Soc+215,+Section+3

__**Wiki page for Sociology 215, Section 3: Qualitative Methods​ **__

1. Introduction 2. What makes a good research question? 3. Distinction between qualitative and quantitative research 4. Examples of qualitative Research 5. Examples of quantitative Research 6. Reliability 7. Validity 8. Independent and dependent variables 9. Types of questions 10. Establishing causal relationships 11. Examples of research with key information identified 12. Ethnography 13. Gang Leader for a Day 14. Test 1: Part 1 15. Test 1: Part 2
 * Table of Contents **

__**1. Introduction **__

The most important thing to take from Qualitative Methods is to explore the relationship between social theory and observations of the world around you. The course is intended to develop the student’s ability to think in analytical ways about social phenomenas. Qualitative Research can be explained by what it is not, that is numerical data.

This course is one that will explain what qualitative methods are and what they entail, as opposed to quantitative methods which utilize numbers. Such methods of qualitative analysis might include connections between theory and data, informal interviews, focus groups, and other free form data collection. Qualitative methods will enhance one's analytical views about social occurrence. Writing these wikis will also contribute to our grade and serve as notes or an overview of what we do in class.

Furthermore these wiki space contributions will enable students outside of the classroom to engage in discussions and participate collectively towards things happening within our class. We will have weekly assignments that we must post on the wiki spaces site that Professor Felson will assign to us.

Also, we were asked to find a private occupation, for instance a parent, or public occupation, for instance a career such as a doctor, that people have created a substantive or bona fide blog about their profession on the internet. Through analyzing, posting, and doing various other activities with the blogs they will gradually help us in the development of our long-term research paper as well as understanding qualitative research.

According to Professor Felson, Wikipedia is a site of approximately twenty employees. Surprisingly, the site has grown to be a very large entity and in most cases presents very factual information. Additionally, most of the information is added to the site by its own users, meaning that Wikipedia seems to have a very good business model. The twenty employees of Wikipedia have worked to provide users with quite factual information and have helped it to grow into a great business as a result.

A recent study has shown that Wikipedia can be more accurate than an encyclopedia. It is also much easier to fix. Anyone can fix the Wikipedia, whereas encyclopedia needs to come out with a whole new addition to correct such problems. As a class, we discussed the effectiveness of the Wikipedia website, and in our discussion, we learned that Wikipedia holds a lot more truth to it than most people give it credit for.


 * 2. What makes a good research question? **

There is certain criteria that must be reached for the research question to be relevant, and the criteria are rather simple. Interest and research ability are the two vital aspects of asking the right questions throughout one's research.

When it comes to social sciences, the //what // questions are generally easier to answer than the //why // questions. In addition to creating a research question, not only do you have to answer 'why' and 'what', but you must develop a question that is interesting and appealing to others. Early in your research report, you must be able to explain, in a few sentences, why your results would be interesting to your readers. The research needs some rationale. In developing a good research question, one should identify interesting sociological concepts, such as race, religion, etc, develop a cause and effect from those concepts, and create a narrative for the concepts chosen.

When first time researchers begin their research they may ask a question that is interesting to them, but may not be interesting to others. When this happens, the researcher has to go back and make the research question more interesting. You can do this by getting other scholarly input on your question or topic and create a question that encompasses all these interests while keeping in mind your original question.

There are also some ways to avoid poor research questions. There is the possibility that we will not learn anything from the topic you chose because it is already well documented. Also, one needs to formulate a question that can be answered. So things such as religion and supernatural questions would not be appropriate. General questions are also qualities of a poor research question because they tend to be left unanswered, or are nearly impossible to answer. Another area in which research questions should avoid is the “so what objection.” This states that the answer to the research question either has no relevance for social sciences theory or for everyday life.

Lastly, empirical data can tell us what is happening for more rapidly than they can tell us why it is happening.


 * __Advocacy Research Vs. Social Research__ **

When conducting research, it is best to take the position of a social researcher than that of an advocacy researcher. This is true because advocacy researchers have already come to a predetermined result and typically only 'uncover' facts that support their hypothesis. This form of research can greatly fall victim to data manipulation, giving the desired answer but under false pretenses. For instance, Lawyers use advocacy research to prove the guilt or innocence of defendants.

On the other hand, Social Research does not suppress inconvenient evidence. Additionally, social research embraces inconvenient information because one point of view cannot determine the entire research.

Idiographic vs. nomothetic approaches-
Idiographic is used as a method of studying the individual, single case events, and or person. Idiographic looks at the history and biography of individual phenomena as well as its functioning, and traits. This method was developed by a philosopher named Wilhelm Windelband and is used in qualitative research methods. An example of Idiographic is a study that investigates why some urban areas are prone to criminal activity while others are not. Thus the researcher is taking a micro view of the situation to determine the root cause of event and or action. Idiographic approach may focus on groups of people, neighborhoods or organizations and tell their stories as a whole. Idiographic approach views variables in the background not in the foreground. Nomothetic research used in Quantitative Research views variables, such as independent and dependent variables in the foreground. This approach interconnects the variables, as in a path diagram. Nomothetic research basically talks about explaining a lot with very little. It takes a macro view of the data, thus is dependent on what little information is gathered in order to create a generalization and less personal interaction with the surroundings and people of a given location, in order to compile data through empirical evidence creating a general overview of given group.

3. Qualitative and Quantitative: What is the difference?

Qualitative and Quantitative research methods are used widely in social sciences including Sociology, Anthropology, and Political Science. When doing social research, it is important to keep in mind that a 'non-effect' is not a 'non-finding', any result is a finding. Finding no effect in your research can many times be more interesting than finding a big effect, especially when it is against conventional wisdom.

A qualitative interview is defined as "a data collection method in which an interviewer adapts and modifies the interview for each interviewee." This is opposed to the quantitative method which entails the use of standardized interviews. A qualitative data analysis is defined as the "analysis that results in the interpretation of action or representation of meanings in the researcher's own words." Whereas quantitative data analysis is based on statistical information gathered from surveys.

There is a distinct difference between Qualitative and Quantitative research methods. For the most part Qualitative research is a more Micro-level research, whereas Quantitative explains things on a Macro-level. Another difference lies in the gathering of numerical and non-numerical information. Qualitative deals with the gathering of non-numerical information. Quantitative research deals with the numeric.

Qualitative research includes informal interviews, focus groups, and other free form data collection. Qualitative techniques also include ethnography, case studies, and content analysis. This data analysis is also concerned with collecting data through the observation of people's behavior, therefore providing meaning to such behavior. This provides reasoning as to why techniques such as focus groups and ethnography are utilized in Qualitative research.

Quantitative research uses statistical methods in the collection of data. This data collection aims to explain a lot with a little amount of information. This research method includes standardized surveys and questionnaires.
 * __4. Examples of Qualitative Research

An example of a Qualitative Abstract is in the article called, "An exploration of the juxtaposition of professional and political accountability in local law enforcement management" by LaFrance Casey. The abstract states: This study focuses on one arena of public administration in which the balancing act between various accountability considerations is especially visible: local law enforcement management, and one of the many accountability conflicts that law enforcement CEOs face: the intersection of political and professional accountability streams. There are two guiding questions in this study. First, when faced with a choice between political and professional accountability, how do county sheriffs and municipal //police// chiefs act? Next, what factors do these managers believe to be crucial in the development of their officers' use of professional discretion? This study provides a preliminary glimpse of local law enforcement managers' responses to these questions. Consistent with the literature on officer discretion, these managers' responses cite five factors that affect the development of discretion for new recruits: (1) experience, (2) formal training, (3) community norms, (4) external systemic actors, and (5) peer influence and mentorship conducted in the context of the informal organization. Analysis of these managers' responses indicates that, in the aggregate, professional autonomy is more highly prized than political deference in each type of department. These findings question the conventional wisdom that suggests sheriffs are less professionally accountable than their //police// chief counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] This would be an example of Qualitative research because it is more on observations and storytelling, then collecting numerical data.

