(2) LEARNING OBJECTIVES * Sociological Questions Name the different types of questions sociologists address in their research—factual, theoretical, ‘comparative, and developmental. * Is Sociology a Science? ‘Understand how sociology is similar to and different from natural sciences, * The Research Process ‘Learn the steps ofthe research process and be able to ‘complete the process yourself, 32 Asking and Answering Sociological Questions ——e + Understanding Cause and Effect Differentiate between causation and correlation. + Research Methods Familiarize yourself with the methods available to sociological researchers and know the advantages and disadvantages of each, + Research in the Real World: Methods, Problems, and Pitfalls ‘See how research methods were combined in areal study and recognize the problems the researcher faced.hospital and stayed with her! for fourteen hours of labor. After the baby was born, two police officers came into the hospital room and arrested Alex. As an officer hand- cuffed him, Donna screamed and cried, and as they walked Alex away, she got out of the bed and grabbed hold of him, moaning, “Please don't take him away. Please, 'l take him down there myself tomorrow, I swear. Justlet him stay with me tonight.” ‘What are the police doing making arrests in a delivery room? Why did they arrest Alex? ‘Today hospitals serving many African American communities are often crowded with po- lice officers. Police cars and paddy wagons: are parked outside, (Officers in uniform and in plain ‘clothes stand near the ambulances, and more officers walk around or wait in the ER. Black men can frequently be seen walking out of the double glass doors in handcuffs. Some officers come to investigate shootings and to question ‘the witnesses who arrive there-Others come because themen they have beaten while arresting them must receive medical care before they ‘can be taken to jail or the precinct. In Philadelphia, it is standard policy for officers waiting at the hospital to run the names of visitors or patients that they believe might have violated parole. The police take into custody any -visitors or patients with warrants or whose injuries or presence at the hospital constitutes a violation of their probation ‘or parole, Until the past few years, the phenomenon. ‘of large numbers of poor black men on. the run from the criminal justice system persisted as a widespread but never studied form of social life. In the ghetto today, a large number of warrants are. issued for small offenses such as fail- ing to pay court fees, failing a urine test after drug treatment, or missing a court date. Alice Goffman, a sociologist, moved into a poor ‘black neighborhood of Philadelphia where many young men were themselves on the run, She became part of the everyday life of a group of Young men who were known as the 6th Street Boys, writing about them in her article “On the Run’ Goffinan 2009). Goffman’s research cast a new light on the struggles of men who were dipping and dodging the police, worrying that any encounter would result in theirimprison- ment, She showed that for these men, activities, relations, and localities that others rely on to ‘maintain a decent and respectable identity ‘are transformed into asystem that the authorities make use ofto locate, arrest, and confine them. The police and the courts become dangerous ‘to interact with, as\ does showing up to work or going to places like hospitals. Instead of asafe place to sleep, eat, and find acceptance and support, their mother’s home. is transformed into “last known address,” one of the first places ‘the police will look for them. Close relatives, friends, and neighbors become potential informants, O nthe day his girlfriend Donna was due with their first child, Alex drove her to the Why Hang Out with Men Who Are On the Run? ‘Alice Goffman spent six years in an inténsely policed poor black neighborhood because an ‘excellent way to understand social processes is to participate in and observe them. She also conducted asurvey of neighborhood residents to gather more information than simple obser ation would have yielded, such as whether the people she got to know were representative of vrhere in the same community. Goffman's systematic research illuminated an aspect of life that is shocking to many people, and that certainly has needed a deeper understanding. Al- though itis written in a dispassionate way, ithas evoked passion in many readers who see the situations she describes as unjust. ‘Goffman argued that issuing warrants on a large scale for low-level violations leads men tolive anguished existences in which they must resort to extreme secrecy and dangerous ac- tivities Her study argues that the assigning of a fugitive status to large numbers of poor back ‘Askingand Answering Sociological Questions 33‘men rolls back the gains in citizenship that African Americans made in the civil rights move- ‘ment, and functions to deprive them of basic rights to family, employment, and safety from harm. ‘The policing techniques under study in "On the Run” are perfect examples of phenomena that sociologists explore. For example, in. looking at the ways in which the police use the hos- Pital as a key site to make arrests, Goffman shows how society works in ways that differ from traditional expectations. While many of us think ‘of going to the doctor as a routine occur- rence, poor black men in Philadelphia neighborhoods find that is fraught with risk; they are likely to be stopped, searched, and their names run in a police database if they seek medical care. What some take to be natural and normal—a routine ‘doctor's visit—is actually socially Constructed (see Chapter 1), differing in its meaning depending on who is walking through the doors, Elements of the modem theoretical approaches discussed in Chapter 1 can help us understand the issues addressed by Goffman’s ‘study. A rational choice approach might ask: Given the substantial downside to life on the ‘Tun, why don’t men simply turn themselves in, do the time, and get it over with? The answer is that in most cases, it makes sense for men to remain on the run, rather than turn themselves in. Men prefer being at home to being in Prison, even ifthey are on the run. Also, going to prison will not clear up their legal entangle- ‘ments: When they return home they will be on probation or parole, subject to the same stops and searches, and very likely on the run again soon afterwards, Thus living with a warrant isa rational response to their opportunities and constraints. A symbolic interactionist might ask: ‘What kinds of interactions do wanted men participate in or avoid, in order to steer clear of the police? Goffman found that those close to wanted men are under considerable pressure from the police to act as informants, and that this leads wanted men | to be secretive and unpredict- able, so that their friends and relatives are not able to notify the authorities of their where- abouts. A functionalist approach might ask: How does this system of warrants help maintain the social order? One answer would be to see warrants as a form of punishment, which, like prisons or public whippings, serves the important function of maintaining group boundaries, strengthening the bonds between law-abiding citizens, and maintaining and strengthening norms against crime, A functionalist could also argue that the granting ofa fugitive and con- vict status to large numbers of poor black men deprives them of equal opportunities to em- Ployment, education, health, and family life, thus maintaining and preserving long-standing racial hierarchies in American society. A Marxist approach might ask: How do warrants reflect or ‘contribute to class inequal- ity? One answer is that issuing warrants against these ‘men makes them an easily exploitable workforce. Because they fear that writing their names. ‘down or interacting with the authori- ties will lead to a return to jail or prison, they are hesitant to work on the books, with the re- sult that they are not covered ‘by workmen's compensation, health insurance, ‘unemployment insurance, minimum wage laws, or any other benefits or ‘legal protections. Finally, a feminist approach might ask: What does issuing warrants to young men mean for relations between. ‘men and women in affected communities? One answer ny ae , __$Sthatbecause tis argely men who are granted legally theoretical approaches « Perspectives on socal Precarious status, women can access rangeot obs, ser. erate a om ad at nen sat er ie ‘gy include functionalism, symbolic inteactionism, considerable bargaining power. Sometimes women and Marxism. Theoretical approaches supply overall make use of this power to control and punish men, for Perspectives within which sociologists work and influ- example by threatening to call the police on them, An- rsa arens oftheir research as wellasthemodesio ther anawer a thatthe police put remendous preseure i eee et elcid oa la Sasori iia aad aera 34 CHAPTER 2 + Asking and Answering Sociological Questionsoa are often in the difficult position of choosing between betraying a boyfriend, brother, or son, ‘and losing their houses or the custody of their children. IS SOCIOLOGY A SCIENCE? When ©. Wright Mills developed the concept of the “sociological imagination” he did not spend very much time reflecting on the fact that it takes more than an imagination to be a sociologist. Alice Goffman could have never imagined the things she came to know without deep involvement