METHODS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH
Introduction to Family Studies
What is Sociology?
What pops into your mind when you think about Sociology?
What do sociologists study? How is sociological thinking different from
other social science disciplines?
The Sociological ApproachSociology focuses on how social forces
influence individual behavior, actions, and feelings.
ANDSociology examines how the interaction of
individuals and small groups influence the economic or social change?
Humans viewed as both puppets and puppeteers
Thinking like a Sociologist
In this class, we will focus on how families are influenced by the larger social structure Social structure: is a stable
framework of social relationships that guides our interaction with others
The Sociological Approach
Macro Level
Micro Level
Social institutions A social institution is a major sphere of social life with rules and roles that define a social unit of importance to society
A social institution is a visible structure that people can recognize and understand
Families are a social institution
The Sociological Approach – The Macro Level
The Sociological Approach – The Macro Level Family sociologists examine how these social institutions interact and
how they influence behaviors, attitudes, and opportunities in families
Economy
Families
GovernmentEducation
Religion Healthcare
Thinking like a Sociologist
In this class, we will focus on how families are influenced by the larger social structure
The macro level comprises:
Social Status Social statuses are:
the social positions people occupy and the privileges and constraints that are attached to these positions
Who has the POWER in the U.S.The president and other members of the governmentThe RICH
The Sociological Approach – The Macro Level
THE SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH – THE MICRO LEVEL
Micro level deals with issues of social life at the level of individuals or small groups
Micro level analysis focuses on personal choices
Think of an example of a personal choice you made recently and how it was influenced by the larger society, your social status, the economy, the government, the culture of Montclair?
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Social Science Research
How do we know what we know?
Most of us understand the world around us through our personal experience -- the people and situations we have been in or have seen
This personal experience leads to your conclusions about the world
While there is nothing wrong with these ways of knowing -- social scientists are skeptical about relying ONLY on these sources because:
An individual’s experience of those around them is not representative of the broader society
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Social Science Research
How do we know what we know?
Social scientists use a systematic and more scientific mode of investigation
Social scientists rely on:Observations of the social world based on
representative samplesExample: If we wanted to study why people in
the U.S. get married, we should not just survey college students
We avoid the error of overgeneralization: i.e. using what we know about a small group of people to conclude something about all people
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Social Science Research
How do we know what we know?
Most of us understand the world around us through our personal experience -- the people and situations we have been in or have seen
This personal experience leads to your conclusions about the world
While there is nothing wrong with these ways of knowing -- social scientists are skeptical about relying ONLY on these sources because:
An individual’s experience of those around them is not representative of the broader society
04/20/23
Social Science Research
How do we know what we know?
Social scientists use a systematic and more scientific mode of investigation
Social scientists rely on: Observations of the social world based on
representative samples Example: If we wanted to study why people in the
U.S. get married, we should not just survey college students
We avoid the error of overgeneralization: i.e. using what we know about a small group of people to conclude something about all people
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Sociological Theories
Social science theories explain or help us make sense of patterns in social life
Theories shape and direct research – they point us in a direction
That direction influences what we look for, what we find, and how we explain it
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Sociological Theories
Theories about families and relationships are made up a set of statements that explain why certain relationships occur
For example: The age at first marriage has increased because more women are graduating from college and starting careers before marrying
Most Frequently used Methods of Social Research
Demographic Studies
Survey Research
Participant Observation (Field Observation)
Social Experiments
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Demographic Studies Demography is a subfield of social science
that is concerned with: how social conditions are distributed in the
human population and how these populations are changing
Core interests are trends in:FertilityMortalityMigrationMarriage and divorce
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How are demographic data collected?
Most data are collected at the state level and compiled by the National Center of Health Statistics (NCHS)
NCHS is a department of the Center for Disease control (CDC) in Atlanta GE
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Demographic StudiesExamples of Demographic Studies in
FertilityWhat is the fertility rate by race/ethnicity in the US?
How has it changed over the past ten years?
Go to the National Center for Health Statistics:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr55/
nvsr55_01.pdf
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Fertility Rate
Fertility rate is the number of women age 15 - 44 who gave birth per 1000 women
For example the rate for Non-Hispanic Black women is 89 births per 1000 Non-Hispanic Black women 15 - 44
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Survey Research
Collect information from a subgroup of people, known as a sample
Samples are chosen to represent the larger population from which they are selected.
Data is collected through in-person or phone interviews, or by questionnaires sent through the mail or NOW the internet (web-based)
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Survey ResearchExample of Survey Research General Social Survey
Who conducted the survey? National Opinion Research Center (NORC)
How many people were interviewed?More than 38,000 people interviewed
since 1972National Survey of Family Growth
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nsfg/abc_list.htm
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Field Research
Used to understand processes among people by directly observing them as the behaviors take place
Researcher participates directly in
the social life of individuals of groups in question
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PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
Complete Observation:
Arlie Hochschild observed the division of household labor by visiting wives and husbands in their homes
Observation takes place in the real world
Researcher attempts to fade into the background
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Field Research Intensive interviewing
Questions are open ended Designed to be very in depth, with a small
sample Provide rich description of personal experience
Focus Groups Designed to obtain information from a small
group of people Encourage open discussions of topics Used by market researchers and political
pollsters
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SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS
A real test of an effect of A on B Or the effect a new housing opportunity for
better housing on family opportunities… Is to RANDOMLY assign subjects to an
experimental group and a control group Moving to Opportunity Disadvantaged families were randomly
assigned tostaying in public housing receiving a housing voucher for Section8
housing, oror moving to a nearby suburb?
ETHICS IN SOCIAL RESEARCH
Today, before you can even begin a research project – you must go through an extensive process to receive an okay to move forward
Researchers must prove that the individuals (subjects/respondents) who take part in a study will not be mentally or physically injured by theory participation
Much of the ethical review process came out of the Millgram experiements
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvSNg0HZwk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=274wQJmdRQg
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Summary Families are one social institution among
many Families are influenced by and influence
the larger society Family theories guide research on families
as well as methods chosen to collect data may operate at the:
Family sociologists use systematic methodsDemographic studiesSurvey ResearchObservation and Social Experiments
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