One title of a qualitative research abstract is: Enforcement of exogenous environmental regulation, social disapproval and bribery. It is qualitative research because it is based on interviews done in the past. It includes fewer, more in depth interviews.

When researching a qualitative example, I found an article called The Economics of Nursing: Articulate Care qualitative research is used in attempts to describe and give an explanation of what nursing care involves. Also, nurses in industrialized countries are under pressure to prove that the care they provide is cost effective and an appropriate use of scarce health care funding. From a qualitative perspective, the author goes in depth and explores and seeks answers to explain the inadequacy of many current descriptions of nursing.

The abstract for an article titled, “It Makes Me a Man from the Beating I took: Gender and Aggression in Children’s Narratives About Conflict” is a focus on, as stated in the title, narratives written by children. The role I have chosen for my paper is that of writers; this abstract was not my general directions, but a writer is a writer regardless of age, genre, etc. This abstract, though it contains the number of cases that quantitative research would embody, contains qualitative research, in that it focuses on the individual narratives of students to demonstrate personal conflict and violence. According to the abstract, the narratives “were coded for severity of violence, type of aggression, explanations, characters’ mental and emotional states, and authors’ moral evaluations.” Thus it is seen that it involves qualitative research because the narratives were detailed, full of observations of the settings of violence, and 4th to 6th graders were the focus.

The other article I found was a qualitative study called "White-American //kindergarten// teachers' racial identities and their beliefs about the role of culture in social competence." This is a study about examining White-American kindergarten teachers' racial identities and their beliefs about the role of culture in social competence, and to examine how they are related. This is not about the amount or numbers this is about human behavior, whether or not white kindergarten teachers are bringing their beliefs into their teaching and if that is negatively affecting their students.

Returning soldiers that suffer from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). This article is also qualitative because it states that majority of solders that fought in Iraq or Afghanistan would develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder do to after witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event. Their symptoms would include flashbacks, nightmares, feelings of detachment, irritability, trouble concentrating and sleeplessness.

The role I researched was a Qualitative Article on "Mother and Pre-school teacher training in an intervention programs in turkey". This article discusses a four year old child in an in-depth longitudinal study involving mother and pre-school teacher, training in the context of an intervention program focusing on the overall development of children in low-income areas.

This is an example of qualitative research on my topic of motherhood “The study is a qualitative analysis of 19 interviews with Israeli women who have lost a first pregnancy to miscarriage. Neither the public nor health care professionals are fully aware of the implications and significance of miscarriage to the woman who has lost the pregnancy. The goal of this study was to understand and give voice to the women’s experience. Five themes were revealed—the greater the joy, the more painful the crash; the nature and intensity of the loss; sources of support; life after the miscarriage; and recommendations to professionals. The experience of miscarriage was found to be grounded in the meaning of being a woman, as the loss of the pregnancy undermines the women’s basic belief in their fertility and as a result threatens their meaning and role as women.”

Ethics with Character: Virtues and the Ethical Social Worker" by Adams, Paul "This article explores the relevance to social work of those aspects of applied ethics that are not primarily about identifying & resolving dilemmas. It examines the potential of the ethical tradition rooted in the virtues & character of the practitioner-from Aristotle & Hippocrates to con temporary virtue-based ethics in medicine-to guide & enrich our understanding of the social work profession & the dispositions or qualities of character its practice requires & develops. Adapted from the source document." This is a Qualitative article because of its ethnography, and also because a researcher can ask how? And why?

In the article entitled “Is that what we’re here about? A lawyer’s Use of Impression Management in a Closing Argument at trial” by Pamela Hobbs, the author examines the use of impression management in a lawyer’s argument to a jury. The impression management is utilized to persuade the jury to affiliate with the lawyer’s point of view. The article seeks to demonstrate that through the use of stylistic and rhetorical cultural dialect, lawyers attempt to develop a shared identity with jurors. The author seeks to examine the processes by which a lawyer’s interpretations of the evidence are presented to jury and its role in aiding lawyers to construct a shared identity with jurors. Hobbs' article is qualitative because the author attempts to gather an in-depth understanding of how lawyers’ utilize stylistic and rhetorical cultural dialect to develop a shared identity with jurors. Many researchers have only scraped the surface with research of this kind, by focusing on the questioning of witnesses. However, the author attempts to go further in depth in this article by examining the processes by which a lawyer’s interpretations of the evidence is presented to jury. Based on the research, the author can determine what effect developing a shared identity with jurors may have on the outcome of a case. In addition, the article is also focused on the individuals and the details of the case, as opposed to the abstract. Also, the article lacks numerical data.__**


 * __5. Examples of Quantitative Research__**

In researching my abstract articles, I assumed the role of a police officer. The first article I found, "Low Self-Control and Contact with the Criminal Justice System in a Nationally Representative Sample of Males" represents a research method that resembles that of a quantitative method. The article discusses how offender demeanor influences practitioner decision making. Throughout the article, it gives an abstract and a sample size, defining to vital points as to what quantitative research entails. Researchers throughout this article were able to determine that low self control was directly correlated with criminal justice involvement that was measured by police contact, age, and arrest.

The second article that I analyzed, "The Crime Reduction Effects of Public CCTV Cameras: A Multi-Method Spatial Approach" also portrays the research methods of a quantitative research. Statistics and percentages are used within the article, which is a direct indication that the research within the article is quantitative. The article has a causal and effect to it because it explains how implementing cameras in places of work has caused crime to decrease in those areas by 13%. On the contrary, the article goes on to explain that not all areas saw a direct decrease in crime, but overall the majority of areas had.

The title of the quantitative article I chose is A Comparison of Attitudes to the **//Police//** Between Greek Cypriots and Ethnic Minorities Living in Cyprus. It is quantitative research because it deals with numbers and surveys.


 * Quantitative article: Analyzes whether stock traders on "the floor," as opposed to off-exchange traders, have a better opportunity in trading macroeconomic data such as employment numbers. "Trading around macroeconomic announcements: Are all traders created equal?" The paper analyzed profits made within the first minutes of the release of economic data. It concluded that on-the-floor traders were able to react more quickly to the release of the data.**
 * The title that I researched is The Influence of Agency Staffing on Quality of Care in Nursing Homes this is an example of quantitative research because the author used data from a large sample of nursing homes which was used to examine the cross sectional association between use of agency staff, regular staff, and quality. Agency used data came from a survey conducted in 2003 (N=1071 nursing home).**

Returning soldiers that suffer from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). This article explained that 1 out of 8 solders that are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan would be diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Less than half of the solders would seek help due to being labeled as having a mental health problem. The researchers surveyed 6,201 active duty combat troops about their mental health after returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Troops that fought in Iraq had twice as many PTSD than troops that fought in Afghanistan because troops in Iraq seen or were involved in more fighting than the solders in Afghanistan. This article is example of quantitative, this article states that researchers took a random sample of solders fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and came up with a percentage that suffered from PTSD and who seek help or didn't.

The second abstract, “The Code of the Street: A Quantitative Assessment of Elijah Anderson's Subculture of Violence Thesis and Its Contribution to Youth Violence Research,” embodies a quantitative aspect (beyond the word in the title). This abstract, like the first, talks about violence; however, it focuses on a more abstract view of violence much like that of quantitative research. The author of “The Code of the Street,” Elijah Anderson, wrote about street violence and a code that seems to regulate that violence. His work along with the research of others examines the causality of violence and “the general problem of youth violence.” It is the hope of the authors of the article to find an understanding of violence through Anderson’s book. Therefore, this is an example of quantitative research because it does not focus on all of the small details, but seeks through an abstract way the cause and effects of violence.

The role I chose is a Kindergarten teacher. I looked at two articles one was a quantitative article and the other a qualitative article. The Quantitative article I came across was called **__Increased Family Involvement in School Predicts Improved Child-__//Teacher// __Relationships and Feelings__**. This was a longitudinal study from Kindergarten through fifth grade .The study was about family involvement in school, children's relationships with their teachers, and children's feelings about school in an ethnically diverse, low-income sample. This study was quantitative because it was about numbers and samples not about interviewing and getting in depth answers.

