AS Sociology Research methods Topic B

Getting you thinking

What is ethnography ?  Ethnography is the term used to describe the work of anthropologist who study small scale societies by living with the people and observing their daily lives.  This form of qualitative research can also involve methods such as audio and video recording, in depth interview, analysis of the internet and qualitative analysis of books, journals and magazines.

Types of observation  Participant,  Non participant,  Overt,  Covert

Individual Task Individually complete the worksheet which you have been given by matching the correct observation type to the correct definition.

Conducting a participant observation TWO KEY ISSUES 1)  Getting in  Staying in  Getting out 2)  Overt  Covert

Getting In  Entry to the group you want to study  Personal skills, connections, chance  Acceptance – issues of class, ethnicity, gender, age  Sarah Thornton – ‘Kate’ key friend  Role of the observer – avoid taking leadership roles do not disrupt normal patterns Sudhir Venkatesh (2008) Blackman (1997) Hip Hop Scene in Newcastle

John Howard Griffin – ‘Black like me’  Some social researchers go the great lengths to conduct participant observations.participant observations. 

Staying in  Stay in - complete the study  One danger of staying in the group is becoming over- involved ‘going native’  Moore (2004) – young people hanging around.  Acceptance by the group,  Recording information (field diaries),  Research diaries (quotations),  Maintaining objectivity – Bourgois (2003),  Influencing the situation – Lyng (1993)

Getting out  Practically easier than getting in  James Patrick (1973) -left the Glasgow gang due to the violence  Leaving a group you are attached to can be difficult  Re-entering ones normal world can also be difficult  Loyalty to group

Participant Observations  Maurice Punch (1979)  James Patrick (1973)  Sarah Thornton (1995)  Sudhir Venkatesh (2008) N-4 Sudhir Venkatesh N-4  Explain what is meant by the term going ‘native’  How might going native lead to invalid data?

Overt  Avoids ethical problem of deception /consent  Allows observer to ask naive but important questions  Openly take notes   A group may refuse to be studied/ prevent observer seeing everything  Hawthorne effect

Covert  Reduces the risk of altering people’s behaviour and sometimes is the only way to obtain valid information as it preserves the naturalness of peoples behaviour  Humphreys (1970) – gay men in toilets   However requires researcher to act, the sociologist cannot take open notes or ask questions – the addition of a new group member may change the groups behaviour

Consider this...  You are a social scientist hoping to carry out research on: 1) Gangs in north London 2) Schools in Newcastle 3) Dance music culture in Spain Would you conduct an overt or covert observation?Why?

Participants Observations AS SOCIOLOGY – RM

ADVANTAGES OF PO Validity: what people say when they fill in a questionnaires and what they do in real life is totally different – observation in this sense provides sociologist with valid qualitative data. Insight: the best way to truly understand what something is like is to experience it for ourselves. Flexibility: PO is a much more flexible method of research which allows the researcher to follow up themes which they might find of interest outside of the context of the study. Validity: what people say when they fill in a questionnaires and what they do in real life is totally different – observation in this sense provides sociologist with valid qualitative data. Practical advantages: only way to get an insight into topic which society might deem as deviant, allows the researcher to build rapport with the focus group.

Disadvantages of PO Practical disadvantages: time consuming, researcher training, can be personally and emotionally demanding, requires good interpersonal skills, personal characteristics such as age or gender can have a negative impact on the study. Ethical problems: deception, participation in immoral or illegal activities, Representativeness: group studied tends to be very small and is often selected haphazardly. Reduces the ability to make generalisation (internal validation as opposed to external validation) Reliability: success of the research depends on a researcher personal skills or characteristics, rejected by positivist as an unsystematic method which cannot be replicated by other researchers. Bias and lack of objectivity: going native during observation affects the objectivity of the researcher, concealment of important information (reprisal), sympathy towards the “underdog”. Validity: “verstehen” which allows the sociologist to become an insider, positivist argue that findings from those studies on that basis are highly subjective and that the researcher is more likely to select the facts they are interested in. Lack of concept of structure: interactionist favour observation as it involves micro scale interactions of members, structural theorist on the other hand believe that observation ignore the wider structure that shapes and influences behaviour.

Read and write task  Go through the study for Venkatesh on pp.17  Complete the tasks on pp.21 and pp.22