in the lives ofher subjects. ‘When sociology began asa discipline, it wasa very theoretical field. There wasalotofarm- chair speculating, and many notions that developed about how the world worked were not ‘well grounded in evidence. But sometime around the 1920s in American sociology, largely at the University of Chicago, there developed a more intense commitment to theidea that these theoretical speculations were not enough, that sociology as a discipline needed to ground its concepts and theoriesin facts and data. ‘This goal for sociology was represented in two figures who were both professors at the University of Chicago: Robert Park and William Ogburn. Park’s beliefs about how to make social research more scientific really came from his background, as a student of philosophy in Europe and are porter for the Minneapolis Star. He was interested in developing theories, but he wanted those ideas to relate directly to the actual lives of people, and to be based on the careful accumulation of evidence about their lives. He told his students that they needed to get the seat of their pants dirty in real research, towear out shoe leather as a means of discovering the truth. ark thought that the most important thing for a sociologist was to 0 around into all the neighborhoods of the city and find out what was going on by meeting the people who were the subjects of sociological theories. Following Park's lead, the University of Chicago's sociology de- partment used the city as alaboratory. These sociologists took on rolesin the communities to see how the community members lived, conducting interviews and observing firsthand, Their research reports tended to be highly systematic, well written, and oriented toward improving condi- tions in the city and around the United States. Alice Goffman's research ‘onmen with warrantsis a modern exemplar of that approach, ‘Another prominent sociologist at the University of Chicago in that era was William Ogbum. He didn't believe that the future of sociology ‘could lie in shoe leather, in well-written books, in findings that could not be quantified, or in efforts to influence public policy. These, he thought, ‘were the domains of ethies, religion, journalism, and propaganda. In his presidential address to the American Sociological Society, he argued ‘that sociology needed to become a science (Ogburn 1930). The goal, he ‘argued, was not “to make the world a better place to live,” or to set forth “impressions of life” or to “[guide] the ship of state” but only to “[dis~ cover] new knowledge.” Ogburn wanted sociology to be afield that would ook alot more like the natural sciences in the way in which it was pre- sented and the way it was oriented. Whereas Park had clear ideas about) Robert Park ancl (b) Wiliom what the subject matter of sociology should be—immigration andtthelife _ Ogburn. Is Sociology aScience? 35seience « In the sense of physical science, the sys tematic study ofthe physical world Science involves the disciplined marshaling of empirical data, combined with theoretical approaches and theories that lumi nate or explain those data. Scientific activity combines the creation of boldly new modes of thought with the «careful testing of hypotheses and ideas. One major feature that helps distinguish science from other idea systems the assumption that all scientific ideas are ‘open toiticism and revision empirical investigation + Factual inquities carried ‘ut in any area of sociological study. of the city—Ogburn believed sociologists could study anything that could be measured with numbers. ‘These two figures—Park and Ogburn—coexisted at the University of Chicago for many years, each of them Committed to his own vision of sociology as a science. For Park and his students, the personal, emotional, and scientific side of sociology coexisted with the aspiration to develop explanations about the social world. We can ‘see that legacy in the work of young sociologists today like Alice Goffman, with her careful, systematic, but highly personal research on warrants in Philadelphia, But the legacy of William Ogburn is no less significant. ‘The value of statistics and scientific methodologies for understanding the world has never been greater, in part because of the massive amount of data and information that are being collected on the Internet. More than ever before, business and government need people who ‘can analyze this material and who are disposed to think about the world in a scientific way, Durkheim, Marx, and the other founders of sociology thought of the discipline as a science. Butcan we really study human social life in ascientific way? To answer this question, we must first understand what science means, Science is the use of systematic methods of empirical investigation, the analysis of data, theoretical thinking, and the logical assessment of arguments to develop a body of knowledge about a subject matter. Sociology is a scientific endeavor, according to this definition, It in- volves systematic methods of empirical investigation, the analysis of data, and the assess- ment of theories in light of evidence and logical argument. However, sociology is not equivalent to anatural science. Unlike objectsin nature, humans are self-aware beings who confer sense and purpose on what they do, We can’t even describe social life accurately unless we grasp the concepts that people apply in their own behavior. For instance, to describe a death as a suicide means knowing what the person intended when he died. Suicide can ocour only when an individual has self-destruction actively in mind. Ifhe accidentally steps in front of a car and is killed, he cannot be said to have committed suicide. ‘The fact that we cannot study human beings in the same way as objects in nature is an advantage to sociological researchers, who profit from. being able to pose questions directly to those they study—other human beings, In other respects, sociol- ogy encounters difficulties not present in the natural sciences. People who are aware that their activities are being scrutinized may not behave normally; they may consciously or unconsciously portray themselves in a ‘way that differs from their usual attitudes. They may even try to “assist” the researcher by giving the respons- esthey believe she wants, CONCEPTCHECKS © Wiyissocictogy considered tobe a ‘science? ©® How does sociology compare tothe natural sciences? In what ways are they similar and different? THE RESEARCH PROCESS Let's look at the stages involved in research work, from the start of an investigation to the time its findings are made available in written form. 36 CHAPTER 2 * Asking and Answering Sociological Questions__gpjresearch starts from aresearch problem. This may be an area of factual ignorance about, say, institutions, social processes, orcultures.A researcher might seek to answer a question: “| ohat proportion of the population holds strong religious beliefs? Are people today disaffected ‘ith "big government”? How far does the economic position of women lagbehind that of men? ‘The best sociological research begins with problems that are also puzzles. A puzzle is ‘pot just a lack of information, but agap én our understanding. Much of the skill in producing ‘worthwhile sociological research consists in correctly identifying puzzles. ‘Rather than simply answering the question “What is going on here?” puzzle-solving re- {earch tries to illuminate why events happen as they do. Thus we might ask: Why are pat- ‘terns of religious belief changing? What accounts for the recent decline in the proportion of ‘the population voting in presidential elections? Why are women poorly represented in high- status jobs? ‘Nopiece of research stands alone. One project may lead to another because it raises issues | sie researcher had not previously considered. A sociologist may discover puzzles by reading the work of other researchers in books and professional journals or by being aware of social trends.For example, an increasing number of programs for treating the mentally illencourage ‘them to live in the community rather than being confined to hospitals. Sociologists might be ‘prompted to ask: What has caused this shift in attitude toward the mentally il? What are the >” Jikely consequences for the patients themselves and the rest of the community? fi Reviewing the Evidence -- Once the problem is identified, the sociologist must review related research: Have previous researchers spotted the same puzzle? How have they tried to resolve it? What aspects of the ‘problem has their research left unanalyzed? Drawing on others’ ideas helps the sociologist clarify the relevant issues and the appropriate research methods. * Making the Problem Precise ‘Atthird stage involves clearly formulating the research problem. If relevant literature already exists, the researcher might gain a good notion of how to approach the problem. Hunches sometimes become hypotheses—educated guesses about what is going on—at this stage. Forthe research to be effective, ahypothesis must be formulated in such away that the factual material gathered will provide evidence either supporting or disproving it. Working Out a Design ‘The researcher then decides how to collect the research materials, choosing from a range of methods according to the objectives of the study as well as the aspects of behavior under study. For some purposes, a survey (usually involving questionnaires) might be suitable. In other circumstances, interviews or an observational