The last article, “Gang Membership, Drug Selling, and Violence in Neighborhood Context", once again emulates the research of a quantitative approach because of the causal affect and the pragmatic approach it takes. The researchers within the article take the sample size and are able to come up with a conclusion that involves three main points. Gang members that sell drugs are more prone to violence then other gang members. Secondly, those who sell drugs and are not in gangs and gang members who don't sell drugs have similar levels of violence. Lastly, increases in neighborhood disadvantages, intensifies the affect of gang members and gang violence within the communities.

My example of a Quantitative Abstract would be the article called, “Effects of anxiety on handgun shooting behavior of **//police//** officers" by Nieuwenhuys, Arne and Oudejans, Raoul R. D. The abstract is: The current pilot study aimed at providing an initial assessment of how anxiety influences **//police//** officers' shooting behavior. Seven **//police//** officers participated and completed an identical shooting exercise under two experimental conditions: low anxiety, against a non-threatening opponent, and high anxiety (HA), against a threatening opponent who occasionally shot back using colored soap cartridges. Measurements included shooting accuracy, movement times, head/body orientation, and blink behavior. This would be an example of Quantitative because it has to do with measuring and numbers. The data being collected is from numbers and not entirely from observations or stories, which Qualitative research would be.

In the second article of Quantitative is on "Routines in the peer culture of American and Italian nursery school children. This article talks about a study of peers and peer culture of nursery children in the U.S. and Italy. A total of 60 participants. There was data of participant observations of 1,159 interactive episodes reveals the importance of basic routines in the peer culture of young children from their development of communicative skills and school knowledge.

This is an example of quantitative research on my topic of motherhood. “Using 2 waves of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, I examine psychological consequences of potentially stressful, non-normative, or "off-time" aspects of the parental role in late midlife and early old age, including co residence with adult children, step parenthood, and parental bereavement. Additionally, I analyze gender differences in psychological implications of these characteristics of parenthood. Findings from random-effects pooled time-series models indicate that having stepchildren is unrelated to older parents' mental health. Moreover, the psychological consequences of step parenthood do not depend on parental gender or the quality of parent-child relationships. Conversely, having at least 1 co residential adult child of post-college age decreases psychological well-being among mothers but not among fathers. Death of a child has a detrimental effect on parents' mental health; yet, fathers are affected more adversely than mothers. The findings are interpreted with respect to family stress, parental role, and gendered role perspectives. Distinct experiences of this cohort of mothers and fathers are discussed.”

Fathers and Their Infants: Care giving and Affection in the Modern Family" Renkert, E. Lauren "Despite social work's expressed interest in families and belief in the importance of parents to children, social work researchers have done little to explore the importance of fathers in children's everyday lives. This is especially true for infants. Moreover, as more and more infants and children grow up in single-mother homes, step-families, and other family configurations, knowledge is needed about how these demographic trends affect parents' interactions with their young children. This article examines men's care giving of infants and their displays of affection in a longitudinal study of a diverse sample of infants and their mothers, using both person-centered and variable-centered statistical methods. Comparisons are made among various 'types' of fathers, including those who live with and separately from their children and men who are not biological fathers but live with and care for infants. Results indicate that care giving and expressions of affection appear to represent two distinct domains of fathering behaviors for residential fathers. We found two classes of residential fathers: one with low levels of both types of fathering behavior and one with higher levels, particularly higher expressions of affection. Similarly we found two classes of non-residential fathers with dramatically different levels of fathering behavior. Though surrogate fathers did provide affection to their infants, their levels of care giving were low. Adapted from the source document." This is a Quantitative article because it deals with sampling and statistical methods. It has a causal relationship of children with fathers in their everyday life, as opposed to children who grow up mostly without a male figure, and their outcome.

In the article entitled “Talking Like a Person, Thinking Like a Lawyer (Vice Versa)” by Lawrence M. Solan, the author explores the association between the legal thought process and linguistic among legal professionals and its role in the increased distrust of lawyers among the public. The author argues that the once praised expression of “thinking like a lawyer” has taken on a negative connotation. This is a result of the changing views of lawyers. In a 2006 poll, the respondents were questioned of how they would rate “the honest and ethical standards” of people working in different professions. Only 18% of the pollsters voted lawyers as embodying honest and ethical standards. The author associates this with the differences between the relationship of language and thought in ordinary lives and that of the legal world. In addition, lawyers are trained to be simultaneously honest and insincere. As a human, they embody feelings and emotions; however as a lawyer they must be objective. As a result, they may appear honest, however insincere to one’s feelings. Which can prove arduous to balance for a lawyer? Solan's article is quantitative because the author utilizes a survey of an unknown group to connect the legal thought process and linguistic among legal professionals to the role in the increased distrust of lawyers among the public. Qualitative utilizes numerical data to explain phenomena. The author also attempts to explain a lot with a little information. For in the article, the author theorizes that the recent shift in attitudes towards lawyers is a result of differences in thought and language. The article lacks an in depth explanation of how and why such a shift occurred. However, it does answer the question of whether.

The positivist view, first developed by August Comte, is the idea of using social facts to conduct research on society. Comte believed that we could study society objectively just like scientists study animals and diseases. Once social facts are obtained, it is believed that we can use this information to manipulate society in a positive way. This method is used to predict and explain the functions of a given society, and be applied to a general understanding to all forms of social research in order to find a positive solution to its problems.
 * __Positivist view on research__**


 * 6.** **Reliability**

Reliability is consistency of a set of measurements. Reliability is precision. Reliability is not validity although they go hand in hand. Reliability can not be calculated it can only be estimated. There are four general types of reliability. First is Inter-Rater or Inter-Observer Reliability. This is used to assess the degree to which different raters/observers give consistent estimates of the same phenomenon. Second is Test-Retest Reliability. This is used to assess the consistency of a measure from one time to another. Third is Parallel-Forms Reliability, and it's used to assess the consistency of the results of two tests constructed in the same way from the same content domain. Finally the fourth is Internal Consistency Reliability. This is used to assess the consistency of results across items within a test.

Reliability deals with a consistency of observations often used to describe a test. Reliability is also inversely related to random error. There are four types of reliability; Inter-rater reliability, Parallel-forms reliability, Test-retest reliability, and Internal Consistency reliability. Reliability may also be estimated through a variety of methods that fall into two types: Single Administration and Multiple Administration. Also, reliability does not imply validity. Reliability deals with precision while validity deals with accuracy.

Reliability does not imply validity. Meaning that, a reliable measure is measuring something consistently, thus indicating that the source of the data authentic and not produced under false pretenses. But despite this data can sometimes be tampered with producing inaccurate measurements, but when a researcher is looking at the data they want to confirm that there is a correlation between the data gathered and the results. In a way sometimes reliability can be more subjective than objective, for in the end it depends on the people producing the findings and what their ultimate goals are. For example, while there are many reliable tests of specific abilities, not all of them would be valid for predicting, job performance, student potential, etc... Reliability is useful in quantitative and qualitative research but it is only a piece of the overall information that can sometime be skewed; as stated in this quote "Reliability is necessary but not sufficient for validity."


 * __There are several forms of Reliability:__**

__Inter-method reliability__ - is the variation in measurements of the same target when taken by a different methods or instruments, but with the same person, or when inter-rater reliability can be ruled out. When dealing with forms, it may be termed parallel-forms reliability. __Inter-rater reliability__ - is the variation in measurements when taken by a different persons but with the same method or instruments. __Internal Consistency reliability__ - assesses the consistency of results across items within a test. __Inter-retest reliability__ - is the variation in measurements taken by a single person or instrument on the same item and under the same conditions. Reliability may also be estimated through a variety of methods that fall into two types: __Multiple__-administration methods require that two assessments are administered. __Single__-administration methods include split-half and Internal consistency.
 * __7. Validity__**

Validity is an inevitable element in research methods. It is the intention of all research to embody accuracy. Validity is present when the conclusion of the research is parallel to reality. Validity is concerned with the research successfully measuring or observing what the research was intended to measure or observe. However, acquiring validity can be arduous. For validity is often based on the judgment of the researcher. It is not as forthright as reliability which relies on the consistency of observation, it often requires information from several sources. Reliability is a necessary condition for validity, as research that lacks reliability lacks validity.

