Reading Primary Research in Sociology

Don't let the length of the journal article intimidate you, nor should you be intimidated by the loquaciousness of the author's writing.  Professional researchers, especially academics like to use fancy jargon (like loquaciousness).  It makes the reading longer and sometimes confusing, but you can still understand what the researcher is getting at.  Especially if you understand the structure that I explain below.  



Primary Source Structure for Sociological Research

Once you choose a specific article to read, note that most research articles have a format that looks like this:

  

Abstract - A summary before the actual article, usually in italics or set off from the actual article.  Not all articles have this, but most do.

                                                         

Introduction - The beginning of the research explaining what the author set out to study and why it is important.

                                               

Literature Review - This is often confused by students for being the actual research, but it is just a review of previous research that has been done.  This section might point out previous research that informs the author's research or shortcomings of the previous research that the author hopes to address.  Karen Sternheimer explains the literature review here on the Everyday Sociology Blog.

Methods - This explains how the author gathered data.  It might include multiple methods such as surveys, ethnography, existing data, etc...

Data/Stats - The author will make sense of the data that they gathered.  For quantitative data, the analysis might be complex such as regression analysis,  or a discussion of p-value.  Don't let the complicated discussion of the statistics intimidate you.  You can make sense of the data without understanding all of the statistical jargon.

Conclusion - After the explanation of the methods and data, the author will summarize the data and make sense of it.  Finding this section will help you understand what the most important parts of the research was.  

Discussion/moving forward - This section is sometimes at the end of the article suggesting either future research or policy implications.

For more on how to read journal articles see this post.

Once you have your article, try to label each section (if they are not labeled already).  Understanding this structure should help you understand the research efficiently.  Don't be intimidated by the length of the research or the jargon that the authors use.   

Types of Sociological Research

• Longitudinal
• Cross-sectional
• Cross-cultural

Methods of sociological research

• Survey (questionnaires, interviews)
• Ethnography
• Audit study
• Experiments
• Statistical analysis - existing sources (data sets, such as: GSS, Census data)
• Historical analysis

Applying research methods 

Small group: 

Which of these does Venkatesh use? Explain.

Individually:

Is the data in your research article quantitative or qualitative?  Why?

Which of these is your research article? Explain.

Which of these is your research article? Explain.