe the answer is: Celebration

According to Julian Simon, humans have to posses optimistic views on our capabilities in adapting to future world's problems.
He argued the fact that  planet supports six times as many people as it did proof that we create necessary improvement to help us survive and adapt in new situations.

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