Soc 101

Asking and answering

sociological questions
Laud Humphrey’s study

‘Tearoom Trade’
 Ethics in Research

 Affect on research subjects-hampering their daily

activities or not
 Role of research subjects in research process
 Issue of deception, protection of participants from

risks, sharing of research findings with

participants.
 Ethical considerations in Humphrey’s study.
 Sociological Questions
 Sociological approaches to understand Humphrey’ s study:
 Functionalist
 Marxist
 Interactionist
 Feminist
Questions asked by sociologists
 Empirical or factual
 Comparative
 Historical or developmental
 Theoretical
 Is sociology science?
 Comparison between sociological research and natural
science research.
 Challenges in conducting sociological research vs. natural

science research.
 The research process

1. Define the problem- topic selection for research, puzzle

2. Review the literature- familiarize yourself with existing research
topic
3. Make the problem precise- how the problem should be approached,
nature of the problem should be turned into the question.
4. Select a research design
5. Carry out the research
6. Interpret research results
7. Report the research findings
8. Dissemination of research finding that leads for further research
 Research methods
Quantitative Qualitative
 Related with functionalism  Interactionism and search

and positivism. for meanings and

 This method try to measure understanding.
social phenomena and will  Attempt to gather detailed,
 Use of mathematical rich data, in-depth
models and statistical understanding on
analysis to measure social individual action.
phenomena.
 Mixed methods
 Use of both qualitative and quantitative to gain more

comprehensive understanding and explanation.

Pros and cons of mixed methods
Commonly used qualitative research methods
 Ethnography
 Focus Groups
 Limitations of ethnography and Focus group discussion

(FGDs)
 Quantitative research methods

 Surveys: use of questionnaires

 Produce less-detailed information but can usually be

applied over a broader area.

 May be conducted through face-to-face interviews,

telephone calls, postal questionnaires and via online.

 Allows researcher to collect large amount of comparable

data using computer software to find out significant

correlations between variables.
 Types of questionnaire
 Standardized- fixed choice/set of questions. y/n, or
likely/unlikely/very likely, etc.
 Open-ended- provide more detailed information and give

respondents to express their views in their own words.

 Semi-structured- combination of standardized and in-depth

answers.
 Sampling
 Small proportaion of overall population.
 Representative- a small number of population representing the
entire populations. More complex.
 Random sampling- a sample chosen so that every member of the
population has the same probability of being included.

Advantages and disadvantages

 Widely used as questionnaires can be easily quantified and analyzed.
 Accuracy may be dubious.
 Level of non-response.
 Experiments

 To test a hypothesis under highly controlled situation

by the investigator.
 Mostly used in psychological and natural sciecne

research
 Very limited use in sociological research.
 Individuals behavior within groups.
 Biographical research

 Purely sociological research.

 Individuals experience in social life and period of social

change and how individuals interpret their relationships with

others in the context of a changing world.
 Example- life history method.
 Too unreliable, subjective.
 Comparative research

 To clarify what is going on in a particular area of social life.

 Compares a topic in different time frame.

 Example- Divorce rate in developed societies.
 Historical analysis

 Time bound-study to collect material of a particular

problem.
 Investigation of past events directly.
 Oral history- interviewing people, about events they were

part of.
 Documentary- written records, personal sources, policy

documents, etc. Could be collected both from primary and

secondary sources