1.7 Research Methods

 As we wait for class to start, be sure you have an original research article ready to dissect.  If you are not sure of your article, feel free to call me over to look at it.  Try to label the different sections of your article:

Abstract

Introduction

Literature Review

Methods

Data/Stats

Conclusion

Discussion/moving forward

Also - please look over the reading, Gang Leader for a Day Introduction and be ready to discuss it.

HW: Read Joel Charon's Should We Generalize?

Today's lesson focus:

What are the different types of sociological research?

How do sociologists do research?

Google Form

Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day

Thoughts on the reading?

Questions?

Here is a view of the complex of Robert Taylor Homes, a CHA project that used to be near U of Chicago. It was 28 buildings along a two-mile stretch designed for 11,000 people but peaked at 27,000 residents, of which 95% were unemployed and 96% were black.

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?  

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.

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

General Types of Sociological Research

• Qualitative or Quantitative - qualitative is subjective and descriptive; it examines the qualities about a subject.  Quantitative is objective and involves examining numbers or statistics.

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

• 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.

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

4.  Any questions about the general types of research?

5.  What general types of research is the article that you found?

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 Methods:

Field work/ethnography - observing subjects by living with them, watching them and taking notes, such as Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve's research about the Cook County Courthouse System.  

Historical analysis - examining 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. 

Survey - interviews that are open-ended questions.

 Quantitative Methods: 

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) There are many data sets available to sociologists and other researchers.  This type of research involves examining the data in new ways. Here is a list of data sets that are often used by sociologists:

 

Jacob Farber from NYU explains his research based on existing data here in his study titled "Complaining while Black".

 

 

For more detail about the research methods in sociology, Open Stax sociology textbook explains the methods in this chapter.

The ASA has many more brief explanations of sociological research on their Youtube channel here (see below).  watch one and try to figure our what type of research the author used.

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:

The Importance of Peer Review and Ethics 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).

8.  Analyze the article that you found and determine the research method(s) that the author(s) use. 

           

Research Bingo

Find someone who has one of the following.  You can only use each person once.  Have that person sign the square.  When you have five in a row, shout bingo!

You can download this Bingo card by clicking here.

HW: Read Joel Charon's Should We Generalize?

1.6 Finding and Reading Sociological Research

 HW: (Due after our next lesson) Read Chapter 1: How Does It Feel to Be Black and Poor from Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day here. (For background info, see this post about Chicago Housing Projects Leader for a Day.)

This is the introductory chapter of Venkatesh’s book, Gang Leader for a Day. As you read the chapter, look for all of the ways that Venkatesh gathers data and attempts to study race and poverty. This is from a book published for popular consumption - It is NOT an academic source.  We will examine academic sources later in this lesson.

NOTE: there is offensive language in the chapter which Venkatesh included in order to preserve the authenticity of his interactions with the people he meets. Please do not take the use of this language as making light of the offensivesness of this language.

As we wait for students to show,  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.

PLEASE DO THE GOOGLE DOC FOR THIS LESSON - as we go along.  Start with Q1 only.

Here is the Google Doc for this lesson.

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

1b. What is one of the answers that you were surprised about?

Why is research important?

Hopefully, the quiz above shows that common sense and your own experiences are not always reliable in understanding society.  Human psychology has a tendency to make incorrect assumptions especially because of 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".  

1c. Do you understand why research and the scientific method is important to sociology?  Any questions?

Primary Research in Sociology

First-hand research in sociology is usually published in journals that include the methods used to gather data as well as the data itself.  I will show you where to find this research and I want you to find a primary research article, but first, here are some tips for reading academic journal articles.

Reading Primary Research Articles in Sociology

Open this academic research article about Street Gangs in Chicago published by Venkatesh in the American Journal of Sociology.   Use the article as a guide as you follow the recommendations for reading it below:

A.  Don't be intimidated

Don't let the length of the journal article intimidate you, nor should you be intimidated by the loquaciousness of the author's writing.  Academic professors often 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.  Here is a funny example of how writing gets more complicated even though it says the same idea:

Simply put - read through the jargon and decipher what you can.  If necessary, look up the words you need to know to understand the main point, but don't be intimidated by the length or the wording of the article.

Applying this to the scholarly article published by Venkatesh, note how long the article is - DON'T BE INTIMIDATED!  

2a.  Is there any jargon that you notice?  Quickly circle or underline the words, but don't let that intimidate you!   

B.  Understand the structure

Most of the research articles have a similar structure.  Once you understand the structure, it is easier to find what you need and make sense of the article.  Sometimes these sections will even be labeled for you.

