Transcript Theory & Methods

Secondary Sources
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This is data which already exists –
letters, diaries, novels, stats,
newspapers, films etc etc It can be in
either quantitative or qualitative form
Official Statistics
This mainly refers to data already in existence
having been collected by governments, for
example, statistics relating to births, marriages,
deaths, health, crime, the economy and so on.
 Official statistics are seen as scientific because
they are collected in a highly standardised way.
For example, births, marriages, divorces and
deaths have to be registered, by law.
Government surveys such as the Census, the
General Household Survey and the British Crime
Survey are viewed as highly reliable and
objective in their design,
Official Statistics - Advantages
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They are readily available
Sample sizes are large = better
representativeness
Usually well planned and detailed
questionnaires
Their use saves time, effort and
money.
Official Statistics - Advantages
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They have been scientifically
collected.
They give a wide-ranging picture of
social phenomena.
They have excellent comparative
value in that they allow examination
of trends over time.
Official Statistics - Disadvantages
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Sociologists must ask how they are
created.
Atkinson found coroners in
different countries gave different
verdicts to the same deaths.
Stats are social creations
(man/woman made)
Official Statistics - Disadvantages
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Official stats may have political bias
The definition of unemployment has
changed many times to make the
figures look better.
Stats don’t always give the whole
picture –
Crime figures don’t tell us about the
‘dark figure’ (unreported and
unrecorded crime)
Official Statistics – theoretical issues
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Positivists
See them as providing essential quantitative
data. Useful for looking at correlations. Durkheim
used stats on suicide to help establish sociology
as the science of society
Interpretivists
Stats are not facts but are social creations
(man/woman made). They are not objective
realities but constructed by people. E.g. Atkinson
showed how suicide stats are the results of
coroner’s decisions about death classifications –
these can vary from coroner to coroner and
country to country.
Marxists
See stats as tools of the ruling class. They are
used to justify the established order in capitalist
systems.
Documents
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Covers a wide range of written material
– letters, diaries, memoirs, novels,
newspapers, photos, music recordings
etc
Ray Pawson gives 3 main ways in
which documents are analysed by
sociologists
Formal Content Analysis
Thematic Analysis
Textual Analysis
Documents
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Formal Content Analysis
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Objective way of classifying and
quantifying a document’s contents
e.g. how many female roles are
displayed in a child’s book
These are simply counted and
interpreted
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Documents
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Formal Content Analysis
Critics say it says little about the
meaning of a document – either what
the producer intended or what the
audience attaches to it
Documents
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Thematic Analysis
This looks for motives behind the
document
Does a news report favour powerful
groups in society?
The Glasgow University Media Group
looked at the reporting of strikes in the
1970-80’s
Documents
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Thematic Analysis
Critics ask whether the sociologist’s
interpretation is correct.
Even if it is – does it matter?
eg. Many Sun readers ignore or see
through the right wing bias.
Documents
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Textual Analysis
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The text is closely examined to
see if it gives a particular
impression
“Gay footballer hands in transfer
request’
– what does this say?
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Documents
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Textual Analysis
Critics again point to the possibility of
reading things into the text which may
not be there
Audience Research
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Some researchers argue that the focus
of research should be the audience and
how they interact with the media and
what they use it for!
Audience Research
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Kitzinger 1993
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She used ‘The News Game’
Groups from different backgrounds
were given 13 photos of AIDS and
asked to write a news report
She found that they were able to
select their own interpretations of
the news
i.e. people do read between the
lines of the news they watch/read
about
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Audience Research
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Philo 2002
Looked at BBC and ITN news reports
of the Israel/Palestine conflict
They showed the reports to 300 17-22
year olds
The reports made little reference to
the background of the conflict
When asked why Palestinians
distrust the USA
66% has no idea
Most people watching the reports had
little idea what it was all about.
Historical Documents
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Historical documents such as government
reports and White Papers, historical
treatises, diaries and even novels from a
particular period may add qualitative
insight into the evolution of social
phenomena and problems.
