DOING SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH C H A P T E R 3

DOING SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH C H A P T E R 3

THE RESEARCH PROCESS There are various methods that sociologists use to do research. All involve rigorous observation and careful analysis These methods include: participant observation survey research use of official records or interviews statistical analysis of qualitative data 2

SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH Research is an engaging and demanding process. It requires skill, careful observation, and the ability to think logically about the things that spark your sociological curiosity. The way the question is asked varies depending on the research method used. 3

SOCIOLOGY & THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD Sociologists attempt to follow the scientific method, which uses the following four steps in the research process: 1. observation 2. hypothesis testing 3. analysis of data 4. generalization 4

SOCIOLOGY: AN EMPIRICAL SCIENCE Sociologists conduct both qualitative and quantitative analyses. Qualitative studies are more interpretative observations. Quantitative studies are usually statistically sophisticated. Both of these are methods of empirical analysis. The ideas and subjects studied must be testable. 5

VARIABLES Researchers design studies to test the influence of one variable on another. A variable is a characteristic that can have more than one value or score. For example: How does age effect income? Independent Variable is the presumed cause of the outcome (age). Dependent Variable is the variable that is the presumed effect (income). 6

INDUCTIVE REASONING Inductive reasoning takes us beyond the confines of our current evidence or knowledge to conclusions about the unknown. Conclusions are arrived at by studying general observations. Conclusions arrived at by inductive reasoning do not have the same degree of certainty as those arrived at using deductive logic. 7

THE RESEARCH PROCESS 8

DEDUCTIVE REASONING Deductive reasoning argues from the general to a specific instance. The basic idea is that if something is true of a class of things, it is also true for an individual thing in the class. Arguments are neither true or false; they are either valid or invalid. 9

DEDUCTIVE REASONING Example: Catholic doctrine prohibits abortion. Therefore, Catholics are less likely than other religious groups to support abortion rights. What is another example of deductive reasoning? 10

THE RESEARCH PROCESS STEP I: DEVELOP A RESEARCH QUESTION Sociological research is an organized process that follows an established protocol. In the first stage, the researcher decides what to study. This is a major step and it is not always as simple as it may originally appear to be. The researcher needs to select a topic that can be studied systematically, and must be able to find an appropriate population to study. Even when the population is available, the researcher may not be able to get access to it. 11

DEVELOPING A RESEARCH QUESTION There are many ways researchers decide what to study: replicating a previous research project to determine its validity web searches for ideas selecting something that simply interests you or you learned about in one of your classes ideas from professors, other researchers, and even family or friends library and online literature searches Be careful; data found on the Internet is not always valid or reliable. 12

THE RESEARCH PROCESS STEP II: RESEARCH DESIGN The design stage involves deciding on the appropriate data collection technique to use to investigate the chosen research topic. Possible research design techniques include: interviews surveys observations of activities and events web searches previous research on the subject examining artifacts mixed method analysis (combines interviews and observations) 13

RESEARCH DESIGN During this stage of the study the researcher decides whether the study should use qualitative or quantitative data or a combination of both. Some research designs may involve the testing of a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an idea, a hunch, a tentative assumption about a given issue or body of knowledge, but not a demonstrable fact. 14

THE RESEARCH PROCESS STEP III: GATHERING DATA Also referred to as Data Collection. The stage when the data is collected or gathered. Primary or secondary data can be used for gathering quantitative data. Primary data is original data gathered specifically for this project. Secondary data is data gathered from an earlier study or purpose such as: National opinion polls, census data, or national crime statistics, or official sources, such as university records, city or county records, national health statistics, or historical records. 15

THE RESEARCH PROCESS STEP IV: DATA ANALYSIS At this stage, sociologists organize collected data to discover the patterns and uniformities that the data reveal. The analysis may be statistical or qualitative. This is a labor intensive phase of the research process. This is when discoveries are made and important information about human social behavior and our institutions and society is uncovered. When the data analysis is complete, conclusions and generalizations can be made. 16

DATA ANALYSIS: SERENDIPITY Sometimes unexpected or unanticipated findings are made. These are referred to as serendipitous findings. They may direct a researcher into a new area of study or provide the researcher with a new topic to study as a follow up to the current project. 17

THE RESEARCH PROCESS STEP V: CONCLUSIONS The final stage in research is developing conclusions, relating findings to sociological theory and past research, and reporting the findings. An important question researchers will ask at this stage is whether their findings can be generalized. Generalization is the ability to draw conclusions from specific data and to apply them to a broader population; i.e. applying them to a bigger population than the one being studied. Be very careful when generalizing. 18

THE TOOLS OF SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH There are several tools or techniques sociologists use to gather data. Among the most widely used are: survey research participant observation controlled experiments content analysis historical research evaluation research 19

SURVEY RESEARCH Surveys are the most commonly used tools of sociological research. Surveys can be administered as questionnaires, interviews, or telephone polls: Questionnaires are sent to large numbers of people and ask the respondent about income, occupation or employment status, education, income, age, race, gender, and other specific topics. Low return rates give skewed or biased data. 20