study might be appropriate. Carrying Out the Research Researchers then proceed to carry out the plan devel- hypotheses ideas or guesses about o gen stale of eas ia aise ear aualig (he esearch, 272% pu forward a bases fr empirical testing, ‘The Research Process 37Figure 2.1 | Steps in the Researc! Gavia am uso vt ts Familiarize yourself with existing eres one Nereus ieee yea ne aer Eanes yt variable Beno Vaas2.er bare} Cea Geniceet eum acer} Collect your data; record information, Cesar am Col cc ars Work out the implications of the data Watts Ue naa asi aol act Miu na nner relate to pre Reality Intrudes! renee unforeseen practical difficulties can occur. ‘h Process Forexample, it might prove impossible to contact certain questionnaire recipients or interview subjects. A business firm or government agency may not let the re- searcher carry out the work as planned. Such difficulties might bias the study re- sults and lead to a false interpretation. A researcher studying how business corpo- rations have complied with affirmative- action programs for women might find that companies that have not complied donot want tobe studied, Interpreting the Results Once the material has been gathered for analysis, the researcher's troubles may be just beginning! Working out the im- plications of the data and relating them to the research problem are rarely easy tasks, Although it may be possible to reach a clear answer to the initial ques- tions, many investigations are ultimately not fully conclusive, Reporting the Findings ‘The research report, usually published as journal article or book, relates the na- ture of the research and seeks to justify the conclusions, This is a final stage only in terms of the individual project. Most reports identify unanswered questions and suggest options for further research. Allindividual research investigations are partofthe continuing process ofresearch within the sociological community, ‘The preceding sequence of steps is a simplified version of what happens in actual research rojects. These stages rarely succeed each other so neatly; the difference is like that between the recipes outlined in a cookbook and the actual process of preparing a meal. Experienced CONCEPTCHECKS @ What arethe seven steps ofthe research process? cooks often don’t work from recipes at all, yet they might cook better than those who do, Following fixed schemes can be unduly restricting; much outstanding sociological research would not fit rigidly into this se- uence, although most of the steps would be there. 38 CHAPTER 2 + Asking and Answering Sociological QuestionsGu of the main problems faced in research methodology isthe analysis of cause and effect. ‘Avcausel relationship is an association in which one event or situation produces another. If ‘goa release the parking brake in an automobile pointing downhill, the car will rol down the jncline, gathering speed as it goes; you can explain why this happens by referring to the physi- al principles involved. Like natural science, sociology assumes that all events have causes. ‘Because social life is not a random array of occurrences, one ‘of the main tasks of sociological ‘yesearch—in combination with theoretical thinking—is to identify causes, and effects. Causation and Correlation > Causation cannot be directly inferred from correlation. Correlation means the existence ofa regular relationship between two sets of occurrences or variables. A variable is any di- ‘mension along which individuals or groups differ—such as age, income, crime rate, or social class. When two variables are closely correlated, it might seem as if one caused the other, however, such is rarely the case. For example, since World War I, a strong correlation has ‘been seen between pipe smoking and the number of people who regularly go to the movies: Both have declined. Clearly one change did not cause the other, and it would be difficult to discover even a remote causal connection between them. Often, however, itis much less obvious that an observed correlation does not imply acaus- alrelationship, leading to questionable or false conclusions. In his classic work Suicide, Emile ‘Durkheim (1966; orig. 1897) found a correlation between rates of suicide and the seasons of we ‘the year. In the societies Durkheim studied, levels of suicide increased progressively from January to around June or July. Then they declined through the end of the year. One might ‘suppose this demonstrates a causal relationship between temperature or climatic changeand individuals’ propensity to kill themselves. Perhaps as temperatures increase, people become 5 ‘more impulsive and hotheaded. However, the causal relation has nothing directly to do with $ ‘temperature or climate. In spring and summer, most people have a more intensive social life than they do in winter. Individuals who are isolated or unhappy may experience an intensi- fication of these feelings as the activity level of people ar 1em rises te suici ee ase ooo aaa aaa causation + The causal influence of one factor, oF variable, upon another. A cause and effect relationship and winter. We always have to be on guard in assessing —_exists whenever a particular event or state of affairs whether correlation involves causation and in deciding (the effect) i produced by the existence of another in which direction causal relations run. {the cause). Causal factors in sociology include the reasons individuals give for what they do, as well as. ‘CAUSAL MECHANISM external influences on their behavior. ‘Working out causal connections involved in correla- correlation + The regular relationship between tions can be difficult. There isa strong correlation, for 16O variables often expressed in static ter instance, between the level of educational achievement Creation beineentwovaribes exists when igh and occupational success in modern societies. The bet- rank on one variable is associated witha high rank on ter grades an individual gets in school, the better-paying the other. Anegative correlation exists when a hig job he or shes likely to get. What explains this correla ‘ankon one variables associated with alow rankon tion? Research showsthat itis not mainly schoolexperi- ‘We other ence itself but, rather, the home environment: Children _variable « A dimension along which an object, indi from better-off homes whove parents generaly take a WH, 0r sroupmay be categorized such as income strong interest in their learning skills and where books "ah ‘Understanding Cause and Effect 39Ey EHIND THE BEST SELLER: EN LEVITT AND STEPHEN DUBNER | Freakonomics Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner's Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Every- thing has sold over four million cop- ies since it was first published in 2005. ‘THE HIBBEN SIDE OF FREAKONOMICS A nocue Ecowowisr ExpLones offenses. What many police depart- ments discovered was that in focusing on the smaller crimes, they were able to reduce the commission of bigger NENT crimes as well, There were two reasons The book is an introduction to the way “nein for this. First, people who are arrested that an economist, Levitt, thinks about for smaller offenses frequently were aspects of social life that have more wanted for bigger crimes too, so this commonly been dealt with by soci- made it easier to find them and get ologists. Levitt (aided by his coauthor, Fe them off the streets. Second, when the popular journalist Stephen Dub- nner) looks at a wide variety of seem- ingly miscellaneous topics ranging from why real estate agents can't be trusted to whether people with cer- tain first names do better in lif, The book is an unsentimental look at many aspects of social life that shares methodological assumptions with the field of sociology, including an intense focus on not confusing cause and cor- relation. In one much talked about chapter, Levitt tries to figure out what brought down the crime rates in US. cities during the 1990s. Prior to his work on this subject, the standard explanation accepted by many social scientists was that ag- gressive crime-fighting strategies had the biggest impact, as many big cities started to crack down ‘on small infractions that had previously been ig- Nored. Thus, whereas the infraction of jumping over a turnstile or putting graffiti on a wall may ot have caught the police's attention in a pre- vious era, now the emphasis moved to minor sunens. LEVITT & Bi are abundant, are more likely to do well potential criminals see that an envi- ronment is disorderly—even in minor ways—it gives them the impression that they can get away (so to speak) with murder. Levitt found that there was one big problem with this commonly accepted explanation—the analysts were mixing up cause with correlation. Although it was true that crime rates went down in cities that used this crime-fighting strategy, they also went down in other cities that didn’t do anything special at all. In other words, the crime- fighting strategy wasn't necessarily the cause. Levitt relied on another kind of analysis that is also central to sociology—the examination of data related to the age structure of the population. Be- ginning with the assumption that most crimes are ‘committed by people who are between the ages of 18 and 25, he noticed that during the 1990s there were many fewer people in this age range. This would provide an an alternative explanation for why crime went down everywhere, including rn. UBER ‘than those whose homes lack these qualities. The causal