2Soc Research Lesson 5: Doing Sociology; Methods

Today's lesson will focus on how sociologists actually do the work that they publish about.  Venkatesh highlights a number of different ways that sociologists examine society.  We will use his introduction to dive into how sociologists do research.

"He doesn't speak Spanish, but he probably speaks Mexican!"

Please look over the Gang Leader for a Day excerpt.


Read, comprehend and recall quiz

Please answer the questions here.

Thoughts on the reading? Questions? 

Click here to open the Google Form for this lesson.

1. What are the two broad ways sociologists gather data? (Venkatesh mentions these).  

2. Brainstorm:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of these 2 broad ways of researching?  

If you would like a guided notes sheet, open A Framework for Understanding the Sociological Perspective (available here).  

Quantitative                                    Qualitative
statistical analysis                             comparable descriptive analysis
value free                                          values are present and explicit
less context                                       contextual/nuanced

many cases/subjects                          fewer cases/subjects
researcher is detached                       researcher is involved
research is pointed                            research is open-ended

What are some specific ways that Venkatesh uses each of these broad ways? Explain. 

Now, let's add other types of general research.

General Types of Sociological Research

• Longitudinal - a study that examines subjects over an extended period time.  For example, a researcher might interview kids at age 5, then at age 15 and then again at 25.  Some research is conducted over the course of decades by different researchers.
• Cross-sectional - a study that examines a group of people at a single point in time.  For example, like taking a section of cake that has different layers, a researcher might take a sample of people from a group like SHS.  The research might examine 10 students from each grade to get an understanding of the school as a whole.  The key here is that the researcher studies a bunch of people from the same group/society. 
• Cross-cultural - a study that compares subjects from two or more cultures.  The key here is that a cross-cultural study examines people that are part of different groups/societies and compares them.
• Qualitative or Quantitative - qualitative is subjective and descriptive; it examines the qualities about a subject.  Quantitative is objective and involves examining numbers or statistics.

3.  Is Venkatesh's research better considered longitudinal or cross-sectional?

4.  Any questions about the general types of research?

Now let's examine the specific ways that sociologists gather their research.  For more info,  Open Stax sociology textbook explains the methods in this chapter.

Methods of sociological research

These are some of the more common methods of research that you will come across in sociology:

Qualitative:

Survey - interviews that are open-ended 

Field work/ethnography - observing subjects by living with them, watching them and taking notes 

 One example is SHS grad and Brown U. professor, Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve's research.

Historical analysis - examing changes over time in comparison to present day. 
Content Analysis - examining the content of media or other cultural productions

Here is an  example of content analysis about climate change. 

 Quantitative: 

Survey - questionnaires that are close-ended such as multiple choice or likert scale.

Experiment/Audit study - comparing the responses of two or more different reactions.
Statistical analysis - existing sources (data sets, such as GSS or Census data)

6.  Which of the methods above does Venkatesh use in the excerpt from Gang Leader? Explain when/how.  (Arguably he does 5 of them!)

Important considerations in research;  The importance of both ethics and peer-review in research:

Read this critique of Venkatesh's work and answer the question below.

7.  What are the criticisms of Venkatesh's Gang Leader research?

For more info on Venkatesh's work:

• Gang Leader for a Day on Amazon. 
• Read an excerpt from the book and download Venkatesh reading and talking about his book from NPR. 
• Venkatesh speaking on the Colbert Report and he explains that there are important ways of doing research correctly.
• Venkatesh speaking about his book and the research he did.  
• An interview at slate.com between Venkatesh and Alex Kotlowitz (There Are No Children Here).