SOCI-1015EL Lecture 3: social research methods
16 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
SOCI-1015
September 19th, 2017
RECAP
•Intro to sociology
•Some key players
•lacking indigenous/lacking diversity
•look up Anna Julia cooper (1858-1964), Web Dubois , etc.
•Colonialism
•3 recognized aboriginal groups (inuit, first nations, métis)
Social Research Methods
•Research Methodology
•Methods: tools, methodology: tools + assumptions
•system of methods to gather data to answer research questions
•contested field in society
•notion of positivism, how it influences research
•Positivism
•french philosopher: August Comte (1798-1857) coined term sociology
•Reasoned some methods used to study natural world could be used in social sciences called
positivism
•also assumes objectivity (impartial unbiased position) reject subjectivity (it’ll make u biased/
impartial)
• Comte- outsider= unbiased, expert, and privileged over biased insider studied perspectives.
•Challenging Sociology’s Positivist Tradition
•Dorothy Smith, Michel Foucault challenged notion of outsider position
•insider voice of subject being studied provides info that comes from lived/authentic experience
Standpoint
•Main Methodological Divide
•Binary Division
•Qualitative Research
•the one that doesn't count/measure
•Ethnography
•study of people and their culture in situ or place
•3 methods of data collection
•Participant Observation: immerse yourself, live in community, try to obtain insider’s
perspective
•Semi-structured interviews: informal, face to face interviews
•Informants: insiders who help the researcher get in and interpret meaning (what they're
seeing/analyzing
•Institutional ethnography
•Founder: Dorothy Smith
•Institutions- two sides or interest, different data:
1. Ruling interests/power holders (administration)= writes rules and practices=
data!
ruling relations are when workers follow rules and practices
2. Oppressed/Marginalized interests or workers not in management,
experiences= data
•case study approach
•Case studies: research design with only a single case or a few selected examples of a social
entity !
*example: particular agency or business !
*often used to identify best practices
•narratives
•Stories people tell about themselves, their situations
•close focus on an insider’s perspective!
*voice: expression of unique viewpoint from a particular social location!
(influenced by gender/race/etc)!
*gives voice to people who do not usually get to speak !
*purest form of perspective/insider view!
*triangulation: links 3 or more narratives to examine same phenomenon
•Indigenous story telling
•not just stories- have several meanings and uses
•Epistemology (way of knowing)
•way of teaching
•way knowledge transmission
•traditional way of sharing culture, knowledge and historically done orally
•EX.) Creation Story
Document Summary
September 19th, 2017: intro to sociology, some key players. Recap: lacking indigenous/lacking diversity, look up anna julia cooper (1858-1964), web dubois , etc, colonialism, 3 recognized aboriginal groups (inuit, rst nations, m tis) *often used to identify best practices: narratives, stories people tell about themselves, their situations, close focus on an insider"s perspective. *voice: expression of unique viewpoint from a particular social location (in uenced by gender/race/etc) *gives voice to people who do not usually get to speak. Creation story: content analysis, study of cultural artifacts (art, newspaper, ads, books, etc) or events, either count or interpret themes re ected. *data: pre-existing/non-interactive: example: goffman"s gendered advertisements (1976)- classic content analysis of commercial pictures depicting gendered assumptions in print media, discourse analysis, approach to analyzing a conversation, a speech, or written texts. *discourse: conceptual framework with internal logic and underlying assumptions (eg gender discourse) * eld comprises all known discourses about particular cultured concept, such as masculinity.