mechanisms are the parents’ attitudes and the facilities for learning in thehome, Causal connections in sociology are not entirely mechanical, however. People’s attitudes and subjective reasons for acting as they do are also causal factors in relationships among variables in social life, CONTROLS In assessing the cause or causes that explain a correlation, we need to distinguish indepen- dent variables from dependent variables. An independent variable is one that produces an effect on another variable. The variable affected is the dependent variable. In the example just mentioned, academic achievement is the independent variable and occupational success 40 CHAPTER 2 * Askingand Answering Sociological Questionsaces where crime strategies did not focus on ‘maintenance. Levitt left his analysis at that, he might not attracted so much attention, But he took the ment one step further and suggested that the in criminals was caused by the 1973 Supreme ecision of Roe v. Wade, which made abor- regal throughout the United States. The argu- ‘went something like this: most people who ‘bbortions are poor women who don't want to Fave children at that time in their lives. These are the parents who reise their children with the few~ resources and the least attention. Such chil- en are more likely to grow up to be criminals. When @ whole generation of such babies the effect was manifest in jower crime rates 18-25 years later. How did Levitt avoid the problem of confusing "correlation and causation? One test he did com- "pared crime rates in states where abortion had “been legal before Roe v. Wade with states where "abortion only became legal after the landmark de- ~ Gision. He found that crime was lower in the states with legal abortion and only went down in the - ther states after abortion was legal there, too. "Needless to say, the argument that linked abor- "tion and crime was bound to be controversial, and ‘many social scientists reanalyzed Levitt’s data. ‘Christopher Foote and Christopher Goetz (2005) found that when they looked at Levitt’s computer “code, it appeared that he had not run the sta- tistical tests that he thought he had. When they fixed the error, the effect of abortion on arrests declined by between one-half and two-thirds. In other words, Levitt’s popular explanation was not tthe final word. Beyond the methodological premise that we should not confuse correlation and causation, there is at least one aspect of Freakonomics that should be of great interest to us as we begin to study sociology. Levitt argues that social scien~ tists should be interested in the way that the world actually works, rather than how people would like it to work. He thinks that when social scientists allow their moral values and sentimentalities to influence their research, this results in weak think- ing. Levitt picks examples that may be offensive to many people, while illustrating what happens when we let the data speak for themselves. While there is much to recommend such an approach, many sociologists take the view that there is no such thing as a value-free social sci ‘ence. Our moral values should influence the kinds of things we choose to study, and also force us to consider seriously the implications of our find= ings, even as we try to maintain a sense of rigor in the analysis of data QUESTIONS 1. Prior to Freakonomics, what was the domi- nant explanation for the decline in crime rates? . What is Steven Levitt's explanation for the decline in crime? . How does Levitt’s work give recognition to the social scientific ideal of not confusing cor- relation with causation? 4, Is Levitt’s argument morally offensive, and should sociologists care? ‘Source: Steven B. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Freako- ‘nomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. New York: William Morrow, 2006. is the dependent variable. The distinction refers to the direction of the causal relation being investigated. The same factor may be an independent variable in one study and a dependent variable in another. If we were investigating the effects of differences in occupational success onlifestyles, occupational success would then be the in- dependent variable. ‘Tofind out whether acorrelationbetween variablesis causal relationship, we use eontrols—that is, we hold some variables constant to look at the effects of others. ‘This allows us to judge among explanations of observed correlations, separating causal from noncausal rela- tionships. For example, child development researchers independent variable + A variable, or factor, that ‘causally affects another (the dependent variable). dependent variable « A variable, or factor, causally influenced by another (the independent variable). controls « Statistical or experimental means of hold ing some varlables constant in order to examine the causal influence of others. ‘Understanding Cause and Effect 41have posited a causal relationship between maternal deprivation in infancy and serious Personality problems in adulthood. (Maternal deprivation is defined as the separation of an infant from his mother for several months or more.) To test this causal relationship, we would ‘try toscreen out or “control” other influences that might explain the correlation. Sometimes maternal deprivation occurs when an infant is admitted to a hospital for a Jengthy period and has to be separated from his parents, Ist attachment to the mother, how- ever, that really matters? Perhaps if a child receives love and attention from other people dur~ ing infancy, he might subsequently be a stable person anyway. We might compare cases in hich infants were deprived of regular care from anyone with other cases in which infants ‘were separated from their mothers but received love and care from someone else. Ifthe first Sroup developed severe personality difficulties but the second group did not, we would sus- ect that regular care from any one person in infancy is what matters, regardless of whether the caregiver is the mother. (Infact, infants do seem to prosper normally as long.as they havea loving, stable relationship with a caregiver; this person does not have to be the mother) IDENTIFYING CAUSES ‘Many possible causes could explain any given correlation. How can we be sure we have cov- ered them all? We cannot. We would never be able to satisfactorily carry out and interpret the results of any sociological research if we had to test for the influence of every potentially relevant causal factor. Thus, identifying causal relationships is normally guided by previous Tesearch. Without having some idea beforehand of the causal mechanisms involved in a cor- relation, we would find it very difficult to discover the real causal connections, We would not Imow what totest for. Consider the history of studies of smoking and lung cancer. Research has consistently demonstrated a strong correlation between the two: Smokers are more likely to contract lung ‘cancer than nonsmokers, and very heavy smokers more so than light smokers. The correlation canalso be expressed the other way around: A high proportion of those who have lung cancer are smokers or have smoked for long periods in their past. So many studies have confirmed these correlations that a causal link is generally accepted, but the exact causal mechanisms remain largely unknown. ‘However much correlational work exists on any is- sue, other interpretations are always possible. It has been proposed, for instance, that people who are predis- ‘posed to get lung cancer are also predisposed to smoke, In this view, it may not be the smoking that causes lung cancer but rather some biological disposition to both smoking and getting lung cancer. @ Contrast independent and dependent variables, ‘Whats the purpose of control variable? RESEARCH METHODS research methods « The diverse methods of inves- : tigation used to gather empirical (factual) material, Lets look atthe various research methods that soci- Different research methods exist in sociology, but the __ologists employ (Table 2.1). Whereas many fields have ‘most commonly used are fieldwork (or part one main method, sociology is constituted of variety of observation) and survey methods. For many purposes, methodologies, People trained in sociology end up devel- sree eeate combine two ormore methods within sping a wide range ofesearch sila which make thers single research project. cite versatile after graduation 42 CHAPTER 2 + Asking and Answering Sociological Questionsble 2.1| Three of the Main Methods Used in Sociological Research “RESEARCH METHOD ‘STRENGTHS LIMITATIONS Ethnography Usually generates richer and more in- depth information than other methods. Ethnography can provide a broader understanding of social processes. Can be used to study only relatively small groups of communities. Finding might apply only to groups of ‘communities studied; not easy to ‘generalize on the basis of a single ficlawork study. | surveys Make possible the efficient collection of data on large numbers of, individuals. ‘Allow for precise comparisons to ‘be made among the answers of respondents. Material gathered may be superficial if ‘questionnaire is highly standardized, Important differences among respondionts' viewpoints may be glossed over. Responses may be what people profess to believe rather than what they actually believe. Experiments = Influence of specific variables can be controlled by the investigator. ‘Are usually easier for subsequent researchers to repeat. Many aspects of