SURVEY RESEARCH Interviews involve asking structured questions in an interview format. They can be open or closed-ended and administered: face-to-face over the phone on the Internet via e-mail Telephone polls involve calling large samples of the population and asking very specific information about the topic of concern. 21

SURVEYS Advantages Surveys make it possible to ask specific questions about a large number of topics and then to perform sophisticated analyses to find patterns and relationships among variables. Disadvantages The structured or rigid nature of the questions often makes it difficult to accurately capture the opinions of the respondent or fail to capture nuances in people s behavior and attitudes. 22

PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION Also known as field research The sociologist becomes a part of the group and studies or observes the behavior of the group members. Two roles are played at the same time: subjective participant objective observer The group may or may not be aware that the sociologist is studying them. 23

PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION Street Corner Society (1943), a classic work by sociologist William Foote Whyte, documents one of the first qualitative participant observation studies ever done. Whyte studied the Cornerville Gang, a group of Italian- American men whose territory was a street corner in Boston in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Doc was the covert participant; i.e., gang member who knew Whyte was a sociologist. 24

PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION Advantages The observer gets to know the study group very well and gets vast subjective information about the group members. These studies have added to the rich body of sociological research. Disadvantages There may be too much information to analyze systematically. This data collection technique and its analysis is very time consuming. Interpretation may not be objective. 25

CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS Controlled experiments are highly focused ways of collecting data and are especially useful for determining a pattern of cause and effect. This research requires creating two different groups: an experimental group, which is exposed to the factor or variable one is examining, and a control group, which is not exposed to the factor or variable being tested. 26

CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS In a controlled experiment, external influences are either eliminated or equalized; i.e., held constant. This is necessary in order to establish cause and effect relationships. In order to establish a baseline the researcher may administer pretest measurements before the variable is introduced and posttest measurements afterwards. 27

CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS Advantages A controlled experiment can establish cause. It can zero in on a single independent variable. Controlled experiments mean making judgments about how much the artificial setting affected the results. Disadvantages It is an artificial environment. Large-scale community based studies do not lend themselves to experimental research designs. Required ethics must be adhered to, which are difficult to follow. 28

CONTENT ANALYSIS Content analysis is a way of measuring by examining the cultural artifacts of what people write, say, see, and hear. The researcher studies communications people produce as a way of creating a picture of their society. In content analysis the researcher analyzes cultural artifacts such as newspapers, magazines, TV programs, fairy tales, comic books, or popular music. 29

USES OF CONTENT ANALYSIS Content analysis is a tool often used to: gather trend data; i.e., changes over time compare different groups of people analyze how the media presents ethnic, racial, age and gender groups to the public examine products advertised by the media criticize politicians presentations of self analyze tales told to children and much, much more! 30

CONTENT ANALYSIS Advantages Content analysis has the advantage of being unobtrusive, or nonreactive. The research has no effect on the person being studied, because the cultural artifact has already been produced. Disadvantages Content analysis is limited in what it can study. These artifacts are not developed for research purposes. Therefore, it cannot tell us what people really think about these images or whether they affect people s behavior. 31

HISTORICAL ANALYSIS Historical research examines sociological themes over time. Data for these studies come from: official records, church records, town archives, private diaries, oral histories. The authenticity of the source is critical as the quality of the data depends on it. Oral histories dramatically reveal unknown histories of groups that have been ignored or misrepresented in other historical accounts. 32

HISTORICAL ANALYSIS Advantages Disadvantages Long term social changes are easy to capture. This is a perfect sociological tool for conducting studies of history or comparative perspectives. Knowing whether the reports are allegories or factual details is subject to interpretation. Interpretation errors are easy to make when the information is symbolic or in an unfamiliar language. 33

EVALUATION RESEARCH Evaluation research assesses the effect of policies and programs on people in society. Policy research is the term used when the research is intended to produce policy recommendations. Social organizations and governmental agencies use policy research in order to make recommendations to Congress on such issues as: Improving school performance Health care funding and service needs 34

RESEARCH ETHICS The problems sociologists choose to study, the people they decide to observe, the research design they select, and the type of media they use to distribute their research can all be influenced by the personal values of the researcher. Sociological research often raises ethical questions. Question: Can a researcher be value-free? 35

RESEARCH ETHICS The American Sociological Association (ASA) developed a professional code of ethics. The federal government also has many regulations about the protection of human subjects. 36

RESEARCH ETHICS When performing sociological research, researchers: are prohibited from imposing perceived or actual physical, mental, or legal harm must inform subjects of the rights and responsibilities of both the researcher and the subject are required to secure informed consent from their subjects must ensure subject confidentiality and anonymity must follow strict reporting guidelines and requirements 37

RESEARCH TERMS Bias: personal, social attitudes and beliefs that influence what we know and our study results Reliability: the degree to which a measure produces consistent results Validity: the degree to which measures actually measures what they want to measure Variables: concepts that have more than one value Representation: assurance that the sample studies the people that you need information about 38

RESEARCH TERMS Sample: the group of people being studied Causality: the analysis of cause and effect Survey: gathering information from many people on the same topic Interview: talking to people in order to gather information about them 39