Unobtrusive Research

Social Research Method #11

Shuo Chen
Zhejiang University
2011-05-04
 Index
Types of Observational Research
Unobtrusive Research
Content Analysis
Analyzing Existing Statistic
Comparative Historical Research
Reference

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 Index
Types of Observational Research
Unobtrusive Research
Content Analysis
Analyzing Existing Statistic
Comparative Historical Research
Reference

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Types of Observational Research

Contrived Observation

Participant Observation

Naturalistic Observation

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 Contrived Observation
Rosenthal & Jacobsen’s (1968) research on self-
fulfilling prophesies
Do teachers’ expectations influence student
performance?
Teachers were told that some students were about to
intellectually “bloom”.
Despite random assignment, these students
performed better than their peers.
Speculated that teachers paid more attention to
bloomers.

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 Participant Observation
Cult Study (Festinger, Schachter, &
Riecken, 1956)
Researchers became members of a
cult for ~ 3 months.
Leader apparently received
communications from extra-
terrestrials about when the world
would end.
Leader assured members that they
would be evacuated by flying saucer.
Provided interesting information about
how people make justifications and When Prophecy Fails
cling to beliefs. Book cover, 1964 edition.
Author
Leon Festinger,
Henry Riecken, Stanley Schachter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Prophecy_Fails
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 Naturalistic Observation
Jane Goodall’s research with chimps
Observed and recorded behavior of
chimps in Africa for many years.
One of first to record tool use in
non-humans.

http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/10questions/0,30255,1921245_1931441,00.html
http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/good-all-bf/
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 Naturalistic Observation
Stop sign study by McKelvie & Schamer (1988)
The behavior of 600 automobile drivers was
unobtrusively observed at stop signs during the day
and at night.
70
% of drivers engaging in

60
50
behavior

40 Women
30 Men
20
10
0
Disregarded sign Complete Stop
Behavior at stop sign

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 Turquoise Bag in a Tree
Introduced just over twenty five years ago,
we now consume 500 billion plastic bags
annually worldwide.
Almost 1 million per minute are given free
to shoppers(Hilary Jack, 2009).

http://www.turquoisebaginatree.com/index.htm>
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 Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage

Prof. William L. Rathje is the Founder and Director of The Garbage

Project, which conducts archaeological studies of modern refuse.
http://www.campusi.com/prod.pl?cat=book&op=buy&lang=en-us&search_country=us&shipto=us&cur=usd&zip=&nw=y&class=&pqcs=p1kA0DdiMesYl7yNwMMzVw&data_id=1621125

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 Index
Types of Observational Research
Unobtrusive Research
Content Analysis
Analyzing Existing Statistic
Comparative Historical Research
Reference

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 Unobtrusive Research
Unobtrusive Research or Non-Reactive Research
(Webb, 1966, 1981) .
• Methods of studying social behavior without
affecting it, can be qualitative or quantitative.
• Erosion measures.
• Accretion measures.
Content Analysis.
Analyzing Existing Statistic.
Comparative and Historical Research.

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 Index
Types of Observational Research
Unobtrusive Research
Content Analysis
Analyzing Existing Statistic
Comparative Historical Research
Reference

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 Content Analysis
Content analysis is the study of recorded human
communications.
The suitable forms are:
Books;
Speeches;
Laws;
Paintings;
Songs;
Graffiti;
etc.

Sociology 201, Earl Babbie

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 Topics Appropriate to Content
Analysis
Answering the classic question of communication
research:
Who say what,
To whom,
Why,
How,
And with what effect?

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 Sampling Techniques
Same as in survey sampling.
Sampling units:
Books;
Paragraphs;
Lines;
etc.
Can select probability samples.

Sociology 201, Earl Babbie

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 Coding in Content Analysis
Coding Methods
Manifest content: More reliable, less valid.
Latent content: Less reliable, more valid.
Why not use both? No reason why not.
Conceptualization and the Creation of Code
Categories
Counting and Record Keeping
Qualitative Data Analysis

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 Strengths of Content Analysis
Unobtrusive;
Economy of time and money;
Can redo the work if you make mistakes;
Longitudinal studies possible.

Sociology 201, Earl Babbie

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 Weaknesses of Content Analysis
Only recorded communications;
Validity can be a problem;
Usually simple analyses.

Sociology 201, Earl Babbie

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Sociology 201, Earl Babbie
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 Example: Erving Goffman’s Gender
Advertisements (1979, 1988)
Goffman combined content and semiotic analysis to look at how
gender was portrayed in advertising.
Women are consistently shown in subordinated positions compared
to men in a variety of social situations.
Advertising both reflects and helps shape our concept of what it
means to be masculine or feminine in our culture.

The Family Relative Size Function Ranking

 Index
Types of Observational Research
Unobtrusive Research
Content Analysis
Analyzing Existing Statistic
Comparative Historical Research
Reference

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 Analyzing Existing Statistic
Differs from secondary analysis:
Obtain a copy of someone else's data and undertake
ones own statistical analysis.
Examples:
Durkheim's Study of Suicide.
The Consequences of Globalization.

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 The Long Term Effects of
Globalization
Jeffrey D. Kentor

Professor
Chair
Editor,
International Journal of Comparative Sociology.

Kentor, Jeffrey. 2001. "The Long Term Effects of

Globalization on Population Growth, Inequality, and
Economic Development." Social Problems:48,4:435-456.

http://www.soc.utah.edu/people/kentor.html

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Kentor(2001)

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Kentor(2001)

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 Analyzing Existing Statistic
Units of Analysis
Often not the individual.
• Durkheim, Political-geographic units.
Ecological fallacy.
Problems of Validity
Replication.
Problem of Reliability
Quality of the statistics themselves.
Sources of Existing Statistics
US, UN, World Bank, etc.

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 Index
Types of Observational Research
Unobtrusive Research
Content Analysis
Analyzing Existing Statistic
Comparative Historical Research
Reference

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 Types Of Historical Research
Historical Events Research
Historical Process Research
Cross-Sectional Comparative Research
Comparative Historical Research

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 Comparative Historical Research
Combines historical process research and cross-sectional
comparative research.
To understand causal processes at work within particular
groups and to identify general historical patterns across
groups.
Methodological problems:
History has not been recorded accurately or reliably.
Difficult to know how to deal with exceptions.
Difficult to conclude that one factor (and not others) is what causes
some outcome.
Groups being compared may not be independent (Galton’s
Problem).

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 Weber and the Role of Ideas
Economic forms could come from noneconomic ideas.
Weber
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,
Weber, 1905, 1958.
John Calvin(1509-1564): predestination;
Judaism: 1934, 1952;
Religions of China: 1934, 1951, and
Of India: 1934, 1958.
Robert Bellah:
Growth of capitalism in Japan, Tokugawa Religion (1957).

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 Comparative and Historical
Research
Source of comparative and historical data:
Ellen Rothman, 1981;
Babbie, 1966.
Analytical technique:
Weber: verstehen, ideal type(theoretical model);
Time-series analysis;
Variation on regression.

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 Reference
McKelvie, Stuart J.; Schamer, Linda A. Effects of night, passengers, and sex on
driver behavior at stop signs. The Journal of Social Psychology, Vol 128(5),
Oct 1988, 685-690.

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