social life cannot be ‘brought into the laboratory. Responses of those studied may bbe affected by the experimental situation. Ee Ethnography ‘Ethnography involves firsthand studies of people, using participant observation or interviewing. Like Alice Goffinan did in Philadelphia, the investigator works or lives with a ‘group, organization, or community and perhaps participates in its activities. Anethnographer cannot just be present in the group she studies, but must justify her presence to its members. ‘She must gain and sustain the cooperation of the community to achieve worthwhile results. For along while, research based on participant observation excluded accounts of the haz- ards or problems involved, but more recently field workers have been more open. Frequently, field workers experience feelings of loneliness and frustration, the latter occurring especially ‘when group members refuse to talk frankly with the researcher. Some types of feldwork may be physically dangerous; for instance, a researcher studying a delinquent gang might be seen. as apolice informer or might become unwittingly embroiled in conflicts with rival gangs. In traditional works of ethnography, accounts provided little information about the ob- server because ethnographers were expected to present objective reports. More recently, eth- nographers have increasingly spoken abdut their connection to the people under study. For ‘example, one's race, class, or gender may affect the work, or the power differences between observer and observed may distort the dialogue between them. participant observation or interviewing. ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS ethnography « The firsthand study of people using OF FIELDWORK Successful ethnography provides information on the behavior of people in groups, organizations, and com- participant observation + Amethod of research widely used in sociology and anthropology, in which the researcher takes part in the activities of the group ‘or community being studied. Research Methods 43survey + Amethod of sociological research in which‘ ™unities and how those people understand their own questionnaires are administered to the population behavior. Once we look inside a given group, we can bet- being studied, ter understand not only that group but also broader so- cial processes. population « The people who are the focus of social research, ‘Yet fieldwork also has limitations. Only fairly small groups or communities can be studied. And much de- ends on the researcher's skill in gaining the confidence Of the individuals involved. On the other hand, a re- searcher could identify so closely with the group that he loses the perspective of an outside observer. Or a researcher may draw conclusions that are more about his own effects on the situation than he or his readers realize, pilot study + A trial run in survey research. Surveys Interpreting ethnographies usually involves problems of generalization, because we cannot be sure that what we find in one context will apply in other situations, or even that two differ- ent researchers would draw the same conclusions when studying the same group. This is usu- ally less problematic in survey research, in which questionnaires are sent or administered directly to a selected group of people. This group is called a population. Ethnography is best Suited for in-depth studies of small slices of social life; survey research produces information that is less detailed but can be generalized to the population at large. STANDARDIZED AND OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONNAIRES ‘Two sorts of questionnaires are used in surveys. Some contain a standardized, or fixed- choice, set of questions to which only a fixed range of responses is possible—for instance, ‘Yes, No, Don't know or Very likely, Likely, Unlikely, Very unlikely. In such surveys with asmall number of categories, responses are easy to count and compare. However, because they donot allow for subtleties of opinion or verbal expression, they may yield restrictive, ifnot mislead- ing, information. Other questionnaires are open-ended: Respondents have more opportunity to use their ‘own words. Open-ended questionnaires typically provide more detailed information than standardized ones, and the researcher can follow up answers to probe more deeply into what the respondent thinks. However, the lack ofstandardization means that responses may be dif- ficult to compare statistically. Questionnaire items are normally listed so that a team of interviewers can all ask the questions and record responses in the same order, All the items must be understandable to interviewers and interviewees alike. In the large national surveys undertaken by government agencies and research organizations, interviews occur more orless simultaneously across the country. Those who conduct the interviews and those who analyze the results could not work ‘effectively if they constantly had to check with one another about ambiguities in the ques- tions or answers. Questionnaires should also accommodate the characteristics of respondents. Will they see ‘the point of a particular question? Might it offend them? Do they have enough information to answer usefully? Will they answer at all? A questionnaire’s terminology might be unfamiliar; for instance, “What is your marital status?” might better be asked as, “Are you single, married, separated, or divorced?” Most surveys are preceded by pilot studies that reveal problems with the survey not anticipated by the investigator. A pilot study is a trial run in which just.a few people participate. Any difficulties can then be ironed out before the main survey takes place. 44 CHAPTER 2 + Askingand Answering Sociological Questions{A small proportion of a larger population. ‘sample soniclogits are interested in the characteristics sampling Studying proportion of ees or oie cases froma large population a5 representative of large numbers of individuals—for example, politi- that poput latitudes of the American population a5 8WhOI® Thom sampling + Sampling method in which a _ adh situations, researchers concentrate on a $AmPl®, —sampjeis chosen so that every member ofthe popul- _ gfe small proportion of the overall group. Usually, the tion has the same probability of being included. _esults from a properly chosen sample can be gener#l- oy riment « Areseach method in which variables gait the total population. Studies of only two or thre® can be analyzed in a controlled and systematic way ‘@iousand voters, for instance, can accurately indicate either inan artificial situation constructed by the tritudes and voting intentions ofthe entire popula- researcher or in naturally ocurrng settings jfion. But to achieve such accuracy, the sample must be apresentative: The individuals studied must be typical of the population as ‘a whole. Because _gampling is highly complex, statisticians have developed rules for ‘working out the correct sige and nature of samples. "A particularly important procedure that ensures that a sample is representative is Fan- dom sampling, in which every member of the sample poptlation has the same probability _ @fbeing included, The most sophisticated way of obtainingarandom sampleis to, assign each “grember ofthe population a number and then use a computer to generate arandom list from {which the sample is derived. " JXDVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SURVEYS ‘Surveys are widely used in sociological research for several reasons, Questionnaire re- onses can be more easily quantified and analyzed than material generated by most other research methods; large numbers of people can be studied; and, given sufficient funds, re- | searchers can employ aspecialized agency to collect the responses. The scientific method is ho model for this kind f research, as surveys give researchers a statistical measure of what ‘they are studying. “However, many sociologists are critical of the survey. method. They argue that findings whose accuracy may be dubious, given the relatively shallow ‘nature of most survey responses, ‘ban nonetheless appear to be precise. Also, levels of nonresponse are sometimes high, espe- ‘cially now that so many people use cell phones and no longer have phone ines at home, Fur ‘thermore, some studies are published based on results derived from little over half sample, although normally there is an effort to recontact nonrespondents orto substitute other peo- ‘le Although little is known about those who do not respond to surveys or who refuse to be interviewed, we do know that people often ‘experience survey research as intrusive and time consuming, One development that may hold great promise for learning about public opinion is the rise of new statistical techniques for ‘surveying the “online conversation” ‘that is taking place quite naturally on the Internet. ‘asawhole. Experiments ‘An experiment is an attempt to test a hypothesis under highly controlled conditions es- tablished by an investigator. Experiments are common in the natural sciences, where the re- searcher can control the conditions. In comparison, the soope for experimentation in sociol- d ogy is smaller, We can bring only small groups of individuals into a laboratory setting, and in © guch experiments people know they are being studied and may behave unnaturally Research Methods 45Was there an “explosion” in the number of gay and lesbian Americans during the last decade of the twentieth century? Anyone reading the news- papers in July 