Sociological Investigation
Two requirements
• Look at the world using the sociological perspective
• Be curious and critical by asking sociological questions
common sense versus scientific evidence
• Poor people are far more likely than rich people to break the law
• We now live in a middle-class society in which most people are more
or less equal.
• Differences in the behaviour of females and males reflect human
nature.
• Most people marry because they are in love.
The major elements of positivist investigation
Objectivity – a state of personal neutrality in conducting research
Replication – repetition of research by other investigators
• ‘Humanistic’ – pay attention human subjectivity and creativity, deal
with concrete human experiences (talk, feelings, actions) through
their social, economic, organisation.
Humanistic stance
Subjectivity = bias
Creative thinking is vital to sociological thinking in three key ways:
[Link] is basically a series of rules that guide research,
2. Science helps us gather facts about how people act, but it never fully
explain the complex meanings people attach to their behaviour
3. ‘interpretation’ – creating meaning from scientific observations
Source: Adapted from Plummer (2001): Documents of Life 2: An Invitation to a Critical Humanism, p.9.
Critical sociology
Rejects the idea that society exists as a ‘natural’ system open to
discovery
Look at all konowledge as harbouring political interests and the task of
sociology is critically to unmask what is actually going on.
Standpoint theory
• All konowledge is grounded in standpoints and standpoint theory
enables groups to analyse their situation from within the context of
their own experiences.
• Feminist standpoint
• Black standpoint
• Gay standpoint
Queer theory
• Most sociological theory still has a bias towards ‘heterosexuality’ and
that non-heterosexual voices need to be heard.
The Meanings of Methodology
• POSITIVIST SOCIAL SCIENCE
• INTERPRETIVE SOCIAL SCIENCE
• CRITICAL SOCIAL SCIENCE
• STANDPOINT EPISTEMOLOGIES
• POSTMODERN RESEARCH
Reliability – the quality of consistent measurement
Validity – the quality of measuring precisely what one intends to
measure (correct measurement)
Relationships among variables
• Cause and effect – a relationship in which we know that
change in one variable causes change in another
• Independent variable – the variable that causes the change
• Dependent variable – the variable that changes
• Prediction – researchers using what they do know to predict
what they don’t know
• Correlation – a relationship by which two (or more) variables
change together
• Sporious correlation – an apparent, though false, association
between two (or more) variables caused by some other
variable
• Control – holding constant all relevant variables except one in
order to clearly see its effect
Independent variable Dependent variable
Level of educational degree Level of income
Degree of lack of integration into Likelihood of suicide
society
Availability of affordable housing Level of homelessness
Parents’ church attendance Childiren’s church attendance
Time spent preparing for quiz Performance on quiz
Parents’ income Likelihood of chidren’s enrolling
college
Identify two or three dependent variables that might be influenced by this independent
variable : number of alcoholic drinks ingested.
Issues of Sampling
• Population – the people who are the focus of research
• Sample – a part of a population that represents the whole
• Random sampling
• Quata samples
• Snowball samples
Method Application Advantages Limitations
Experiment For explanatory research that Provides geatest ability Laboratory settings have
specifies relationships among to specify cause and artificial quality
variables; generates affect relationships
quantitative data
Survey For gathering information Sampling allow Questionnaires must be
about isssues that cannot be surveys of large carefully prepared and
directly observed, such as polulations using may produce a low retun
attitudes and values; useful questionnaires; rate; interviews are
for descriptive and interviews provide in epensive and time
explanatory research; depth responses consuming
generates quantitiative or
qualitative data
Participant For exploratory and Allows study of natural Time consuming;
observation descriptive study of people in behaviour replication research is
a natural setting; generates difficult
qualitative data
Secondary For explaratory, descriptive or Saves time and Researcher has no
analysis explanatory reserach expense of data control over possible
whenever suitable data are collection, makes bias in data; data may
available historical research not be suitable for
Other data collecting tools
internet
Existing Sources Used in Sociological Research
• Most frequently used sources
• Census data
• Crime statistics
• Other sources
• Newspapers and perodicals
• Personal journals, diaries, e-mail and letters
• Records and archival material of religious organizations, corporations, and other organizations
• Transcripts of radio programs
• Videotypes of motion pictures and television programs
• Web pages, weblogs, and chatrooms
• Song lyrics
• Scientific records
• Speeches of public figures (such as politicians)
• Votes cast in elections
• Attendance recordds for public events
• Videotypes of social protests
• Literature, including folklore
Code of ethics
1. Maintain objectivity and integrity in research.
2. Respect the subject’s right to privacy and dignity.
3. Protect subjects from personal harm.
4. Preserve confidentiality
5. Seek informed consent when data are collected from
research participants or when behaviour occurs in a
private context.
6. Acknowledge research collaboration and assistance.
7. Disclose all sources of financial support.
American Sociological Association, 1997
Building theory
• Inductive logical thought
• Deductive logical thought
Figure 3.2 Deductive and inductive logical thought
Planning a sociological project
• Research problem and define a topic of investigation
• Record files about your topic
• Find out what others have learned about the topic
• Assess the requirements for carrying out the research
• Specify the research questions
• Specify your theoretical orientation
• Consider ethical issues
• Research methodology
• Draw up a written research proposal
• Gather and record data
• Interpret data
• State your conclusions
• Share your results
• Store your data in an archive
Design your reseach project
Define the problem
Review the literature
Formulate a testable hypothesis
Select a research design collcet and analyze data
• Survey
• Observation
• Experiment
• Existing sources
Develop the conclusion
Inform others