An example of Validity would be. If you go to the doctor to get medicine because your not feeling good. After taking the medicine, your condition improves, there is a good chance that you know what the measurement of the medicine would be. Most likely after feeling better you know that there is no reason to go back to the doctor. Therefore, this can occur often and between the sources that were used if the measure of its test is what it claims to measure, then the test is to be valid.

__**8. **____**Independent and dependent variables**__

IV -> DV

An independent variable is a variable that is hypothesized to cause or lead to, variation in another variable. In other words an independent variable causes a variation in another variable. An example would be poverty rate and the percentage of community residents who are homeless. A dependent variable is a variable that is hypothesized to vary depending on or under the influence of another variable. An example would be " If cigarettes damage your health, then health is the dependent variable.


 * 9. Types of questions**

quantitative- 1. Whether- Causal

Qualitative- 2. How/Why?- Mediation/Mechanism

Quan/Qual- 3. When- Moderation


 * 10. Establishing causal relationships

In order to find causes and effects you must make comparisons between people or things that are extremely similar. The best way to discover whether one variable causes another is to do an experiment. How do we define an experiment? Professor Felson did an experiment in class. The data he collected from the class can be seen by clicking on this**


 * Gang Leader for a Day: General Introduction**

Gang Leader for a Day; A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets tells the story of a curious and fearless sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh. Venkatesh, a graduate student at the University of Chicago took his research to the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago; one of the worst ghettos in America, where he practically lived for a decade. While staying at these projects, Venkatesh came close to many dangerous encounters one being held hostage by an armed crack gang. Because of his fascination with the research he continued his quest at the Robert Taylor Homes, where he eventually became a gang leader for a day. In his research Sudhir Venkatesh had the privilege to view the projects with an insider’s eye and an outsider’s perspective.


 * 12.** **Ethnography**

The main idea of ethnography is to get the reader to put themselves in another person’s shoes. This is important in Sociology when one is looking at or studying another culture or persons point of views. It can help them understand why the culture or person does the things they do and it also helps make the irrational seem rational.

Ethnography is defined as a descriptive study of another human society. An ethnographer will spend an extended period of time living among the group which he or she is studying. The ethnographer will practice the day to day routines of the society, but aims to maintain intent outside perspective on the group.

Ethnographic research is the method of studying a group of people through personal contact and interaction between the researcher and the group. This research method gives the researcher a better understanding of the mechanisms that help the group to function and give greater understanding through personal experience as to why a certain group act the way they act. Despite being a useful tool to a sociologist, ethnographic research does have its short comings, one of these being the researcher getting too close with their subjects as with the case of Venkatesh and consequently interfering with the very lives he is suppose to study; thus possibly generating inaccurate results because of the loss of objectivity that the researcher is suppose to maintain when gathering data. Another problem has to do with the subjects themselves, when a group knows that they are being watched they tend to not act as they would if an observer was not present; this problem is clearly illustrated when Venkatesh tries to interview people who were pre screened by JT and Ms. Bailey, this action only serves to give a skewed perspective on how the project’s function, thus almost making the data that he collects almost useless cause it does not reflect the true behavioral patterns of the very people he is trying to understand and study. Ethnographic research is an extremely useful tool for further understanding the point of view of a particular culture but only if it’s used in conjunction with other research methods for as to balance out the outcome of the results, if this method is the only one used then the data will not reflect the sociologist obligation to be objective when gathering information on a particular group of people cause it will only give one side of the story and compromise the research. Ethnography is a qualitative research used in the social science of anthropology to better understand a specific group of people and their way of living. This method gives the researcher a better understanding of the culture, traditions, and reasons of why they live the way they do. There are many different ways for an ethnographer to come about studying a particular group and it may take a lot of time to be able to gather all the information. Hence, to get a better feeling and direct contact with that society, the researcher is obligated to come out and live as that particular group (participant observation or field study). The ethnographers' field study may include: where they live, how they are making a living: food, housing, energy, and water. Also, their language, traditions, kinship, descent and whom they are living with such as marriages and family.
 * __Ethnography__**
 * __ETHNOGRAPHY__**


 * 13.** **Gang Leader for a Day**

Sudhir Venkatesh entered his first year of graduate school at the University of Chicago. His 'overdeveloped curiosity' and his 'underdeveloped sense of fear' drove him to research one of the worst ghettos in America, the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago. Following Venkatesh's work in Chicago, he collaborated on many academic papers and was also the inspiration of a book titled, "Freakonomics" by Stephen Dubner. Dubner stated that journalists, like him, might hang out in a neighborhood for a week or a month or even a year. He said, "Most social scientists tend to do their work at arm's length". Venkatesh then goes on to say that he lived in his neighborhood of study for a better part of year. With this he emphasizes the importance of ethnography in social sciences.

Sudhir Venkatesh embarks a tremendous task to study the lives of poor black people living within the ghettos of Chicago. At a first glance, he attempts to impress his peers and professors by entering the ghetto and asking them to complete a multiple question survey. He soon realizes that this format does not work and so he decides to do ethnography. His experiences with the gang, the Black Kings, will give his reader a much more entailed and rich understanding of this group.


 * __Chapter 1: How Does It Feel to Be Black and Poor__**

Sudhir Venkatesh is sociology major at the University of Chicago. He is writing a research paper on the black and poor. He begins his research by asking a couple of elderly people a series of questions. Based on the census, he decides to go to a poor black neighborhood and experience it for himself. Sudhir then comes across a project building which is "gang territory". When the gang members see him, they hold him hostage all night against his will. Throughout the night he notices many little things; one of them being that the gang members are quite heavy drinkers. At some point in the night J.T. who is the gang leader, decides to let Sudhir go, but first he gives him some advice. J.T. tells him that if he wants to learn about a different group of people he should hang out with them and learn their ways; not ask them questions. So following night Sudhir does just that, and arrives at the building with a six pack of beer. J.T. seems to see something different in Sudhir so he goes against his members and befriends him.

In chapter 1 a sociology student named Sudhir Venkatesh is writing his dissertation on black poverty in America, Venkatesh questions the logic as to why sociologist don’t bother to personally meet the people that they are researching since there job is to be experts on the study of people and social groups; while trying to figure out how to approach his topic he ask for some ideas from one of his professors, who suggest that he use some old surveys that he has lying around to collect his data. After unsuccessfully trying to find some impoverished African Americans he talks to two old black men who suggest that if he wants to find reap poor people that he should travel to the Robert Taylor Projects and talk to them. He remembers that the campus police and his professors warned the students that they should not cross the park where the projects lye or they might be in serious danger, this warning weighed heavily on Venkatesh mind for how could there be such a dangerous place so close to his school in America the land of opportunity. Venkatesh goes to the Projects not realizing the amount of danger that he is in for, when her arrives at the project’s he is met with suspicion and hostility by the local gang even being mistaken for a spy for a nearby Mexican gang. After almost being killed by the Black Knights the leader JT out of curiosity walks up to Venkatesh and starts asking him questions about his background and what he is doing here; Venkatesh explains to JT that he is collecting data for his research. JT reads the questionnaire and starts patronizing Venkatesh on his ignorance of the people and the way they live in the projects. After this initial meeting with JT Venkatesh is forced to spend the night with the black kings so as to test to see if he really is a spy from a rival gang, JT comes back and this time he seem to be curious about Venkatesh and his reasoning for being in the project’s as opposed to being hostile during their initial encounter. JT begins to have a intelligent conversation with Venkatesh even informing him that it’s not safe for him to just wander around here, by the next day Venkatesh is allowed to go home and JT suggest that instead of asking questions that people in the project’s can’t relate to he should just hang out with them instead to know how they as a group really live. After the whole experience Venkatesh starts to realize that the privileged world that he lives in is not hoe the other side of America lives, realizing that the standard method for collecting data is totally useless; he decides to utilize a different style of research method that involves personally knowing the subjects and monitoring their behavior instead of just collecting data from an impersonal approach like surveys and questionnaires and with that Venkatesh begins to hang out with the Black Knights to see how they really live, he breaks the ice by bring the gang members beer this show of tenacity impresses JT to the point that he allows Venkatesh to hang out with the gang unmolested by the other members.
 * __Chapter 1__**