2001 would have answered yes. Headlines roared that the number of gay and les- bian households had "skyrocketed" (Gram 2001) ‘and that the nuclear family was “fading” (The Ga- Zette 2001) and “in meltdown" (Feder 2001), The evidence? These news reports focused on data from the 1990 anc 2000 decennial censuses of the United States, which reported that the num- ber of gay or lesbian couples living together in= creased drastically between 1990 and 2000. For example, in the article “Jump in Report- ing of Same-Sex Households in New York" (Hill 2001), writer Michael Hill reported that the census counted 13,748 same-sex partner households in New York State in 1990 and 46,490 such house- holds in 2000—more than a threefold increase. Similarly, the number of gay households in the United States jumped more than fourfold, from approximately 145,000 to 600,000. In the article, Hill described a lesbian couple, Diana and Laurie Spencer, who felt comfortable living in a small town in upstate New York because of the feeling that as the number of gay households increased acceptance of gays would increase as well While gay activists found these data to be af- firming, conservative critics cited the census data {as “evidence” that the traditional family, and mo- rality more generally, were "unraveling before our eyes” (Dobson 2001). Demographers and survey researchers, however, were less concerned with the political implications and more concerned with figuring out whether these statistics were “Explosion’ in the Gay and Lesbian Population?” correct. Most concluded that the number of gay households probably had not increased substan- tially, Rather, the purported increase reflected changes in how the U.S. Bureau of the Census counts and classifies American households and their residents, Every ten years, the Census Bureau obtains a full roster of information onall persons who live in a given household, For each household, a *house- holder” or "head of household” is identified, and then all persons in the household are categorized in terms of their relationship to the household- er. The Census Bureau also obtains information on the age and gender of all persons living in a ‘A-couple marches in the Chicago Gay Price Parade, Nevertheless, experimental methods can have useful applications in soeiology. An exam- ple is the experiment carried out by Philip Zimbardo (1992), who set up a make-believe jail, randomly assigning some student volunteers to the role of guards and other volunteers to the role of prisoners. His aim was to see how the role playing would affect changes in attitude and behavior. The results shocked the investigators, Students who played guards quickly as- sumed an authoritarian manner; they displayed real hostility toward the prisoners, verbally abusing and bullying them. The prisoners, by contrast, showed a mixture of apathy and re- belliousness—a response often noted among inmates in real prisons. These effects were so marked and the level of tension so high that the experiment had to be called off at an early 46 CHAPTER 2 « Asking and Answering Sociological Questionsaid, Taken together, these date can be atts document patterns such as the number of fenidien under age eighteen who are living ‘r grandparents or the number of adult “Who are living together. However, the Ways that the members of a household ‘ised and classified have changed. In the @2 person residing in a household being the “spouse” of the householder fo of the same sex as the householder, cus data analysts reciassifiec! this per- S sboarder” or *roommate.” In other cases, sus Bureau recoded the person's gender, saps thinking that the gender was reported in id that the couple was in fact en opposite- ied couple (Beveridge 2007). fied Jefinitively concl ‘olds increased between 1990 and 2000, or id it be more accurate to conclude that the er of gay or lesbian households was under- nted in the 1990 census? “Experts believe that the latter is true. Angry od lesbian advocacy groups shared their oncern with the Census Bureau, spurring the ‘Census Bureau to publicly acknowledge its ciues- ionable analytic strategies on its Web site. The is Bureau also urged data users to recog- that direct comparisons between the 1990 2000 censuses would be impossible. The b site said, “As a result of [technical] charges: the processing routines, estimates of same-sex arried partners are not comparable between 1990 and 2000 Census... . We believe 2000 nates of this category are better estimates those produced in 1990" (US. Bureau of the ‘those involved. Life Histories stage. The results, however, were important: Zimbar\ ‘more influenced by the nature of the prison situation "_ Lifehistories belong purely to sociology and the other social sciences; they have no place in natural science. Life histories consist of biographical material about par- Census 2001). This situation illustrates an impor- tant issue in sociological research methods, par- ticularly survey research methods. if the precise question or method used to measure a particular concept changes over time, then it is very diffi cult to determine whether social change is really happening or whether a social pattern has been stable but is simply being counted or described in anew way. QUESTIONS 1. According to early reports, by how much did the number of gay and lesbian households in the United States increase between 1990 and 2000? 2. Were these initial estimates accurate? Why or why not? 3. What lessons can survey researchers learn from the Census Bureau's error in counting and classifying gay and lesbian Americans? FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION ‘Associated Press. 200, "Census’ Same-Sex Data Scruti nized." Associated Press, July 1,200}. Beveridge, Andrew. 2003. "Fun Findings and Non- Findings from Census 2000." Annual meeting of the ‘American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), New York Chapter, February 27, 2003. Dobson, James. 2001, The State of the Femily: July 2007 ‘Newsletter. Focus on the Family. wwuiidolphin.org/ family htmi#14 (accessed January 10, 2008), Feder, Dan. 2001. "Nuclear Family in Meltdown Boston ‘Herald, May 23, 2001, p. 33. ‘The Gazette, 2001. "Nuclear Family Fading.” The [Colo- ‘ado Springs] Gazette, May 15, 2001, pA Gram, David. 2001, "Census: Same-Sex Couples In- “creased.” Associated Press, June 13, 200 Us. Bureau of the Census. 2001, "Technical Note on “Same-Sex Unmarried Partner Data from the 1990 end 2000 Censuses.” www-census.gov/population/viww/ ‘een2000/samesexhtml (accessed January 10, 2008). ‘do concluded that behavior in prisons is, ‘than by the individual characteristics of life histories + Studies of the overall lives of individvals, often based on both self-reporting and documents such as letters. Research Methods 47ticular individuals—usually as recalled by the individ- uals themselves, Other procedures of research don't usually yield as much information about the develop- ‘ment ofbeliefs and attitudes over time. Life-historical studies rarely rely wholly on people's memories; they also use sourees such as letters, contemporaneous re- ports, and newspaper descriptions to expand on and check the validity of the information individuals pro- vide. Some sociologists feel that life histories are too unreliable to jprovide useful information, but others believe they offer sources of insight that few other re- search methodscan match. A celebrated early study incorporating life histo- ries was The Polish Peasant in Burope and America, by W.1. Thomas; and Florian Znaniecki (1966), first pub- lished in five volumes between 1918 and 1920. Thomas and Znaniecki developed a more sensitive and subtle account of the experience of migration than would have been possible without-the interviews, letters, and newspaper articles they collected, Comparative Research ‘The research methods just described are often applied ina comparative context. Comparative research is, ‘crucial in sociology, because it enables researchers to Fram inbecds coca ee em Ne exPer ——doeument whother social behavior varies aoros time, is influenced more by the nature of the prison itself place, and by one’s own social group memberships. than the Individual characteristics of those involved. Consider the American rate of divorco—the number of divorces granted each year. Divorce rates rose rap- idly i the United Statesafter World War IL, reachinga peakin the early 1980s, then declining slightly and leveling offin recent years. Current trends suggest that one in five couples marrying today will divorce—a statistic expressing profound changes in the area of sexual relations and famnily life (U.S. Bureau of the Census 2007). Do these changes reflect specific features of American society? We can find out by comparing divorce rates in the United States with those of other countries. The comparison reveels that although the US. rate is higher than that of most other Western societies, the overall trends are similar. Virtually all Western countriess have experienced steadily climbing divorce rates, over the past half century. mn Philip Zimbardo's make-beliove jal, tension be- tween students playing guards and students playing Historical Analysis A historical perspective is often essential in sociological research to make sense of the mate- rial wecollect, Sociologists commonly want to investigate past comparative research « Research that compares events directly. Some periods of history can be stud- ‘one set of findings on one society