SOCI 217 - Chapter 9 - Unobtrusive Research

(2) Words of caution regarding sources of historical and comparative data. How fixed?

1. Accuracy of records 2. Wary of bias in data sources. Replication/corraboration

Factors for counting and keeping record in content analysis (3)

1. Amenable to data processing 2. Distinguish between units of analysis and units of observation 3. Must record the base from which counting is done

Three types of unobtrusive research analysis

1. Analysis of existing statistics 2. Content Analysis 3. Historical and comparative research

4 Main Sociologists and their ideas regarding historical and comparative research

1. Comte - societies evolve from theological to metaphysical to positivist stages 2. Durkheim - mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity societies 3. Marx - primitive to feudal to capitalist to communist societies 4. Sorokin - from ideational to sensate to idealistic societies

Content Analysis Process (6)

1. Decide what to observe 2. Select two variables of interest 3. Operationalize the two variables 4. Record observations 5. Analyze data 6. Summarize your findings and link to theory if appropriate

Definition 2 -What does Historical sociology consist of? (3)

1. Deductive approach wherein the scholar applies a general model to explain historical instances 2. Inductive strategy by using concepts to develop meaningful historical interpretation 3.Way to analyze causal regularities in history

Examples of historical and comparative research

1. Documentation structural social change in a society, especially in comparison to other 2. Economic development 3. Political systems development

Negative case testing process (4)

1. Examine the data to discover hypothesis 2. Create general hypothesis 3. Search for cases that contradict hypothesis 4. If enough cases contradict first hypothesis -> make new one and find enough evidence for that one.

Durkheim's strategy to establish validity of measures (2)

1. Logical reasoning 2. Replication

Grounded Theory Construction (6)

1. Observe 2. Describe observations 3. Search for patterns and relationships among observations 4. Report these findings 5. Report inconsistencies 6. Final report

In what two ways did Durkheim avoid the danger of ecological fallacy when studying suicides?

1. Rigorous theoretical deductions and empirical facts 2. Repetition

Advantage (1) and disadvantages (2) of latent content

A - Better designed for tapping underlying meaning D - costly and unreliable

Quantitative unobtrusive research (2)

Analyzing existing research & Historical and Comparative Analysis

Manifest content

Concrete terms contained in a communication.

Qualitative unobtrusive research (2)

Content Analysis & Historical and Comparative Analysis

Weber's verstehen definition and used for what (2)?

Evaluate circumstances, feelings and views of those studied in order to interpret actions appropriately. Used to encourage researchers to try and understand the people of the past that one is investigating and to find patterns (called ideal types by Weber)

Historical and Comparative Research Definition

Examination of societies over time and in comparison to one other

Coding in content analysis

Making raw data suitable for machine process and analysis.

Unobtrusive Research

Methods of studying social behaviour without affecting it

Anomie

Normlessness/ General sense of social instability and disintegration

Sources of historical and comparative data

Personal letters Epigrams Diaries Newspapers Government and organizations' documents

Strengths (3) and weakness (3) of historical and comparative data

S - 1. Can help to develop or test broad theories about social change 2. No end of topics from earliest history to now 3. Assists us in understanding how modern society evolved and development of global world today W - 1. Looks at a very small number of cases to determine if a relationship exists 2. Information about cases can be limited or lacking 3. Sources of data can be biased.

Strengths (3) and weaknesses (2) of content analysis

S - 1. Cheap, not time-consuming 2. Easy to repeat 3. Permits cross-sectional and longitudinal studies W - 1. Limited to examination of recorded communications 2. Depending on coding, can contain issues with reliability and validity.

Definition 3 -What does Historical sociology consist of?

Social history paradigm wherein historians apply concepts from the social sciences

Content Analysis Definition. Question example.

Social research method appropriate for studying human communications. Are French novels more concerned with love than Canadian ones?

Latent content

Underlying meaning of communications