METHODS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH Introduction to Family Studies

12/8/2015 S OCIAL S CIENCE R ESEARCH 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 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

12/8/2015 S OCIAL S CIENCE R ESEARCH 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

12/8/2015 S OCIOLOGICAL T HEORIES 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

12/8/2015 S OCIOLOGICAL T HEORIES Theories about families and relationships are made up a set of statements that explain why certain relationships occur For example: The age at first marriage has increased because more women are graduating from college and starting careers before marrying

12/8/2015 M ACROLEVEL THEORIES  Macrolevel theories focus on:  a whole society or a large part of it  the BIG PICTURE Example:  How has the decline in real male wages influenced husbands’ and wives’ involvement in the paid labor force  Research might examine cost of living and employment rates by gender and compare data from 1960 to 2000

12/8/2015 S OCIOLOGICAL T HEORIES  Theories used to explain relationships at a more personal level are micro level theories Examples:  A researcher wants to know how often husbands and wives argue on a weekly basis  They might observe a husbands and wife in their home – or tape their conversations over the week

M OST F REQUENTLY USED M ETHODS OF S OCIAL R ESEARCH Demographic Studies Survey Research Participant Observation (Field Observation) Social Experiments 12/8/2015

D EMOGRAPHIC S TUDIES Demography is a subfield of social science 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 12/8/2015

H OW 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 12/8/2015

D EMOGRAPHIC S TUDIES 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:   12/8/2015

F ERTILITY R ATE Fertility rate is the number of women age who gave birth per 1000 women For example the rate for Non-Hispanic Black women is 89 births per /8/2015

S URVEY R ESEARCH 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) 12/8/2015

S URVEY R ESEARCH Example of Survey Research General Social Survey Who conducted the survey? National Opinion Research Center (NORC) How many people were interviewed? More than 38,000 people interviewed since 1972 National Survey of Family Growth 12/8/2015

F IELD R ESEARCH 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 12/8/2015

PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION Complete O bservation : 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

PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION Complete P articipation : 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

F IELD R ESEARCH 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

S UMMARY Families are one social institution among many Families are influenced by and influence the larger society Family theories guide research on families These theories as well as methods chosen to collect data may operate at the: macro level (big picture level) or micro level (personal/individual level) Family sociologists use systematic methods