with the same type ied, in this way when survivors are still alive and can be ‘of indineon other societies interviewed about events they witnessed, such as the 48 CHAPTER 2 * Askingand Answering Sociological QuestionsHolocaust during World Wer II, For earlier periods, sociologists depend on written records, ich are often contained in the special collections of libraries or the National Archives. interesting example of the use of historical documents is sociologist Anthony Ash- th’ (1980) study of trench warfare ring World Warl. Concemed with analyzing the ex- Fence of men who were under constant fire and crammed in clase proximity for weeks on eg Ashworth drew on various documentary sources: official histories of the wat, including those covering different military divisions and battalions; official publications ofthe time; in- srmnalnotes and records keptby individual soldiers; and personal accounts of war experienc- ‘by drawing on such varied sources, Ashworth discovered that most soldiers formed thelr yn ideas about when to engage in combat with the enemy and often ignored the commands ‘their officers. For example, on Christmas Day, German and Allied soldiers suspended hos- ities, and in one place the two sides even staged an informal soccer match. ombining Comparative and Historical Research Jhworth’s research concentrated on a relatively short period. A study that investigated ‘much longer period and applied comparative research in a historical context was Theda sal’ States and Social Revolutions (1978),one ofthe best-known studies of seial change. produce a theory of the origins and nature of revolution grounded in detailed empirical "study, Skoepol looked at processes of revolution in three historical contexts: the 1789 revolu~ ‘on in France, the 1917 revolution in Russia (which brought the communists to power and tablished the Soviet Union, which was eventually clved in 1989), and the revolution of 1949 in China ;hich created communist China). By analyzing a variety of documentary sources, | (2) Whatarethemain advantages and Skocpol was able to develop a powerful explanation limitations of ethnography asaresearch _ of revolutionary change, one that emphasized the un- method? ving social structural conditions. She showed that |) Gonrastthetwotypesof questions social revolutions are largely the result of unintended coms etd ii cuveye "consequences. Before the Russian Revolution, for in- ‘ance, various political groups were trying to over- ‘Whats arandom sample? “throw the regime, but none of these—including the | (4) Discussthe main strengths of CONCEPTCHECKS Bolsheviks (communists), who eventually came to experiments. _ power—anticipated the revolution thet oceurred.Ase- | (3) what arethe similarities and differences, ___ Ties ofclashes and confrontations gaverrse toa process botween comparative and historical of social transformation that was much more radical research? ‘than anyone had foreseen. | RESEARCH IN THE REAL WORLD: METHODS, E PROBLEMS, AND PITFALLS Henee it is common to combine several methods in a "single piece of research, using each to supplement and 'wkangulavion » The use of multiple research meth- Bee crccchoeina process known eo tztangula- 9ae2%ay rodicng merle rial eta B hic, than is available from any single metho. ‘tion. We can see the value of combining methods—and, Research in the Real World: Methods, Problems, and Pitfalls 49_ STATISTICAL TERMS Research in sociology often makes use of statisti- cal techniques in the analysis of findings. Some are highly sophisticated and complex, but those most often used are easy to understand, The most com- mon are measures of central tendency (ways of calculating averages) and correlation coeffi- cients (measures of the degree to which one vari- able relates consistently to another). There are three methods of caleulating aver- ‘ages, each of which has certain advantages and shortcomings, Take as an example the amount of personal wealth (including all assets such as hous- s, cars, bank accounts, and investments) owned by thirteen individuals. Suppose the thirteen own the following amounts: 1 $0 8 $ 80,000 2. $5000 2 $ 100,000 3. $10,000 10. $ 150,000 4. $20,000 UL $ 200,000 & $40000 12, $ 400,000 6 $4000 18. $10,000,000 7. $40,000 ‘The mean corresponds to the average, arrived at by adding together the personal wealth of all the people and dividing the result by the number of people in the sample (18). The total is $1,085,000; dividing this by 13, we calculate the mean to be $852,692.31. The mean is often a useful calcula- tion because it is based on the whole range of data provided. However, the mean can be misleading when one ora small number of cases is very differ- ent from the majority. In this example, the mean is, not in fact an appropriate measure of central ten- dency, because the presence of one very large fig- ure, $10,000,000, skews the picture. One might get the impression when using the mean tosummarize these data that most of the people own far more than they actually do. In such instances, one of two other measures may be used. The mode is the figure that occurs ‘most frequently in a given set of data. In our ex- ample, itis $40,000. The problem with the mode is that it doesn’t take into account the overall distri- bution of the data—that is, the range of figures cov- ered. The most frequently occurring case in aset of figures is not necessarily representative of the dis- tribution as a whole and thus may not be a useful average. In this example, $40,000 is too close to the lower end of the figures. ‘The third measure is the median, which is the middle of any set of figures; here, this would be the seventh figure, again, $40,000. Oursample includes an odd number of figures, 13. If there had been an even number— for instance, 12—the median would bbe calculated by taking the mean of the two middle cases, figures 6 and 7, Like the mode, the median gives no indication of the actual range of the data measured. Sometimes a researcher will use more than ‘one measure of central tendency to avoid giving a deceptive picture of the average. More often, a re- searcher will calculate the standard deviation for the data in question. This is a way of caloulat ing the degree of dispersal, or the range, of a set of figures—which in this case goes from $0 to $10,000,000. Correlation coefficients offer a useful way of expressing how closely connected two (or more) variables are. When two variables correlate com- pletely, we can speak of a perfect positive correla- tion, expressed as 1.0. When no relation is found between two variables—they have no consistent connection at all—the coefficient is 0. A perfect negative correlation, expressed as -1.0,exists when twovariables are in acompletely inverse relation to one another. Perfect correlations are never found in the social sciences. Correlations of the order of 06 or more, whether positive or negative, are usually regarded as indicating a strong degree of ‘connection between whatever variables are being analyzed. Positive correlations on this level might bbe found between, say, social class background and ‘voting behavior. 50 CHAPTER 2 + Asking and Answering Sociological Questions_grore generally, the problems and pitfalls of sociological PPeuch-bylookingegninatGoffioa‘s"OntheRun” —Byvuetenengay name" meant “Goffman found that men often gave their wanted 90 Ue gus as explanation fr ther inabilty gets, OF Sgr ofconetaonbeween arabes, ‘Ghe reason why they did not use banks, seek medical yea ‘call the police, or attend family functions. Goff. ea" + Astatistical measure of cen B Borinmtedto fesse sence otsonrna orn atiice even el nereueartae eran ‘Gould really be explained by thewarrants.andhow much soa «The number that 5 often i Eee Setreeatienommene Tc Mamtaenet tees ‘question, Goffman compared what young men seid of portraying central tendency. pratthey di Sh fond thw ast al he men ig te qunter at nna So apent time with invoked ter egal entanglements Mea ay feedungeail deg at pe setanation for thts behavior when they were not sometimes meeusetulthaneokltings mean, = geanted by the police only some men didin fact attempt standard deviation + satin {go get a job, to secure a bank account, to seek medical SS ‘care, or to see their children regularly. In this way, she ; one aufero ‘Hon and an excuse for a variety of failures that may have (@courred for other reasons, Goffman had another ques- tion to answer: How well did the experience of the twelve young men in her study reflect the ‘experience ofothermen inthe neighborhood? Her solution was to conduct her own survey of = fhe neighborhood. She went door to door and interviewed members of the households. This survey revealed that roughly one-third of young men living in the neighborhood had warrants 4n the past three years. She then wanted to know how many people in the city of Philadelphia * had warrants; however, atthe time there was no published data on warrants, and the Phila- delphia police refused to disclose the number publicly. Near the end of her study, she made ~ gontact with aformer Warrant Unit officer, who convinced acolleague togiveher the number - Qverthephone. In this way, Goffman discovered that there were between 80,000 and 100,000 - arrants out inthe city of Philadelphia a any given moment. This triangulation allowed Goff- "nan to understand how many other people shared the experience ofthe small mamber of men ‘she had gottento know. Human Subjects and Ethical Dilemmas {All research