For example, police documents from the
1930s and 1940s may give us invaluable
insight into modern policing methods.
The novels of Dickens may give us insight
into poverty in the nineteenth century
whilst those of Jane Austen may help us
understand gender relations in the early
nineteenth century.
Historical Documents
Using Historical documents
 Often very subjective accounts
 Bias and prejudice mean that the
sociologist must treat with care
 However they can provide a rich in depth
view of what life was like in a bygone
age.
 Anne Frank’s diary shows us a deep
insight into life under Nazi rule in Holland
 Interpretations of such documents can
differ according to the researcher’s
views, background etc
Assessing Historical Documents
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John Scott 1990
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Gives 4 quality controls for assessing the usefulness
of historical documents
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1. Authenticity
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Is it genuine?
The Hitler diaries in the 1980’s were
found to be forgeries – but fooled top
historians at first.
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Assessing Historical Documents
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2. Credibility
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Is the author sincere? Or does he/she
distort things
And how do you know?
Check against other material from the
same era
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Assessing Historical Documents
3. Representativeness
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Is it typical?
Does it fit in with other accounts from the
same time?
This can be difficult to assess if few
documents from the same era have
survived
Assessing Historical Documents
4. Meaning
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Literal meaning of the text – problems
with language
But also the meanings and significance –
are these clear?
Often such meanings can never be
settled and we rely on assumptions
Personal Documents
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These are documents used by sociologists which
record part of an individual’s life. Some of these
documents may be in their own words, for example,
in the form of a diary, letters or autobiography.
They may be in the words of others, for example,
biographies. The use of biographies by sociologists
is further complicated by the fact that they are likely
to be based on historical documents, with their
potential drawbacks, as we have seen.
Gordon Marshall notes that use of personal
documents may even stretch to the analysis of
photographs and gravestones.
Personal Documents
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Some sociologists may ask people taking part in
their research to keep a diary documenting their
activities and feelings.
For example, Ann Oakley asked women in her study
of housework to report activities occupying each
hour of the day. This is known as time-budgeting.
This type of method is regarded as very
comprehensive because it focuses on aspects of
behaviour which are very difficult to anticipate in
questionnaires and interviews.
Personal Documents
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However, some sociologists suggest that this
method is too subjective because it is overdependent on the interpretation of the subjects.
They may be more concerned with justifying their
activities than with objectively recounting their
experiences.
Life histories or autobiographies may also be
elicited through oral interviews. Survivors of
particular historical and eras and events such as the
First World War and the Holocaust may be able to
give sociologists important first-hand information
about their experience of such events. Older
relatives may be able to give us insight into
experience of social policies such as the tripartite
education system which we are unable to glean
from textbooks.
Personal Documents
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However, life histories can be problematic. The
people whose memories we use may not be
representative of the population. Their recall of facts
from the past may not be accurate or may be overly
subjective and therefore biased.
Other Types Of research
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Case Studies
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Case Studies look at a single example of
something –a workplace, an individual
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a school (like Willis)
a religious group (Barker and The
Moonies
Case Studies
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Advantages
By focusing on one case they
provide rich detailed information
 Can help to provide info for larger
research projects
 Theories can be tested to see if they
apply in particular situations
 Eg. Labelling in schools, the degree
of secularisation in a town
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Case Studies
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Disdvantages
Seen as limited and unrepresentative
They are ‘one offs’ and generalisations
can’t be made
Longitudinal studies
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These are
studies over
a period of
time –
remember
the 7UP
progs –
though this
is not a
sociological
study.
