Methods of Social Research

1. Methods of Social Research Family Sociology

2. 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

3. Social Science Research • 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

4. 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 Marriage and Family Relationships

5. 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

6. Theory > Method • Once we have a theory to oriented our research… • We choose an appropriate method of research • A research method will define how we will collect the data for our study

7. Most Frequently used Methods of Social Research • Demographic Studies • Survey Research • Participant Observation (Field Observation) • Social Experiments

8. Demographic Studies • Demography is a subfield of sociology that is concerned with how social conditions are distributed in the human population and how these populations are changing. • Core interests are trends in: • Fertility • Mortality • Migration • Marriage and divorce

9. 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

10. Demographic Studies • Examples of Demographic Studies in Fertility • What 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

11. 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

13. 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 though the internet (web-based)

14. Example of a U.S. Survey:Pew Research Center http://pewresearch.org/pubs/301/are-we-happy-yet

17. 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

18. 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

19. Participant Observation • Complete Participation: Researcher tries to become a part of the group they are studying • Howard Becker hung around with Jazz musicians to understand how people learned to smoke pot - but he WAS also a Jazz musician

20. 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

21. Social Experiments • Family Studies and Sociology do not use a lot of these but • In a social experiment you randomly assign subjects to a control group and a treatment group • Recent study on the effect of TV on children • Children were randomly assigned to • 1) Watch Sponge Bob Square Pants • 2) Watch PBS Children show Sprout • 3) Or draw • What differences do you think they found for 3 groups? Marriage and Family Relationships

22. 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

23. Summary • When doing research on families, we always have to think of an answerable question? • Then we decide do we want to study the family at the micro or macro level? • Then we choose a theory to guide our research project. • Next we decide what method will we use to collect data? • How many people will be in our study? • We apply the scientific method to the study of families and relationships