involving human beings can pose ethical dilemmas. A key question for sociolo- © fjsts is whether the research poses risks to the subjects that are greater than the risks they face in their everyday lives. In writing “On the Run.” Goffman was confronted with an extreme version of this dilem- "yma, Because the men in her study were wanted by the police, and some were working as drug dealers, Goffman’s writing could potentially get them arrested and sent to prison. Goffman's "© solution was to conceal her study from the police, to use pseudonyms, to keep the neighbor- hood asecret, and not to describe any events that could result in new charges, should the iden- tity of the individual be discovered. ‘But Goffiman's research also meant that she herself might be arrested, simply by observ- {ng and participating in the lives of the people she was trying to understand. On two occa- ~© sions, he police broughther in for questioning and asked her to provide information about the ‘young men inthe neighborhood. As they did with the men’s gitlfriends and mothers, the police Research in the Real World: Methods, Problems, and Pitfalls 51| _ READING A TABLE ‘You will often come across tables in reading socio- logical literature. They sometimes look complex but are easy to decipher if you follow the few basic steps listed here; with practice, these will become automatic. (See Table 22 as an example.) Do not succumb to the temptation to skip over tables; they contain information in concentrated form, which ‘can be read more quickly than would be possible if the same material were expressed in words. By be- ‘coming skilled in the interpretation of tables, you will also be able to check how justified the conchu- sions a writer draws actually are. 1. Readthe ttle in full Tables frequently havelong titles, which represent an attempt by the re- searcher tostate accurately the nature ofthe in- formation conveyed. The title of Table 2.2 gives, first, the subject of the data; second, the fact that the table provides material for comparison; and third, the fact that data are given only for a lim- ited number of countries. 2, Look for explanatory comments, or notes, about the data. A footnote to Table 22 linked to the ‘main column heading indicates that the data cover only licensed cars. This is important, be- cause in some countries the proportion of ve- hicles properly licensed may be lower than in others. Footnotes may say how the material was collected or why itis displayed in a particular way. If the data have not been gathered by the researcher but are based on findings originally reported elsewhere, a source will be included. ‘The source sometimes gives you some insight, {into how reliable the information is likely to be and tells you where to find the original data. In Table 22, the source note makes clear that the data have been taken from more than one source. Read the headings along the top and left-hand side of the table. (Sometimes tables are ar- ranged with “headings” at the foot rather than the top) These tell you what type of informa- tion is contained in each row and column. In reading the table, keep in mind each set of headings as you scan the figures. In our exam- le, the headings on the left name the countries involved, while those at the top refer to the lev- els of car ownership and the years for which numbers apply. 1. Identify the units used; the figures in the body of the table may represent cases, percentages, averages, or other measures, Sometimes it may be helpful to convert the figures to a form more useful to you: If percentages are not provided, for example, it may be worth calculating them. Consider the conclusions that might be reached. from the information in the table. Most tables are discussed by the author, and what he or she hasto say should of course be borne in mind. But you should also ask what further issues or ques- tions could be suggested by the data, threatened to arrest her for harboring a fugitive, interfering with an arrest, and conspiracy to ‘commit various crimes. Goffman refused to give the police any information, and they did not ‘make good on their promises to arrest her. Goffman considered these interrogations tobe part of the normal experience that people living in this neighborhood faced, and were a risk she ‘was willing to take for the sake of understanding how life worked there. The Influence of Sociology ‘The results of sociological research often go beyond the intellectual community and are dis- seminated throughout society. Remember, sociology is not just the study of modern societies; 52 CHAPTER 2 + Asking and Answering Sociological Questions j 4Table 2.2 | Automobile Ownership: Comparisons of Several Selected ] Countries ‘Several interesting trends can be seen from the figures in this table. First, the level of car ownership varies considerably among different countries. The number of cars per 1,000 people is more than six times greater in the United States than in Brazil, for example, Second, there isaclear connection between car ownership ratios as a rough indicator of differences in prosperity. Third, inall the ” countries represented, the rate of car ownership increased between 1971 and 2002, but in some the rate of increase was higher than in others— probably indicating differences in the degree to which countries have successfully generated economic growthor are catching up. NUMBER OF CARS PER 1,000 OF THE ADULT POPULATION? ‘COUNTRY 1971 | 1981 | 1984 | 1989 | 1993 | 1996 | 2001 | 2002 Brazil 2 ze | ea | 98 | 96 | 79 95 n6 chile its auras tai) arlbers at 7s enaca| aimiOi |nttss NA ireland yat_| 202 | 226 | 228 | 290 | 307 | 442 | 445 France 261 | 348 | 360 | 574 | sos | sea | sea 592, Greece 30 | 94 | we | 50 | 27 | 32 | 428 | 450 italy zo | 322 | 3so | 42a | seo | 674 | 638 655 Japan 700 | 209 | 207 | 286 | soe | ss2_| 577 581 ‘Sweden zar_| saa | 445 | 44s | 445 | 450 | 497 | 500 United Kingdom | 224 | 317 | 343 | 366 | sec | 309 | 554 551 United States 4aa_|s36_| sao | 607 | 747 | 767 | 705 | 789 ‘West Germany» | 247 | 305 | 312 | 479 | 470 | sze | ses | ses China wa | NA [| NA | 5 6 8 1 6 ‘includes all licensed cars. "Germany as a whole after 1989, “Dats for 1990. Data for 2000. NA, not applicable. ‘Sources: Baltic 21 Secretariat; World Bank 1999; International Monetary Fund 2005, p. 68; international Road Federation 1987; OECD 2005; Statistical Office of the European Communities 1991; The Economist 1996; Toyota Corporation 2001; United Nations Economic Commission for Europe 2003; World Bank 2005. —l it is a significant element in the continuing life of those societies. Consider the transforma- tions occurring in the United States in marriage, sexuality, and the family. Most people in ‘moder societies have some knowledge of these changes as a result of the filtering down of sociological research. Our thinking and behavior are af- fected by sociological knowledge in complex and subtle sofexivity + This describes the connections between ‘ways, thus reshaping the very field of sociological inves- knowledge and social ife. The knowledge we gain tigation. Using the technical concepts of sociology, one about society can affect the way in which we actin it ‘can say that sociology stands in a reflexive relation to For instance, reading a survey about the high level of the human beings hose behavior is studied. Reflex. 10P07 for pital party might ead an inviua to ae aeiee logical 0°" 200PO7 Fr tat party, 20, ‘Research in the Real World: Methods, Problems, and Pitfalls 53research and human behavior. It’s no surprise that so- ciological findings often correlate closely with common © Woyisitimportanttouse triangulation sense, because sociological research continually influ- {in social research? ences what our commonsense knowledge of society @ What ethical dilemmasdid Gottiman's astoaliyia “Onthe un” study pose? CONCEPTCHECKS: NEED HELP STUDYING? wwnorton.com/studyspace Visit StudySpace to access free review materials such as: + Vocabulary Flasheards + Diagnostic Review Quizzes + Study Outlines REVIEW QUESTIONS, 1. Briefly describe the types of research questions sociologists ask and how they differ. . What are the seven basic steps of sociological research project? |. Whatis the difference between cause and correlation? Why can itbe difficult to establish causation? ‘Whats a variable? What are independent and dependent variables? For what kinds of research is ethnography a useful method? Give an example. ‘Whatare the strengths and wealnesses of experimental research for sociology? '. What research methods did Alice Goffman use in her research on young black men. on therun? |. While doing research, why is it important to take precautions to protect human subjects? 10. Briefly describe some elements that would characterize good quality sociological research, Puree eep THINKING SOCIOLOGICALLY EXERCISES 1. Suppose the dropout rate in your local high school increased dramatically. Faced with such a serious problem, the school board offers you a $500,000 grant to study the sudden increase. Following the recommended procedures outlined in the text, explain how you would conduct your research. What hypotheses might you test? How would you prove or disprove them? 2, Explain the advantages and disadvantages of documentary research. What will it yield that will be better than experimentation, surveys, and ethnographic field- ‘work? What are its limitations compared with those approaches? 54 CHAPTER 2 + Askingand Answering Sociological Questions