Most research articles have a format that looks like this: (sometimes a couple of these sections are combined)

  

**Abstract (Most useful section - read first) - 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 (Second most useful - read second!) - 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 or the limitations of the research.  Authors might critique their own research here.

2b.  Which of these sections can you identify in the article?

Here is an annotated version of the  

Here is a link to a guide created by Nora Weber.  And here is her Twitter feed that shared it.

C.  Don't feel pressured to sit down and read the entire article from beginning to end.  Very few readers do this.  Instead, researchers bounce around the article to find what they are looking for.

Understanding the structure I explained in B above should help you understand the research efficiently and bounce around the article to find what you are looking for.     

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

Primary Research Example

Here is an example of primary research published by Venkatesh that I annotated.  Notice the minimal text that you need to read to understand the article if you understand the structure.

Finding Your Own Primary Sociological Research

There are three places that I want you to be aware of for finding primary research.

 

I. ASA journals

The most recent research in a number of journals is available online for free from the American Sociological Association.  The journals page on the ASA website lists the journals along with a description of what is published in them.  The journals page is here: https://www.asanet.org/publications/journals/

 

The most useful journals for our class are the following:

American Sociological Review, ASA’s flagship journal, includes the latest general interest scholarship in sociology that advances our understanding of fundamental social processes through theoretical, methodological, and empirical innovation.

City & Community, a journal of the ASA Section on Community and Urban Sociology, aims to advance urban sociological theory, promote empirical research on communities and urban social life, and encourage sociological perspectives on urban policy.

Journal of Health and Social Behavior publishes empirical and theoretical articles that apply sociological concepts and methods to the understanding of health and illness and the organization of medicine and health care.

Journal of World-Systems Research, an open access, online-only journal of the ASA Section on Political Economy of the World-System, publishes research on topics that are relevant to the analysis of world-systems.

Social Psychology Quarterly publishes theoretical and empirical work on the link between the individual and society, including the study of the relations of individuals to one another, as well as to groups, collectivities, and institutions.

Society and Mental Health, a journal of the ASA Section on Sociology of Mental Health, publishes articles that apply sociological concepts and methods to the understanding of the social origins of mental health and illness, the social consequences for persons with mental illness, and the organization and financing of mental health services and care. 

Sociology of Education publishes research that examines how social institutions and individuals’ experiences within these institutions affect educational processes and social development.

Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, a journal of the ASA Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities, publishes sociological research on race and ethnicity across epistemological, methodological, and theoretical orientations. 

Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World provides an open access online-only forum for rapid publication of sociological research from any subfield of the discipline. 

 

3a.  What article did you find from the journals above?  What Journal was it from?

Use the journal structure to quickly decide if the article looks interesting to you or not. 

II.  JSTOR

Once journals are a few years old, they are stored in a searchable, online archive called JSTOR.  The limitation for JSTOR is that the articles are older, but the benefits are that the archive will search dozens of journals for you and you can target the search by key words or author, etc...  Additionally, you can search JSTOR by subject area so this is a really useful search engine for all of your classes!

Here is how to search JSTOR:

Go to the library website and navigate to JSTOR and “Advanced Search”.
(Be sure that you are logged in).

Key Words - Type in the key words/topics that you would like to search.  Try different search terms using synonyms such as "school" in one search then "education" in another search.

Narrow Results to Articles - Select only "articles" in the filtering menu on the left side - so you don't get results from reviews or book chapters.

Journal Filter - Scroll down to select "sociology" under search by subject. That will limit your search to only journals that are sociological.

Additional tips for finding research in JSTOR - open a few different articles that are possibilities then try different search terms and open more. This might help you find the most relevant articles before you waste time reading one less relevant; quickly read the abstract or introduction to decide if the article is worth looking at in greater detail; start out with a search for general terms then you can narrow down by adding other terms or dates; if you find an interesting secondary source (such as from our previous lesson), note who the researcher was and try searching for their last name.

3b.  What article did you find from JSTOR?    

III.  Institutions that publish primary source research 

Some institutions publish research as their primary goal.  This is one example of sociologists doing sociology for a living.  These research organizations often publish the data sets that their research is based on. 
Many of these institutions publish reports for the general public so the advantage here is that they are likely going to be easier to read.  But the disadvantage is that they will be less thorough.

Below is a list of institutions that publish primary research.  I want to point these institutions out both as examples of places you can work and also as sources of primary research.  

PEW https://www.pewresearch.org/category/publications/

Census  https://www.census.gov/ (click on browse by topic)

National Center for Education Statistics

Stanford Center on Poverty & Inequality

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Data from U of Michigan's Monitoring the Future - Data on Teens and behaviors, attitudes, values  

Choose one of the links above.  Click on it and try to find some original research that they published.

3c.  Which institution did you visit?  What research did you find?