In this chapter, Sudhir learns about J.T.’s life. J.T. grew up on Federal Street; he went to college with a scholarship, and worked selling office supplies and textiles. In college he loved to read and learn about politics and history. As he told Sudhir more about Chicago, he made his own version of how the city came to be. He said that while working, he noticed how slim his opportunities were simply because of the color of his skin; "whites had more favor than blacks, even if they had less skill than black people". This swayed him to leave the mainstream and return to the gang life. J.T. enjoyed talking about Chicago life and he loved that Sudhir was writing about him. Sudhir and J.T. only met on J.T.’s terms, and as Sudhir wanted to learn more about the gang life, he would hint at it subtly towards J.T. After eight months of hanging with J.T., Sudhir was taken to the Robert Taylor Homes were he witnessed J.T. being stopped by many of its inhabitants. Sudhir also sat in on J.T.’s conversation with Curly about the plans they had with the local BK group. The Chicago Housing Authority put the projects in the middle of an already crowded ghetto. The place was considered dangerous and a “Hell-hole.” Therefore, Robert Taylor became known for its gangs and drugs. After a while, Sudhir was able to go to the Robert Taylor homes where he met J.T.’s mother and became known as “the Professor.” Sudhir learned about the basketball tournaments that went on, which actually brought the community together. During Sudhir’s stay, he was escorted around by gang members. His time spent with Ms. Mae, J.T.’s mother, was when Sudhir learned more about the community aspect within the gangs and drugs, and how people cared of one another. Other times Sudhir joined J.T. as he walked through the stairwells of his three buildings overseeing what was happening with squatters and any other issues. There were also female tenant patrollers who were there to keep things under control. Soon after, Sudhir joined J.T. on a regular basis. J.T.’s family and others took Sudhir in, gave him food, and spoke with him. Sudhir met Clarisse, J.T.’s cousin, and learned about how she lived and worked in the streets of Robert Taylor. Her story was interesting considering J.T. had stated that there was no prostitution. She told Sudhir that J.T. controlled everything. He witnessed this when J.T. and his men beat up C-Note for not moving the cars he was fixing on the basketball court. This act shocked Sudhir, who for a while after, did not speak with J.T. Sudhir would only tell a few stories to his supervisors and spared this life style from his parents. This opened Sudhir’s eyes about the gang and its affect on community life.
 * __Chapter 2: First Days On Federal Street__**

In chapter three entitled “Someone to Watch Over Me”, Venkatesh continued his observation of the internal workings of the Chicago Black Kings under the guidance and protection of gang leader. It was nearly a year that Venkatesh had begun observing and spending time with J.T and his gang. In that year, he was introduced to close allies of J.T and invited to observe official gang business, with J.T’s permission. However, as J.T became increasingly sedulous with the Black King leadership and gang-community relations, he had less time to escort Venkatesh through the projects. This presented Venkatesh with the opportunity to observe the community on his own without the watchful eye of J.T. For prior to J.T’s hectic schedule, Venkatesh’s ventures into the community were under the supervision of J.T. or the other Black King members for reasons due to fear of violence from rival gangs. However, Venkatesh observed this violence firsthand on numerous occasions. His firsthand observations were fights involving “squatters” Brass and C-Note, in which they were beaten for challenging the authority of the leaders. J.T explained to Venkatesh that he had to fight C-Note because he challenged his authority and he could not allow the other members as well as leaders to observe C-Note disrespecting him. His reaction exhibited his ability to remain in control. His ability to remain in control was seen in the affairs with the gang. After witnessing the fights, a week had gone by before J.T. had invited Venkatesh to his daughter’s birthday party. Before the night J.T. had the feeling Venkatesh was writing a sort of biography of his life, but never really knew the writings that were involved. Venkatesh was never able to get really close to J.T.'s personal life because that was the one aspect he didn't want people to know about. When they finally met up again everything was pretty much the same except for the feeling Venkatesh had in the back of his mind from the day he witnessed the beating, “I actually considered calling the police that day (pg 69)." He had witnessed assault but he was just there as an observer and what if that happens to him when he really isn't supposed to be there in the first place. It was 1990, the peak of the crack epidemic which was the business the Black Kings were involved in. Although, the Black Kings were selling drugs in their communities, they were concerned with the welfare and their relationship with the community. The Black Kings worked with community-based organizations within their community, with the hope that the gang would be viewed as a politically productive enterprise among the citizens. If the gang became more politically productive, the community would be less likely to complain about their drug sales. J.T and the other Black King leaders attempted to politicize the group by ordering them to vote, which was geared toward specific leaders. They also collected tenants in the projects and ordered them to vote a certain way. J.T explained that he wanted to develop relationships with politicians in an effort to protect their crack business and to improve their community. He claimed to model this idea from the gangs of the 1960s. J.T also claimed that it was important for the gang to maintain the peace within the community, which explained the gang leaders' role as "peacemaker" in two potential fights within the community; one involving a lack of payment for work done on a customer’s car by two brother squatters. The other involving a woman claiming that the employee of a store in the community had sexual relations with her daughter. Price, one of the leaders of the Black Kings resolved the problem by allowing her to scream and throw things at him without killing the employee and convincing the owner to supply gifts to the angry crowd assembled outside his store following the altercation. As J.T became increasingly sedulous, Venkatesh began to venture into the community by himself. He was encouraged to attend a boys and girls club in the community by Ms. Bailey to acquire a better understanding of the community. There he met, Autry Harrison, the organizer. Venkatesh began spending time with Autry, until he was asked to observe a meeting in which J.T was in attendance. The meeting invited J.T and rival gang leader of the Disciples, to resolve a problem stemming from a shooting. There had been a drive-by-shooting and two children from J.T’s community were killed by The Disciples. In the meeting, they were asked to resolve the matter by respecting each other’s territory to minimize violence. They each agreed and shook hands. However, J.T was not pleased with Venkatesh spending time with Autry and gave him the option of having Autry watch over him or himself. In the end, Venkatesh chose to remain with J.T.
 * __Chapter 3: Someone To Watch Over Me__**

In the opening of chapter four you learn that Sudhir has been researching JT and the Black Kings and has finally informed his professor on his study. His professors believed that his studies needed to be more focused on the community and not just a gang. They also believed he was putting himself in danger and he focused too heavily on JT. However Sudhir felt he could not branch off into the community without offending JT; who had the power to kick him out of the projects. So Sudhir still hung out with JT and one day jokingly stated that JT's job was very easy. JT responded by offering to let him be gang leader for a day to see just how hard it really was.
 * __Chapter 4: Gang Leader For a Day__**

The next morning Sudhir, JT, T-Bone, and Price all met up at a suburban restaurant to go over their daily activities. JT made it clear to Sudhir that only his high ranking officials knew that he was going to be the gang leader for that day. He did not want Sudhir acting like the boss in front of anyone else in the community in fear that the higher ranking officials would find out and become angered. Sudhir also made it clear that he would not kill anyone or directly sell drugs. They both agreed and Sudhir became very excited at the prospect of working so closely with both the gang and JT. However he learned quickly that even the most simple of decisions can be difficult, and not one clear resolution was ever possible.

