2SocResearch1: Research and Secondary Sociology Sources

Homework:  Gang Leader for a Day will not be due until Monday Jan 31

This is the beginning of our second unit of study, sociological research.  The last unit we examined how sociology began as a discipline and the sociological perspective; how sociologists view people and society.  This unit we will turn our focus to how sociologists actually do sociology.   The second page of the Framework for Understanding Sociology should be a useful organizer for notes in this unit and a quick reference for deciphering sociological research going forward.

Unit 2 Soc Research will examine what sociologists research and how they conduct their research.

The need for research

To start today's lesson, please open this Common Sense Quiz and answer True or False for questions 1-15.  Use your previous knowledge or simply use common sense to guess the answers for each question.  Do not spend much time on these questions.  If you don't know the answer, go with your intuition or common sense.

Open the Google Form for this lesson and answer the questions as you go along.

1.  How many answers from the quiz did you get correct?

2.  What is one of the answers that you were surprised about?

Why is research important?

Hopefully, that quiz shows that common sense and your own experiences are not always reliable in understanding society.  For deeper understanding about why our own knowledge/experiences are unreliable, see these psychological concepts:

· overgeneralization - basing all of your understanding on a limited experience.

· selective observation/confirmation bias - seeking out only evidence that supports your opinion.

· premature closure - deciding on a conclusion and then being unable to see evidence contrary to that conclusion.

· halo effect - having a positive view of one aspect of a person or idea and that affects your view of all other aspects associated with it.

· false consensus - the tendency to overestimate how much others agree with us.

Background - The Beginning of Sociology as a Science

Auguste Comte - started as positive philosophy (aka positivism) the early 1800s, then popularized the term "sociology" (1838), the empirical study of society using scientific methods and data.  Basically, Comte was saying what knowledge can we be positive about regarding society?  In other words, what can we test scientifically about society; thus, "sociology".  

3.  Do you understand why research and the scientific method is important to sociology?

Secondary Sources for Sociology

Sociological research often shows up in the news and other popular media.  These articles often share the findings of sociological research without sharing the actual research.  Below are some media within the sociology community that share sociological research second-hand:

• Contexts magazine; A publication by the American Sociological Association that explains the latest research in an accessible way for students and the general public to understand.  
• Click here on the Contexts website to see the articles in the most recent issue
• The magazine also has an In Brief section which gives a short summary of the latest research.  
• Or, if you want to search for specific topics or search older issues, click here to use the ILC to access the magazine.

• The Society Pages:  Website of sociology resources, especially Discoveries page.

• Journal of Contemporary Sociology, a journal of reviews.  You can access Contemporary Sociology through the ILC page using the search by title page here.

Applying your secondary source understanding

Choose one of the secondary sources bulleted above (NY Times, Contexts, Society Pages, Journal of Contemporary Sociology).  Find an article about a topic you are interested in. Then explain what research the article was based on.  Feel free to try a few sources or articles before you decide to answer the questions below.

4.  What secondary source did you choose?

5.  What was the article you read?

6.  What research was the article about?

7.  What was the perspective(s) of the researcher? Structural? Conflict? Symbolic Interaction? A combo?