Choose 1 original Sociology Research article from the 3 places above (preferably from journals (place 1) because they are most recent.  Try to label each section of the article using the structure that I gave you above.

4.  What article did you choose?

5. Which of the founding paradigms  (Structural-Functional, Conflict, Symbolic Interaction) does your article appear to use?  Explain how.

Structural Functional - how the structures (social institutions like family, education, media, work, government) shape the individuals within society.

Conflict - how inequality is shaped by power

Symbolic Interaction - How people interact based on shared meaning

Don't forget to read the Gang Leader for a Day Introduction for homework.

1.52 Foundational Paradigms Continued...Marx's Conflict and Weber's Symbolic Interaction

 HW: Read Chapter 1: How Does It Feel to Be Black and Poor from Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day here. (For background info, see this post about Chicago Housing Projects Leader for a Day.)

This is the introductory chapter of Venkatesh’s book, Gang Leader for a Day. As you read the chapter, look for all of the ways that Venkatesh gathers data and attempts to study race and poverty. NOTE: there is offensive language in the chapter which Venkatesh included in order to preserve the authenticity of his interactions with the people he meets. Please do not take the use of this language as making light of the offensivesness of this language.

Karl Marx's Conflict Paradigm

The second paradigm that emerged from a scholar studying the changes of the industrial revolution is called Conflict Paradigm which developed out of the influence of Karl Marx.  He studied the inequalities in industrial Europe and how those inequalities affected individuals.  For example, Marx found that a working-class person lived an average of 25 years less than a wealthy person.  Like Durkheim, Marx concluded that his findings were not just the result of individual choices.  Instead, people were forced to work in unhealthy conditions and forced to yield to the demands of the wealthy owners of the factories.  They had less access to healthcare, less access to healthy food and living conditions and had to do more dangerous jobs.  Simply put, they had less power to affect their own life expectancy.  Marx's focus led sociologists to examine who had power in society and who did not.  The natural extension of that became the effects of power on groups of individuals and how those in power gained and maintained that power.  Initially, Marx's focus was on social class, especially in Europe, but early sociologists in the U.S. Applied Marx's paradigm to other inequalities in the US:

W.E.B. Dubois: Conflict Paradigm and Race

Dubois (pronounced "Do Boys") applied the conflict paradigm to race.  He was the first black scholar to be allowed to earn a PhD. from Harvard U. and a sociology student.

Alice Paul: Conflict Paradigm and Gender

Alice Paul was a sociology scholar who applied it to gender in the U.S. as she fought for women's rights to vote and she worked for women and poor immigrants at Jane Addams' Hull House in Chicago.

 

Jane Addams:  Intersection of Gender and Social Class

Oftentimes, the study of inequality and the fight for equal rights led to overlapping movements such as social class and gender led by Chicago's Jane Addams.  Addams was an influential leader in Chicago who used her sociology degree to improve the lives of Chicago's women, poor, and immigrants

Ida B. Wells: Intersection of Race and Gender

Wells applied Marx's theory to race and gender.  She was born into slavery in Mississippi but made her way to Chicago as continued to document lynchings and fight against racism and sexism.  The Association of Black Sociologists established an award in her honor (2020).

Applying the Conflict Paradigm:

A sociologist using the Conflict paradigm might analyze the image of industrial Chicago and ask:

What groups of people are forced to navigate that congested mess?

Who is put in danger because of that mess?

Who profits from that congestion?

A sociologist using Marx's Conflict paradigm might examine the Lifeboat simulation by asking,

Who is always treated unequally?  Why?

Who has power on the boat and Why?  And, how do they use that power?

Small Group Discussion:

Google Form (if Absent)

2a.  Think about how you might view covid and school shut downs through a conflict perspective.  What questions would you ask? What would you study/research?

2b. How can you apply Marx's Conflict paradigm to college?  What questions might you ask?  What would you study/research?

Max Weber and Symbolic Interaction Paradigm

Max Weber's contribution to the development of sociology during the Industrial Revolution

Max Weber (pronounced VAY-ber) studied the development of capitalism in European countries.  He found that countries that became more Protestant also became more capitalist.  This is peculiar because religion and economics seem to be separate.  But Protestants held shared meaning with each other about their wealth and finance.  They saw living within their means and investing their money as signs that they were living righteously within their Christian beliefs.  This created an economy that was based on investment.  It led to the creation and expansion of capitalism, investing profit to make even more profit.   It might seem strange for religion to be connected to the economy, but in their interaction with each other, it was real for them.  