He first had to find a cleanup crew for one of the buildings they sold crack out of. He would choose between two crew's Moochies (who was making a good amount of money on the streets, but was starting to get a big head) and Kalia (who was struggling a little on making money). Sudhir also found out that Moochie was dating Ms. Bailey who was the building President therefore, they may begin to believe he owned the building. Although some money would be taken off the streets Sudhir decided to make Moochie's crew do the clean up. Next he had to figure out how much to pay the Pastor to use his church as a meeting place, where he vastly underestimated how expensive it would be. Next he had to go to Johnny's store and deal with the fact that Johnny was no longer allowing gang members in, or he was over charging them. Sudhir was not respected by Johnny and JT had to renegotiate that the price of protection be lowered and the Black Kings would pay for their items. It was quickly becoming obvious to Sudhir that the role of gang leader was very difficult.

After leaving Johnny's Sudhir learned he had to settle a dispute between two drug dealers Billy and Otis. Billy was the director of the drug trade and Otis worked under him. Otis claimed Billy under paid him and Billy claimed Otis was lying about how much crack he sold. After hearing both sides of the story Sudhir came up with the resolution that they were both at fault. Billy did owe Otis money from a prior transaction and Otis did steal money from Billy. Sudhir came up with the idea that both penalties would offset and neither would be punished. JT liked the resolution and sent Sudhir over to the car. He then called Otis over and struck him several times in the face and suspended his pay from the drug trade for a week. JT explained his actions by telling Sudhir you can never let anyone get away with stealing from the gang.

Finally Sudhir accompanied JT to the Black Kings sales teams. JT needed weekly reports on the crews to figure out how much they were earning and if there were any problems. Sudhir quickly realized how great JT's managerial skills really were. He had outside informants studying the group, he had to deal with over twenty sales teams individual problems and deal out punishments accordingly. There were many problems that arose among the sales teams. There were situations of missed payments, physical altercations between gang members and customers, and gang members who had been arrested for the possession of weapons. JT was forced to make arrangements to work around all of these difficulties that had occurred. By the end of the day Sudhir was exhausted, he could not believe all of the tasks JT had to do. The next morning Sudhir woke up with no obligations to the gang but was still in awe of how JT would continue his many obligations to the gang.

In "Gang Leader for a Day" we have read that all members of the "community" at the Robert Taylor building play a role in the "underground economy." Ms. Bailey is the President of the building, as has a great amount of power over the tenants, just as J.T. is the leader of the Black Kings. Ms. Bailey takes care of the tenants, when they are in need of food, clothing, or any issues that may arise in the building, especially when the women in the building need her help. Venkatesh is unsure how to understand Ms. Bailey's position, he thinks it is possible that she loves power, and cannot fully understand why she helps the Black King's "business" survive.
 * __Chapter 5: Ms. Bailey's Neighborhood__**

Firstly, since Sudhir has been spending a lot of time with J.T. and observing the relation of poverty and the gang, his professors advised him to obtain an understanding of the women at Robert Taylor, since students know very a little about the women in poverty. So he thought that was a great opportunity to spend some time with Ms. Bailey, and J.T. agreed to him observing Ms. Bailey, although he said to be careful with her, reinforcing the fact that he is not responsible to watch over Sudhir while he observes Ms. Bailey. Sudhir attended a meeting that Ms. Bailey held once a month for the tenants to raise any questions or concerns about the building. Tenants were very quick to complain about J.T.'s gang members and Ms. Bailey defended the members of the Black Kings.

Next, Ms. Bailey explained to Sudhir that she has to complete a task to help the women in poverty stay warm as winter was approaching. She needed to gather winter coats, food, and electric heaters for the tenants. Sudhir, escorted her, and actually drove her around to do this. She started at a liquor store, gathering liquor that is donated to Ms. Bailey's tenants in exchange for Ms. Bailey to send her tenants to buy liquor there. Ms. Bailey did not distribute the liquor to her tenants; instead she exchanged it for warm jackets and food at the supermarket, and electric heaters at the hardware store. Sudhir did not understand why she had to exchange something for the items, and why they are not just donated to her. Ms. Bailey explained that if they just donate the items, problems may arise just like the incident when the owner of the store was having sexual relations with someone's teenage daughter. They then went back to the building to distribute the jackets, food, and heaters, but it was on a "first come, first serve basis." During this time, Sudhir took it upon himself to help a prostitute (Clarisse) of the building who was high on crack, and drunk while demanding food for her children from Ms. Bailey. Sudhir helped Clarisse back to her apartment where her children were alone, and he took her two daughters out to get food. Ms. Bailey was upset for his good deeds, thinking that these women will take advantage of him.

As Sudhir was trying to comprehend Ms. Bailey's position, her assistant Catrina, explained to him that Ms. Bailey was an amazing woman, and kept the building intact, and she was especially amazing with the women of the building. Sudhir got a chance to see this first hand. A young woman of the building named Taneesha was severely beaten by a man who was in charge of her modeling career. Ms. Bailey put men in charge to find the man who did this to her, (Bee-Bee). They found him and beat him, and Sudhir actually helped, not realizing the consequences of his actions. They then brought Bee-Bee to Ms. Bailey, and she beat him herself. Sudhir was trying to figure out why the cops were not called and Catrina tried to explain to him, the police never come around there. Many people explained this to Sudhir many times, but he just did not understand why. So basically, that is what Ms. Bailey and J.T.'s gang is there for, to help keep people intact, not just drug dealing.

After Sudhir witnessed this incident with Taneesha and Bee-Bee, he was starting to second guess the field of sociology. His was questioning "Why do sociologists, study this kind of behavior, but not do anything about it?" As we can see from this chapter, Venkatesh learned a lot from Ms. Bailey, and the women in poverty, but he was still very confused of why these people remain in poverty. He was in awe, of the fact that Ms. Bailey actually helps J.T.'s gang, and no one does anything to change things around there. As readers can see, although what the members of the Black Kings and other people who contribute to the gang are merely illegal, they have a very functional "underground economy." Just as a real legal business functions, this is how they function in poverty.

Ms. Bailey is a lady who is in charge of the neighborhood. She is also the one who is the tenant leader of her building that she owns. If there is a problem in the neighborhood everyone answers to her. Even if things go really bad in her neighborhood...she doesn't bother to call the cops because they won't show up. Sudhir who is a student that is observing for his college class always wondered why is it that they never show up. Ms. Bailey told him that it was very hard for a middle -class white folk to understand why the police don't come when she calls. It also has to do with the fact of what happens in the projects.

When reading Chapter 6 Sudhir seems confused as to whether he should be loyal to J.T., Ms. Bailey, and others or to his professors. Sudhir is caught between two worlds and feels that if he doesn't inform the police of any drive by shootings planned by J.T. and his crew then he could possibly go to jail for withholding information. Sudhir also begins to interview prostitutes, pimps, and wants to interview female hustlers who sold things other than sex. Sudhir seems very intrigued by Ms. Bailey's friend Cordella because she gives a brief history on the way things used to be before J.T. and others took over the projects. Sudhir sets out to explore hustlers in this chapter to find out how the unprivileged in the projects live and earn their money.
 * __Chapter 6: The Hustler and the Hustled__**

