3.6 Conclusion
Social science research methods help us understand a great deal about society and human experiences. If we return to Matthew Desmond’s research on housing and evictions, we see how understanding those experiences allowed Desmond to make sound conclusions about housing in Milwaukee. Desmond outlines some of the key findings related to policy that impact families with evictions here: Unstable Housing: Matthew Desmond [YouTube Video]. In 2017, Desmond founded the Eviction Lab, which is a project to collect national data on eviction as a means to address questions about residential instability, forced moves, and poverty in America (Eviction Lab [website]). Desmond’s findings led him to advocate for a universal housing voucher. What do you think? Is housing a right? What would change if we understood housing as something everyone should have access to?
3.6.1 Review of Learning Objectives
In this chapter, you learn the many ways sociologists “do” sociology. Social science research draws on the scientific method and is important to the discipline. Along with the scientific method, sociologists must determine what research method is appropriate to use when assessing social life. We must consider the validity and reliability of our findings. Quantitative and qualitative approaches to research help us answer different types of questions; quantitative methods uses statistical analysis to quantify and measure social phenomena and qualitative methods seeks to understand the experiences of individuals or groups from their perspective by focusing on observable material such as texts, fieldnotes, photographs and interview transcripts. There are strengths and limitations to every approach we’ve discussed in this chapter. Finally, we reviewed a few key cases that help us understand the significance of ethics when it comes to designing and conducting research projects. The next chapter will explore practices of socialization and social interaction.
3.6.2 Additional Resources
3.6.3 Key Terms
Anti-positivism: theoretical stance that proposes that the social realm cannot be studied with the methods of investigation utilized within the natural sciences, and that investigation of the social realm requires a different approach.
Causation: a change in one variable that directly has an effect on or causes another variable
Code of ethics: formal guidelines for conducting sociological research—consisting of principles and ethical standards to be used in the discipline.
Content analysis: systematic analysis of forms of communication to identify and study patterns and themes.
Correlation: broad term describing how a change in one variable is associated with a similar pattern of variation in another variable across cases in a data set. Correlations imply a relationship between two or more variables but do not suggest causation
Critical sociology: focuses on deconstruction of existing sociological research and theory. Critical sociologists view theories, methods, and the conclusions as serving one of two purposes: they can either legitimize and rationalize systems of social power and oppression or liberate humans from inequality and restriction on human freedom.
Ethnography: a qualitative research method in which a researcher observes a social setting to provide descriptions of a group, society, or organization.
Experiment: refers to a procedure typically used to confirm the validity of a hypothesis by comparing the outcomes of one or more experimental groups to a control group on a given measure
Generalizability: extent to which findings from a study can be applied to a larger population or different circumstance
Hypothesis: an explanation for a phenomenon based on a conjecture about the relationship between the phenomenon and one or more causal factors.
Induction: use specific observations or evidence to arrive at broad conclusions.
Interpretive framework: an approach that involves detailed understanding of a particular subject through observation, not through hypothesis testing. Interpretive frameworks allow researchers to have reflexivity so they can describe how their own social position influences what they research.
Interviews: one on one conversations with participants designed to gather information about a particular topic
Population: people who are the focus of a study
Positivism: Comte’s theory which suggests that science produces universal laws, science controls what is true, and that objective methods allow you to pursue that truth. Refer to chapter 2
Qualitative methods: tends to work with non-numerical data and attempts to understand the experiences of individuals and groups from their own perspectives. With qualitative approaches, researchers examine how groups participate in their own meaning making and development of culture.
Quantitative methods: research that uses numerical data; the social world and experiences are translated into numbers that can be examined mathematically through statistical analysis.
Random sample -every person in a population has the same chance of being chosen for the study.
Reflexivity- ability of the researcher to examine how their own social position influences how and what they research. Reflexivity requires the researcher to evaluate how their own feelings, reactions and motives influence how they think and behave in a situation.
Reliability: how likely research results are to be replicated if the study is reproduced
Sample: a manageable number of subjects who represent a larger population. The success of a study depends on how well a population is represented by the sample.
Survey: collects data from subjects who respond to a series of questions about behaviors and opinions, often in the form of a questionnaire or an interview. Surveys are one of the most widely used scientific research methods.
Validity: how well the study measures what it was designed to measure
3.6.4 Discussion Questions
- What types of questions are best answered with survey questions? What additional information might you gather by using qualitative interviews?
- What are some important skills for a qualitative researcher to have?
- In this chapter you learned about community-based participatory research. Learn more by listening to this talk from Dr. Blake Poland at University of Toronto Public Health Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) [YouTube Video] Questions to consider while watching:
- What is community-based participatory research?
- How are research projects designed? What is different about this approach compared to traditional approaches to research?
- What are some of the skills needed to conduct this type of research?
- How might you use this type of research outside of the area of public health?
- Create a brief research design about a topic in which you are passionately interested. Now write a letter to a philanthropic or grant organization requesting funding for your study. How can you describe the project in a convincing yet realistic and objective way? Explain how the results of your study will be a relevant contribution to the body of sociological work already in existence.
- Why do you think the American Sociological Association (ASA) crafted such a detailed set of ethical principles? What type of study could put human participants at risk? Think of some examples of studies that might be harmful. Do you think that, in the name of sociology, some researchers might be tempted to cross boundaries that threaten human rights? Why?
- Would you willingly participate in a sociological study that could potentially put your health and safety at risk, but had the potential to help thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people? For example, would you participate in a study of a new drug that could cure diabetes or cancer, even if it meant great inconvenience and physical discomfort for you or possible permanent damage?
3.6.5 Licenses and Attributions for Conclusion
“Conclusion” by Jennifer Puentes is licensed under CC BY 4.0
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