The development of the Symbolic Interactionist paradigm 

Building off of Weber's work, two sociologists created a third paradigm for which sociologists view the world.   Weber showed symbolic meaning in the Protestants' lives and in their everyday interaction with other people.  Stemming from Weber's work, George Herbert Mead, W. I. Thomas and Herbert Blumer all worked at the University of Chicago and focused on the shared meaning in everyday life between people.  This paradigm became known as Symbolic Interaction.  It is more focused on face-to-face interaction, or small groups, as opposed to large-scale institutions.  Much of our interaction with each other holds symbolic meaning to us.  The words we use, our body language, our clothes all hold symbolic meaning for us.  They convey an identity we have to the world. 

Examining the picture of industrial Chicago, a Symbolic Interactionist might analyze the image by asking,

Why do people stand on certain spots on the street?  Is there meaning behind who stands where?

How does this intersection stay orderly?  Who has right of way and how do they learn this?

What is everyone wearing? What does that symbolize to them?

How can you use Weber's Symbolic Interaction paradigm to analyze our lifeboat simulation?

How did the words people used affect the decisions?

What is the meaning of being labeled "elderly?" What labels/values resonated with people on the boat?

3a.  Think about how you might view covid and school shut downs through a Symbolic Interactionist paradigm.

3b.  How can you apply Weber's Symbolic Interaction paradigm to college?  Identify some questions that a Weberian might ask about college.

Applying the paradigms to your life

Revisit the demographic survey that you filled out at the beginning of the semester. 

Structural-Functional Paradigm

Look at the structures of society that you wrote about (especially family, school, work)

4.  How do the institutions in your life provide stability or structure in your life?  What institutions are most prominent in shaping you?  What function do the structures provide - in other words, what purposes do they serve in your life?  What are some ways that these structures interact or depend on each other?

PLEASE NOTE: you may be influenced uniquely by one of the social structures/institutions, but if it only applies to you then that is ore psychology than sociology.  Sociology would be the ways that these structures shape people within our society similarly.

Conflict Paradigm

Look at your responses that might result in opportunities or obstacles (esp. social class, race, sex, gender, sexuality, 

5.  Using the demographic survey, what are some of the social groups that have led to you either having advantages or facing obstacles in your life? Can you cite specific examples?

Symbolic Interaction

Look. at your responses to what your plans are after college, what you are passionate about, what you are proud of and think about what meaning these hold to you and how that meaning relates to other people. Also, think about the meaning that your clothes, hair style, favorite music, hobbies, etc... creates for you and your interaction with other people.

6.  What are some ways that you create/display meaning with others around you?  

If you are having trouble with Symbolic Interaction, here is another example.

Sidenote:  Chicago, Loyola, and the foundations of sociology

Chicago and the Foundation of Sociology

Chicago was a central player in the early establishment of sociology. Chicago was the fastest growing city in the USA during the late 1800s/early 1900s.  The city was an incredible mix of industrial growth, urbanization and immigration.  And so, the University of Chicago was the first sociology department in North America (1892) and Chicago was a leader in sociology for the next 50 years leading to what became known as "the Chicago School" of sociology.

Loyola University Chicago

Loyola followed shortly behind U of C in sociology.  The School of Sociology was one of LUC's earliest departments established in 1914.  This was a 2 year program that allowed women to earn a degree at a time when they were still not permitted in other areas of the university such as the College of Arts and Sciences. Jesuit Frederic Siedenburg was influenced about the importance of sociology's role in the progress of society and he not only established the School of Sociology, but he also became 

"... one of Chicago's most significant civic leaders over the next two decades...and he routinely crossed denominational, ethnic, and racial boundaries in his dealings, and he never wavered from his belief that religion could be a progressive force in urban life. In 1915, the Chicago Tribune commented on Siedenburg's role with the American Peace Federation, his appearance with Rabbi Emil Hirsch at Sinai Temple, and his visit to Tuskegee Institute as the guest of philanthropist Julius Rosenwald along with Jane Addams of Hull-House and the Reverend Jenkin Lloyd Jones, a Unitarian minister ... He also found time to publish ground-breaking articles in the American Journal of Sociology, including 'The Recreational Value of Religion (1922), 'The Religious Value of Social Work (1922), and 'War and the Catholic Church' (1925)." 

- Ellen Skerrett (2008). Born in Chicago. Loyola Press, Chicago

HW: Read Chapter 1: How Does It Feel to Be Black and Poor from Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day here. (For background info, see this post about Chicago Housing Projects Leader for a Day.)

This is the introductory chapter of Venkatesh’s book, Gang Leader for a Day. As you read the chapter, look for all of the ways that Venkatesh gathers data and attempts to study race and poverty. NOTE: there is offensive language in the chapter which Venkatesh included in order to preserve the authenticity of his interactions with the people he meets. Please do not take the use of this language as making light of the offensivesness of this language.