In chapter 6 Venkatesh starts to shift his focus from J.T. and his gang and concentrate on getting information from the people that live in the projects trying to make a meager living. Venkatesh through people’s testimony, they being hustlers learns how the economy of the Robert Taylor projects works, and what positions, and professions that everyone has. As he gathers information from the various people who he is interviewing, Venkatesh visits Ms. Bailey to confirm the data thinking that it is harmless, but as he soon learns he unwittingly serves as a pawn for Ms. Bailey and J.T. to gather damming information on the residents who are not properly paying their “tax” to Ms. Bailey and J.T.; in divulging this information Venkatesh instantly becomes hated throughout the project’s and is view as a snitch by residents. Ms. Bailey tells Venkatesh that he’s a hustler too who is just gathering information just to further his own academic career and he is just trying to get something that he wants out of people in the guise of trying to help them. The only reason he is not beaten or even killed is because he is still under the protection of J.T. Meanwhile Venkatesh in realizing the severity of his naive decision to discuss this matter with Ms. Bailey, the only person who will talk to him now is Cordella who discusses the history of the Robert Taylor Projects and talks of a time where the residence didn’t live in constant fear, that actually they were productive members of society who participated in politics and watched out for one another. Cordella tells Venkatesh that everything changed once JT and his gang took control of the projects and that’s when things changed from the worse. After this a tragedy hits the Robert Taylor Projects, a girl named Catrina who seemed to have a bright future but was tragically gunned down, this event seem to hit the project hard because Catrina was viewed as someone who was going to make it out of the projects and make something of herself. Venkatesh learns that when most people who are in the gangs die it is to be expected, thus people move on, but when a person like Catrina dies it hits the community hard because she was viewed as a person that embodied the hopes and dreams of the tenants of the projects, and to be killed in such a way without having done anything or being part of a gang was totally unexpected. After the funeral Venkatesh tries to be more proactive in helping the community, and comes up with a plan to help the young women of the project’s have more self esteem and wand something more out of life. He sets up a writhing workshop with the approval of Ms. Bailey and gathers the young women at a restaurant and has them right about their experiences living in the Robert Taylor Projects. The girls involved take to the idea and start writing about all of the traumatic experiences that they have suffered; as the workshop is becoming a success a controversy spreads throughout the project’s that Venkatesh is taking all the women to pimp them out. After having to appear at a housing meeting he explains that he is only helping them and not taking advantage of them, once his intentions were realized everyone at the meeting was still skeptical but understood what he is trying to do, and so the meeting was adjourned.

As the chapter opens up, Sudhir is hanging out with Darryl Young, who happens to be one of J.T.'s uncles. Everything was ok and calm until Darryl saw a young white man cruising around looking at the building. Darryl began to shout for Prince to come take care of this problem. Darryl was mad because he says the white boys come around for their women. Price and a couple of other BK security squad members took care of the problem for Darryl. Just as Price and his crew pulled the white guy out of the car, a car came rushing around the corner firing shots at anything and everything. All of Price's crew made it safely to the lobby but Price was not so lucky. He was shot and dropped immediately to the ground. He had been shot in the leg and Sudhir and the rest of his crew had grabbed him and dragged him inside. J.T. told his gang to stand guard with weapons in hand in the lobby with two people at each entrance. J.T. told Sudhir to go upstairs for his own safety. J.T. needed to borrow Sudhirs car to take Prince to the hospital because he was bleeding heavily. J.T. took his car, and the cops were following him. J.T. told his crew to sit with rifles at the windows of the third, fifth, and seventh floors. Other gang members went door to door to warn tenants to stay away from the west facing windows. Cherise called every half hour to update J.T. and the rest of the gang about Price's situation. The next day, J.T. had figured out who did the shooting. J.T. rounded up T-Bone and several other members and went after the attackers. J.T. had personally beaten up the shooters and the BK's also took their guns and money because they had no "business sense." Price stayed in the hospital for a couple days but soon returned to the streets. The bullet caused no irreparable damage.
 * __Chapter 7: The Black and Blue__**

J.T. was on the verge of receiving another promotion within the BK organization. This promotion would mean that J.T., T-Bone, and Price would be in charge of even more BK factions. A promotion means more money and a boost in status. T-Bone says he will only be in the game for another two years then he is out. J.T. hasn't been around for several weeks because his new job requires preparation and legwork. J.T. wants Sudhir to accompany him to a regional BK meeting. Sudhir thinks this is his big chance to see J.T. in action about the gang's senior leadership. J.T. had Autry set up a program to keep his foot soldiers off the streets and do some homework. J.T. wanted Sudhir to run one of the classrooms in his building and Sudhir accepted. The first day the students were talking loudly through Sudhirs lectures so J.T. walked in surprisingly and yelled at them to be quiet and pay attention. Sudhir asked J.T. not to interrupt him anymore in class but within a day of no J.T., the classroom had turned into anarchy. Some of the students started selling marijuana in the classroom while other students would occasionally leave to get a prostitute. Sudhir was quickly downgraded from teacher to baby sitter. Autry wanted Sudhir to write a grant proposal for the US Department of Justice. The grant proposal needed to include in-depth statistics for the projects and the surrounding neighborhood. With accepting this project, Sudhir can now work hand in hand with officer Reggie Marcus. Reggie had often dealt directly with gang leaders. Five men came into the Elks Lodge room where the party was taking place, all dressed in black with guns. J.T. noticed that these men were cops and the cops pulled out black trash bags demanding cash and jewels from everyone. He said the cops do this all the time. Whenever the cops hear that the gang is having a party, they come and raid it.

Reggie invited Sudhir to a bar full of black cops so Sudhir didn't only view one side of their work. Reggie introduced Sudhir to a couple of this off duty colleagues. Officer Jerry, who was a friend of Reggie's, was giving Sudhir a hard time asking him all kinds of questions. A man and a teenage boy were kicked out of their bar. Officer Jerry began to kick the man and demanded cash from him. The man was all bloody and finally gave in and told Officer Jerry where it was. It was known to everyone around the bar that whenever Officer Jerry was broke, he would simply come into the bar and beat up a "nigger". It was common for people to see this cop beating people for no reason and taking their cash and valuables. Autry told Sudhir not to write about the cops in his research. Autry said the cops are also a gang but they are the ones who really have the power and can do anything they please. Reggie stated that the Feds were working in Chicago and he hated when the Feds were in town; they try to take over and do everything. They use allegations of police improper ties to leverage local cops into telling them their gang intelligence. This messed up relationships between local cops and the community which was developed over the years.

The Robert Taylor homes were listed on top of a demolition list. They were to be replaced by upscale townhouse development called Legends South; tenants were in disbelief to hear this. Sudhir was thinking about ending his research because the Robert Taylor residents felt betrayed by him, cops were warning him not to hangout with the gang, and the projects were about to be taken down. J.T. felt that Sudhir should stick it out and stay around a while longer, and J.T. would not take no for an answer. He felt that Sudhir really needed to see and witness everything that was about to happen.


 * __Chapter 8: The Stay-Together Gang__**

Sudhir was invited to a BK pool party hosted by top leadership of the BK gang. When Sudhir arrived he approached the house and he noticed one of J.T's foot soldiers. He nodded for him to head toward the rear entrance of the house. As he enters the house Sudhir instantly realizes that it is a members-only party. He was explained that these types of gathering happens every few weeks and business is discussed at theses gathering. Sudhir walks farther in the house and happens to run into JT and other members of the BK gang in the kitchen, they embrace and JT introduces him to the other in the house as The Professor. Members of the BK gang would approach Sudhir and start talking about themselves and the history of the Black Kings. One of the senior leaders named Cliff announced Sudhir as the new director of communications and recommend that everyone spoke with him before they leave. Sudhir begins to contemplate is his new role; he started to realize maybe he was in over his head. Sudhir began to feel a sense of pride for J.T. over the years by watching him come up in the ranks. Now that J.T. graduated in the BK leadership he seemed ever more nervous about the gang life. J.T. began saving money for his family, putting money to the side and selling his cars and jewelry. Not just J.T. other members showed they were also nervous about the gang life. Sudhir learned there were to different types of groups in the BK gang; one was the jailhouse niggers and operators. Jailhouse niggers were about family and operators were more entrepreneurial. Robert Taylor being torn down BK gang members began to feel the pressure from the cops and their senior leadership. With the fate of the projects being torn down J.T. decide to look elsewhere to start his drug operation.

