Sociology. Anthony Giddens
Anthropologists and sociological ethnographers have long been aware of the dangers of getting too close to their subjects during the research process, which may threaten their objectivity and compromise their findings. But is this caution really justified? Is it possible that researchers and their subjects may develop friendships that, rather than compromising their research, may actually be beneficial to it?
The paper below explores this issue of personal relationships in auto/biographical research. Read the piece and tackle the questions that follow.
O’Donoghue, C. T. (2014) ‘Friendship in the Field: Ethics and Reflexivity in Auto/biographical Research’, Journal of Postgraduate Research [Trinity College Dublin]: 177–91; www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/73634.
1 What is the main issue which this paper attempts to tackle?
2 How was the sample for the paper gathered?
3 What advantages are claimed for the ‘life history’ method over other research methods?
4 How did the researcher try to keep the ‘researcher-as-friend’ out of the research process? From evidence in the paper, how successful was this strategy?
5 What is meant by ‘the vulnerable observer’?
6 ‘The research participants were aware of the impact that these narratives were having on me, and that I was more than a “mere note-taker”….’ Is there any evidence that this may have had a negative influence on the research?
Sociological research usually starts with a problem or question, and the project involves several stages. Design your own small-scale project adopting the first four stages of the process (refer back to figure 2.1).
Select a subject of interest, then narrow this down to a specific research question.
Identify some key words on the subject and carry out a library search of the relevant literature using those words. Note the ten closest matches.
Consult the first three of these to help construct a hypothesis for your project. What do you actually want to find out?
Now think about exactly how you would carry out the research. Which method or methods are most likely to provide an answer? Should you use more than one method?
Finally, what obstacles do you foresee when the research gets under way and how might you overcome them?
1 The American photographer Shelby Lee Adams is widely known for his portraits and images of community life in the tough and relatively poor Appalachian mountain regions of Kentucky over more than thirty-five years. Describing himself as a visual artist, Adams argues that his work is aimed at ‘overcoming superficiality by embracing the people straightforwardly, demystifying and destroying stereotypes, exposing regional and national misunderstandings and prejudice against rural peoples and all peoples in general.’ Examples of his work and ideals can be found on his own site: http://shelby-lee-adams.blogspot.com/.
Jennifer Baichwal’s documentary film The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams’ Appalachia was released in 2002. This film explores debates around, and the political impact of, the representation of social groups in artistic works. In this case, do Adams’s images realize his own aims or could they reinforce existing negative stereotypes of poorer communities and families as suggested in this critical online article:
https://hyperallergic.com/28555/capitalist-realism-or-poverty-porn/.
Do your own research on Adams’s work, then write a 1,000-word essay addressing the question ‘What, if any, sociological insights into Appalachian communities can we gain from the work of Shelby Lee Adams that conventional sociological methods could not achieve?’ Be sure to explain why such visual recording adds to our understanding.
2 Interviews are conducted not just by sociologists but also by journalists, market researchers and TV documentary makers, and all interviewers find practical ways of eliciting the information they seek. The investigative journalist Louis Theroux likes to use unstructured interviews to draw out information from his subjects. He discusses his techniques in this short interview: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzC6NbVN1Xk.
Now watch Louis Theroux: Behind Bars (2008), directed by Stuart Cabb, as he interviews guards and inmates at San Quentin State Prison in San Francisco, California: https://archive.org/details/BehindBarsInSanQuentin-LouisTheroux.
Does the unstructured interview method work in this context? Do the interviews help us to understand the relationships between inmates and guards? Did inmates ‘play to the camera’, giving responses that make for good television rather than telling the truth? If you wanted to conduct your own research in a prison setting, what research methods would you use and why?
There are many books on research methods, including some excellent introductorylevel texts. Our selection here is not definitive though these are all very useful. Try a few to see which you find most accessible.
Newcomers to sociology need a text that is both informative and practical, so something like Judith Bell and Stephen Walters’s (2018) Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-Time Researchers (7th edn, London: Open University Press) is a very good place to begin. Similarly, Keith F. Punch’s (2014) Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches (3rd edn, London: Sage) does exactly what it says. Helen Kara’s (2016) Creative Research Methods in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide (Bristol: Policy Press) covers recent developments in mixed-methods research, using technology and other increasingly popular methods.
For something a little more detailed and comprehensive, try Alan Bryman’s (2016) Social Research Methods (5th edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press), which is widely adopted by lecturers for their courses. Nicholas Walliman’s (2016) Social Research Methods (2nd edn, London: Sage) is detailed and comprehensive.
For an introduction to statistics and the SPSS software package, Neil J. Salkind and Bruce B. Frey’s (2019) Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics (7th edn, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage) is lively and accessible for beginners as well as those with more experience. One other worthwhile book is Darrell Huff’s (1991) How to Lie with Statistics (London: Penguin), which is apparently ‘the best-selling statistics book ever written’ (see J. M. Steele (2005), ‘Darrell Huff and Fifty Years of How to Lie with Statistics’, Statistical Science, 20(3): 205–9). This is probably because of its irreverent tone, but it remains an excellent guide to the misuse of statistical information and has a serious message.
A good dictionary is an excellent investment, and Victor Jupp’s (2006) The Sage Dictionary of Social Research Methods (London: Sage) covers most topics.
For a collection of readings on research methods and different methodological