Transcript Values
How can values affect your Project? The value of money – a Blackfoot view One day white men came into our camp to but our land for dollar bills and put us on the reservations with other Indians . When the white chief had land all the money on the ground and shown how much he would give all of us for signing a treaty with him, our chief took a handful of clay and made a ball of it and put it into the fire and cooked it. And it did not crack. Then he sai to the white chief: ‘Now , give me some of your money ; we will put the money onto the fire and the clay alongside it, and whichever burns the quickest is the cheapest.’ Blackfoot The white chief said: ‘Now give me some of your money; we will put money on the fire and the clay alongside of it, and whichever burns the quickest is the cheapest.’ The White chief said: ‘My money will burn the quickest because it is made of paper; so we can’t do that.’ Our chief then reached down into his belt pocket Blackfoot and took out a little buckskin of sand, and he handed it to the white chief, and said: ‘Give me your money. I will count the money, while you count the grains of sand. ‘Whichever is can be counted the quickest is the cheapest.’ The white chief took the sand and poured it onto the palm of his hand and as he looked at it, he said: ‘I would not live long enough to count this, but you can count the money quickly.’ Blackfoot ‘Then,’ our chief said, ‘our land is more valuable than your money. It will last forever. It will not even perish by the flames of fire. As long as the sun shines and the waters flow, this land will be here to give life to men and animals. We cannot sell the lives of men and animals; therefore we cannot sell this land. Values It was put here for us by the Great Spirit and we cannot sell l it because it does not belong to us. You can count your money and burn it within the nod of a buffalo’s head, but only the Great Spirit can count the grains of sand and the blades of grass on these plains. As a present to you, we will give you anything that you can take with you; but the land, never.’ From Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance, 1956 Background The initial choice of your hypothesis may be based on some strong moral or political values such as poverty should be eradicated or women deserve greater equality. In your background reading you may only accept previous sociological research which agrees with your values and reject that which does not. Values Values can also affect the way you select and design methodology. A research project concerning images of women in the media may well use content analysis as a method. A content analysis frame can be drawn which only includes counting instances where women are portrayed in stereotypical ways. A significant degree of stereotyping will inevitably be found. Sociological Perspectives and Approaches There are a variety of sociological approaches and perspectives which relate to both Sociology as a subject and the way sociologists should carry out their work. Being a committed Marxist, for instance, might influence both your project choice and the way in which you approach it. Your methodology might be influenced by sociological perspectives such as phenomenology, causing you to select only methods such as participant observation. Interpreting data The interpretation of data can also be influenced by values. You may interpret events you see while doing participant observation in a factory in as indicating workers’ dissatisfaction when, in fact, they could be interpreted in alternative ways. Overestimating the differences However, the differences between perspectives are often overestimated, and few sociologists today are comfortable carrying labels such as phenomenologist or positivist. If you do not have a significant commitment to a particular perspective then there is little to be gained from detailed discussion about this issue in your project. However, if you have been influenced by a particular sociological tradition, approach or theory, then its influence on you is definitely worthy of discussion. Objectivity Being "Objective" If you do not have strong feelings about sociological perspectives or the issue under investigation it may appear obvious that you can be objective. However, in practice total objectivity is almost impossible to obtain. For example, if your project was investigating conjugal roles you could be influenced by your preconceptions of appropriate gender roles for women and men. Similarly, simply choosing a selection of possible responses to a "closed" question in a social survey will reflect your ideas about how respondents are likely to answer. Value Freedom There is not total agreement among sociologists as to how values should be dealt with in research. Some sociologists still believe in the possibility of total value freedom while others go to the opposite extreme and argue that sociologists should declare their values openly and side with the underdogs in society, or even use their work to promote radical social change. You might well consider using the approach advocated by Max Weber: accept that values will influence research choices but ensure that the design of methodology and the interpretation of data are as objective as possible.