Longitudinal studies
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Parker 1999
Looked at illegal drug use between 19915 in Merseyside & Greater Manchester
At the start they were 14 at the end they
were 18
This helped to look at drug
experimenting over this key period of
youth development
Just in case u were wondering –
cannabis was the most used
Longitudinal studies
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Advantages
Looks at events over time
Changes in attitudes, behaviour – even
society itself can be observed
Longitudinal studies
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Disadvantages
Time consuming and expensive
Keeping the same sample is difficult
People drop out
National Child Development Study
started in 1958 with over 17000 children
By 1999 this was down to 11000
People die, emigrate, refuse to take part
etc
The Comparative Method
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These simply make comparisons
between different societies – or
between groups within the same
society – or within
groups/societies over a period of
time
The Comparative Method
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Durkheim & Suicide
Durkheim compared suicide rates
across different European
countries
And between groups within
countries
This led him to conclude that
Catholics have lower suicide rates
than Protestants
See Suicide notes
Marx used the comparative
approach in his research on
Capitalism
The Comparative Method
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A Natural lab
Although the variables can’t be
controlled
This method allows use of ‘natural
labs’
e.g. Europe provided a natural lab
for Durkheim
The Comparative Method
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Cross-cultural studies
Comparing different countries,
cultures, sub-cultures etc helps us
to understand the nature/nurture
debate
e.g. Gender differences in different
countries point to the importance
of culture rather than nature
The Comparative Method
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The comparative method has its
advantages but it does pose
problems when comparing cross
cultural factors.
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Was Durkheim comparing the
same thing in different countries?
Atkinson didn’t think so when he
compared English and Danish
coroners
Triangulation – Methodological Pluralism
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Since the 1990s especially,
sociologists have tended to use
the terms triangulation or
methodological pluralism to
describe mixing different methods.
Often these terms are used
interchangeably. However, they do
not mean exactly the same thing.
Triangulation – Methodological Pluralism
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Triangulation
can be defined as the use of more than
one method of research in order to assess
the validity of one’s research methods and
especially of the data produced.
Usually, it involves the use of a method
which generates quantitative data – this
may be primary data from a survey or
secondary data from official sources.
More often than not, this is combined with
a more interactive method such as
unstructured interviews or observation,
which generate qualitative data.
Triangulation
Observation
Interviews
Questionnaires
Triangulation – Methodological Pluralism
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Methodological pluralism
refers to the employment by the
social researcher of more than one
method of research, but the
emphasis here is not on the validity
of the data, as with triangulation.
Rather, it is to build up a fuller and
more comprehensive picture of
social life.
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Triangulation – Methodological Pluralism
For example, I might be interested in the
distinction between what people say
they do and what they actually do. I can
acquire information by using interviews
to explore what people think, say and
believe and then use observation to find
out whether they put what they say into
practice or not.
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Triangulation – Methodological Pluralism
The two methods elicit different types of
data and also act as a form of check on
the reliability of the methods used.
Such an approach is useful because the
advantages of one method may help
compensate for, and at least partially
overcome, the limitations of another
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Triangulation – Methodological Pluralism
Advantages
Gives a more complete picture of the
group being studied
Qualitative and Quantitative data can be
used to check on the accuracy of the
conclusion
Reliability and validity are both covered
Qual research can help to explain
correlations found in quan research
2. Qual research can provide the
hypothesis
- quan research can check it
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Triangulation – Methodological Pluralism
Disdvantages
Time consuming and expensive
Can lead to conflicting evidence
Triangulation – Methodological Pluralism
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Eileen Barker –
Making Of A Moonie 1984
In the 1970’s Barker
studied the Unification
Church (Moonies)
They had been accused
of brainwashing and
breaking up families
Triangulation – Methodological Pluralism
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Famous for mass
weddings – only 60,000
at this one
Triangulation – Methodological Pluralism
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These intended spouses were
1000’s of miles away so sent a pic
instead!
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Triangulation – Methodological Pluralism
Barker used 3 main
methods
In-depth interviews
(6-8 hrs)
Participant
Observation (at
several centres over
the 7 years)
42 page
questionnaire
Her research lasted
7 years
Triangulation – Methodological Pluralism
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She believed her
approach gave her
much fuller
information than
any one data source
could have done.