Categories, Generalizations and Stereotypes: Lesson 8, Soc Research

 HW:  For tomorrow, read Joel Best's "The Truth about Damned Lies and Statistics." 

Please read Joel Charon's "Should We Generalize About People?"

Here is the Google Form for this lesson.
1.   According to Charon, is it okay to generalize? Why or why not?

2.  What is the difference between a generalization and a stereotype?

                        

After reading Joel Charon's "Should We Generalize..." hopefully, you realize that yes we must generalize because it is what makes us intelligent human beings. But our great strength as humans can also be a horrible flaw. If we do not generalize and categorize accurately then we run the risk of stereotyping. We must realize that although individuals can be categorized into certain groups, it doesn't mean that all individuals fit that group's generalization. Toward the end of the reading, Charon says, 

"If we are open-minded and reflective, we can even evaluate how good or how poor our generalizations are, and we can alter what we know as we move from situation to situation."

This is both the task and the promise of sociology.  Sociology challenges us to think about our generalizations and assumptions about what we know and it promises us that with proper thought and care we can understand people better.  

Apply the idea of ingroups/outgroups and categories/generalizations to the research that you found:

1.  What are the groups that are examined in the original research that you found? (Use the abstract)

2.  Does your researcher make any generalizations/conclusions about the group? (Use the abstract or conclusion)

3.  Does your researcher explain any nuances about the group that might help people from the outgroup think more critically about the group?

Examples of stereotypes and lessons we can learn from them:
 

Stereotypes about Muslims
The video called I am an American that shows the dangerous power that extreme stereotypes can lead to.

In this case, Muslim is the category, but it could be a different religion, ethnicity or any other category of people.  United States' history is littered with examples of groups that have been scapegoated and vilified. This is how Muslims have been treated in many cases in post 9/11 America. But I have had so many Muslim students who prove that this is just a stereotype. And that is what this video is showing. There are caring, loving, neighborly Muslims all around us but extreme stereotypes lead us to only see the stereotype and ignore reality.  Here is a page from Indiana University called Muslim Voices which is trying to correct the stereotyping.

Lesson: Don't give in to outgroup homogeneity.  Even if you do not know the complex dynamics within an outgroup, be cognizant that those variations probably exist. 

Examples of stereotypes about differently-abled individuals 

Brett Eastburn
Brett Eastburn was born with no arms or legs.  Here is an article in the Daily Herald about Eastburn visiting a school in Mt. Prospect.  We might categorize him as disabled, but we should be careful about the assumptions and stereotypes that go along with that category.  Here is a Ted Talk by Eastburn and here is his book, I'm Not Missing Anything. 

 

Nick Vujicic
Another powerful differently-abled speaker is Nick Vujicic. He is a motivational speaker who also has no limbs.   Here is a video of him on youtube

 

Aaron Fotheringham

This is a video about Aaron Fotheringham, an "extreme sitter." Aaron has been in a wheelchair his whole life, but he sees it as an opportunity. Again, we should be careful of our stereotypes. Aaron is way more rad than I will ever be, but he is in a wheelchair and I am not.  If you search youtube, you can see Aaron doing a double backflip! But there are also lots of videoes of him crashing over and over again and again. It takes hard work and lots of effort to become good at what you do.  

Hard work was a theme in all of the above videoes.  And if you read the rest of Outliers, Gladwell makes the case that the most successful people spend ten thousand hours developing their skills.  The other theme that comes out in all of these videoes from Brett Eastburn to Aaron Fotheringham is that in order to find meaning in your life you must find a way to serve others.  Find a way to help other people.  You have talents.  Develop them and find a way to use them to help others.  That is your purpose.  And here is Aaron "wheels" Fotheringham at the 2016 Paralympics:


 

Here is the latest update from Wheelz on the BBC. 

Here is a video about a different type of street performer that also challenges your assumptions about the category "disabled".








I love how these "disabled" people see their opportunity to teach others.  Their lessons seem to be similar:  The world doesn't owe you anything.  You owe yourself hard work and dedication to become what you want.  Find a way to help others/teach others.  Don't stereotype and keep an open mind.

Lessons from differently-abled individuals:

• Accept yourself as a part of creation; your existence is the universe's confirmation to you that you matter.
• Develop your talents/desires.  Whatever you want takes hard work. It takes failure, discomfort and effort.
• Find ways to serve others.  Whenever you don't know what to do or when your life feels directionless or meaningless, find a way to serve others.  We all have talents that can help others.

3.  Choose one of the examples of stereotypes above.  What did you think about the example?  What is the category?  What is a stereotype of that category?  What are some accurate generalizations?

4.  Apply categories and stereotypes to the research article that you are examining:

What are the categories that your research article covers?

Are these ingroups or outgroups for you?
What are the generalizations in your research article?
Are there stereotypes that your research article dispels?

Dealing with stereotypes
Finally, when you feel like you have been stereotyped, how do you react? What do you do? Anis Mojgani suggests that you shake the dust. Checkout his slam poem. Here is a link to his poem in writing.

Lesson from Mojgani: When you have been stereotyped, shake the dust.  Move on and don't let the dust settle on you.  Don't let it define you.

5.  Have you ever been the victim or perpetrator of a stereotype?  What was the stereotype and category?  Share a personal example.

The Cookie Thief, a poetic example of judging
There is a poem I like that illustrates Charon's point. The poem called "The Cookie Thief" by Valerie Cox. We are all cookie thieves sometimes in how we erroneously use the categories that Charon talks about. 

Lesson: 
We have all been both the victim of stereotyping and the perpetrator of it.  Try not to be the cookie thief.

EXTRA:

This American Life, radio episode about stereotypes 

Another great source about stereotypes is episode 362 from This American Life. Click here to listen to the episode where 5 people tell stories about stereotyping. Listen to the prologue about people with disabilities, and Act One about NY cops stereotyping people coming from Brooklyn.

SocResearch, Lesson 4 continued: Quantitative Methods

 

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)

Here is one example of quantitative research:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWl5Ui4udcA

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

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.

Content analysis - examing the content of a source such as magazines or shows. 

Here is an  example of content analysis about climate change. 

Sometimes content analysis is historical analyzing changes over time. 

 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)

RESEARCH BINGO!  

DON'T FORGET TO WRITE DOWN NAMES!

You can download this Bingo card by clicking here.

What method(s) are in your research article?

The ASA has many more brief explanations of sociological research on their youtube channel here.

SocResearch Lesson 4 cont'd

Research can be  either:  

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

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.  

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.

Content analysis - examing the content of a source such as magazines or shows. 

Here is an  example of content analysis about climate change. 

Sometimes content analysis is historical analyzing changes over time. 

 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!)

For more info,  Open Stax sociology textbook explains the methods in this chapter.

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).