1.07 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?

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Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day

• For perspective, above is a picture of how the Lake Park Housing Projects looked before they were torn down.
• For more info on the Chicago Housing Projects, see this multimedia presentation from UCLA about the Robert Taylor Homes.
• Here is a history of high rise public housing from a UC Berkley professor.

Big group discussion:

Thoughts on the reading?

Questions?

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 click 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?

They're Eating Our Dogs? A Sociological Explanation of JD Vance's Accidental Truth

Sociology can help us understand why JD Vance (and Trump) continue to push lies about Springfield, OH.  If you have been following the spiraling story about people in Springfield OH eating pets, sociology can help make sense of what's going on.  

During the debate with Kamala Harris, Trump said, "they are eating our dogs..." 

https://youtu.be/lHycpIhnFcU?si=NPKnqlpzaQqkYgkV

Since then, the Trump campaign, especially JD Vance, have doubled down on those claims.  But, yesterday on CNN, Vance seemed to inch closer to the truth

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/15/politics/vance-immigrants-pets-springfield-ohio-cnntv/index.html

JD Vance defends baseless rumor about Haitian immigrants eating pets | CNN Politics Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance on Sunday reiterated false claims about Haitian immigrants eating the pets of residents in Springfield, Ohio. www.cnn.com

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He told Dana Bash,

“The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” the Ohio senator said.

Bash replied, “You just said that this is a story that you created.”

Though Vance seems to be admitting to lying about the story, sociological research helps to explain why he would lie and why admitting it may not matter - at least to his constituents.
 A 2018 article from Hall, Kim and Sivan in the American Sociology Review, titled The Authentic Appeal of the Lying Demagogue explains that people are willing to support lies if they believe that the system is flawed and the lies represent their beliefs.  Trump has tapped into the belief that the political system in the US is, at the very least broken, but perhaps even illegitimate. As long as Trump continues to be successful at convincing the populace that the system is illegitimate, countering the lies will not change people's minds about whether to support him. 

The feeling that the system is illegitimate precedes Trump's political career.  During the last fifty years, the American middle class had been decimated. High paying blue-collar jobs have moved outside of the country, unions have seen their jobs and power decline, large swaths of the industrial midwest have seen small cities and towns struggle. This has shown up in the finances of the majority of Americans.  Wages have remained stagnant (or even declined) for the vast majority of American households despite that the number of households with both parents working has more than doubled over the same amount of time.  In other words, American families are working far more hours for less money.  

At the same time, the price of healthcare, housing and college education have gone up expeditiously.  Joan Williams also explains succinctly how these dynamics have shaped the middle majority of Americans. 

At the same time that this hollowing of the middle class was taking place, the US was embracing diversity.  The 1965 Immigration Act began a diversification of the US resulting in a far more diverse population than ever before in US history.  Before 1965, the vast majority of all immigrants to America were from Europe: 

Additionally, the decades before the 1965 Immigration Act saw historically low rates of immigration because of the results of World War II: 

Another way that the US was embracing diversity during this time was through civil rights.  The last fifty years has seen a push to realize the ideals of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.  

Arlie Russell Hochschild's 2016 book, Strangers in their Own Land explains the way the decline of the middle class combined with a rise in rights for minority groups has lead to a feeling of illegitimacy about the American system.  She began the book in 2011 studying the rise of the Tea Party, the Far-right conservative reaction to President Obama's presidency. Her book explains that Americans who have felt the pinch financially over the last 50 years view the push for civil rights as anathema to their plight.  Regardless of whether this is true or not, Russell finds that it is a "deep story" that many Americans believe, essentially, proving the Thomas Theorem, if people believe something is real, then it has real consequences.

Trump, and by default Vance, has capitalized on these dynamics.  They have tapped into the idea that the American political and economic system has been working against Americans for the past 50 years.  Essentially, that system is a result of BOTH Democrat and Republican policies, so Trump has been able to convince a large swath of Americans to abandon both of these parties and instead follow him. Additionally, he has convinced Americans to scapegoat the growing diversity of America - anyone who is not a part of the 1950s majority is to blame for the difficulties of the last 50 years.

And so, as Vance explained to Dana Bash, there are very real issues in America (the declining middle class) that are not getting covered by the media so he will make up stories (the decline is the fault of immigrants) to get the media to cover the stories.  But what Vance won't tell America is that he and Trump only intend to use those made up stories to gain power for their own benefit.  They do not intend to rebuild the middle class.  What they also won't tell Americans is that the middle class was built during the 1940s-1960s because of the GI Bill which was the largest government-funded socialist policy in history.  The marginal tax rates of the 1950s were as high as 90%!  These taxes financed government-sponsored loans for college, small businesses, and mortgages.  They financed construction projects like the interstate highway system, airports, and other public works.  This was government working for the middle class - not a lying demagogue working for his own benefit.

Related:

From PBS, Vance continues fueling false rumors about migrants in Ohio as community receives threats

From The Ohio Capital Journal, Why the far right lies about immigrants Springfield, Ohio’s immigrant influx is a success story, not a scandal. But when powerful people don’t want to share prosperity, they lie.

From America's Voice, Dehumanizing Anti-Immigrant Lies and Real World Violence – Threats to the Haitian Community and Beyond

From The Guardian, Haitian immigrants helped revive a struggling Ohio town. Then neo-Nazis turned up,

Springfield’s immigrant community was targeted by far-right extremists months before Trump shared racist rumors

Immigrants, Refugees, Asylum Seekers and the Crisis at the US Border