Chapter 8 As Sudhir becomes more integrated into the administrative workings of the Black Knights, J.T. trust him enough to bring him to high level meetings called “pool parties” where the top leaders of the gangs meet to socialize and discuss business and report on their operations. When Sudhir attends the party he has the misconception that it’s going to be a wild party filled with promiscuous women, drugs, alcohol. But to his surprise it was a very low key atmosphere, once there JT presented Sudhir with the ceremonious title of “communications director”, once he was presented with the title all of the gang leaders stated to put their spin on the actions of the black knights; stating that they are not a gang but community organizers and so on as if they have been treated unfairly by the outside world. As Sudhir attended more and more meetings he began to feel tension in the air amongst the leadership of the Black Knight’s and JT who was beginning to feel the weight of having greater responsibility in the organization. JT further expressed his anxiety when he asked Sudhir to review the past six years of JT’s life to make sure Sudhir didn’t leave anything before he writes his “biography” on him; it was almost as if JT felt that he was not going to live long enough to enjoy his new promotion and felt that for prosperity sake there should be some unbiased record of his exploits. Sudhir meets a leader named Pootche who further breaks down the inner workings of the gang to the point that there are two types of leaders jail house niggers, who believe in the notion that the BK are like a family and that a person did not survive on their own unless they formed loyalties and alliances with others. There were the business minded leaders called operators who were usually younger men who only cared about profit that group solidarity. As time went on the gang seemed to be caught up with the fear of being indicted by the government and being sent to jail, with this fear looming over their heads more and more leaders started to talk to Sudhir about the instability of the group in the wake of the indictments and saw him as almost a neutral figure that they can confide their sins to like a priest. As things around Sudhir started to get even tenser T-bone provides him with an invaluable source of data, the gang’s balance sheet of all their illegal activities. This book gave Sudhir a further understanding of how the gang functioned to the point that J.T. member received little to no pay for doing dangerous work, while senior members received vast sums of the profits made. Sudhir even travels with JT on a “recruitment” drive to expand his territory into unclaimed neighborhoods. Seeing JT in action Sudhir realizes how tough JT’s job really is and understands that it difficult to keep a gang functioning and working together without a strong and charismatic leader. While things are starting to go badly for JT and his crew, the Robert Taylor projects are scheduled for demolition. The once powerful Ms. Bailey is quickly losing her grip on power over the tenants; the shock become so bad that she begins to develop aliments and is force to move into and even more impoverished area of the city with a relative, while the tenants began to vents their frustrations on her. As everyone else’s life is falling apart around them, Sudhir is starting to become successful and gains notoriety for his unorthodox research style and receiving offers to head research projects. Sudhir in a way out grew the people he was studying especially J.T. leaving him with a sense of being abandoned by his peers and by the one person he felt that he can be totally candid with that person be Sudhir.


 * Informed consent** is the approval of taking part in a study or experiment after knowing what is being done and the procedures of this experiment. Informed consent also applies to medical procedures, where the surgeons/doctors let the patients know what will be operated on and the effects of this operation. Informed consent means to be informed of what you agreeing or disagreeing to take part in, such as a survey or experiment. Take for example the Milgram experiment. The participants were informed of the experiment to a certain degree. There were some things left out, like the shocking if you have a wrong answer but they were informed of an experiment being taken. Another example was the Tearoom Trade. These people that were watched, and then surveyed a year later at their own home were not informed of the experiment; the people conducting this did not have their informed consent. It is important to have the people being analyzed consent because they should be aware of the consequences of the data or just the outcome of the data since it concerns them.


 * Tearoom Trade -** In class, we spoke about the importance of the Tearoom Trade. How the ethics of this survey had been conducted. The Tearoom Trade consisted of a researcher acting as a "look-out" in a park where, for the most part, gay men took part in sexual acts. The "look-out" actually was a sociologist conducting a survey on the gay "lifestyle" (in specific, gay men and their lifestyle), i.e. who were these gay man and their counterparts and the roles they played in society, not so much the man's identity. He recorded their license plate numbers and brought the numbers to a local police department. The researcher obviously knew someone within the police department to retrieve this information on the license plate numbers, such as, their place of residence and their identities. He then followed through to their homes, in disguise - so they would not know he was the "look-out" at the park, and asked these men to take his survey. The survey was meant to prove that homosexual men can be anyone. They are not limited to married with children, fireman, masonry workers, construction, ECT.

In class we learned about Milgram's Experiment on obedience. The experiment was conducted on the Yale University campus. The experiment was advertised by newsletters offering $4.00 for 1 hr to 500 participants to help complete the scientific study of memory and learning. After 40 participants were chosen differing in age and occupation, they were told one group would be the teacher and the other would be the learner. The teacher was told he would shock the learner each time they answered a question wrong and each time the voltage would increase to a dangerously high level. What the participants were not told was the learner was actually working with the experiment and no shocking was being distributed at all. When participants (teachers) were asked by the leaner (experimenter) to stop the experiment because the shocks were too abrasive over half the participants continued, even to the highest level of voltage because they were instructed to continue by the conductor of the experiment. There are many things unethical about this experiment. One being the participants was lied to about what exactly they were participating in. Milgram's experiment was advertised to study memory and learning instead it tested people’s reactions and moral judgment. This study is an example that roles can be more powerful than personality in determining behavior.
 * Milgram's Obedience**

The Milgram Experiment was about a real test of morals rather than anything else. This experiment was conducted at Yale University and it consisted of a teacher and a learner and a series of electrical shocks; or so the learner thought. This experiment asked questions and every time the learner answered the question wrong, they would be shocked. With every question answered wrong, the shocks would be cranked up to more dangerous and possible life threatening voltage. Every shock that was administered sprung a hurting and painful response from the person they thought was being shocked. In reality, no one was being shocked at all. This experiment was more to see how people followed specific orders even though; they could possibly end their life. It was a test to see how people reacted to the yelling, and screeching done by the person being shocked. The person administering this experiment was curious to see how far the person would go with the shocking and what makes them draw the line to stop and refuse to take part in the experiment anymore. It’s crazy to believe that 65% of people administered the final, massive electrical shock of 450 volts. People were just doing what they were told and following direct orders even though they could potentially kill someone.

In class we learned that Zimbardo's prison experiment was conducted at Stanford University in 1991. This was advertised in the paper as a job that would pay $15 a day for two weeks. The college students were randomly picked but first screened for any health conditions. The roles that were assigned were prison guards and prisoners. The prison guards picked up the prisoners while wearing deeply tinted sunglasses so that the prisoners would not be able to make any eye contact creating an impersonal connection. The prisoners were blindfolded so they were not able to see where they were being taken. They didn't know they were in the schools basement and not in a real prison cell. In order to make the experiment feel real the prisoners were stripped, deloused, and put in prison gowns. In each cell there were beds and in the "prison" there was one holding cell or solitary confinement which was actually a closet. Zimbardo was not only running the experiment but he was the prisons superintendent, him playing these dual roles showed how the experiment turned very unethical. The purpose of the experiment was to put good people in an evil place and see if they could rise above the negative. At first, the prisoners and guards played their roles with no conflict, but to stir things up the guard they called John Wayne started degrading the prisoners. If one prisoner disobeyed the guards he would punish all the prisoners by making them clean toilets with their bare hands, do push-ups while singing, calling them names, basically doing anything to bring them down. There were a few prisoners who decided to leave the experiment. The first prisoner decided he wanted to leave and the decided to come back. He told the others they wouldn't let him leave which led him to start acting like he was crazy to stir up the guards. He was eventually let go because he became unstable. After 2 or three prisoners decided to leave the experiment a replacement prisoner was brought in and he was the one who got the biggest rise out of the guards. He began to starve himself to show he wouldn't do what they wanted. At the end of the experiment Zimbardo had the prisoners and the guards come together face to face and discuss what they went through. Zimbardo himself said that on his part he shouldn't have played a dual role into the experiment because he lost sight of what he was doing. The stimulation became more than just stimulation. It did prove that even the most kind and normal people can become evil in certain intense situations. However, it was unethical to allow verbal or physical violence in any event, let alone when it's stated. - Institutional Review Boards are part of the process an agency must participate in, if done through an agency. IRBs are composed of a group of individuals, often appointed, who review all proposed research in order to protect the agency clients from exploitation. In many ways they represent the social morals of the agency by protecting the clients from frivolous research. They look to ensure that the research being conducted is for the betterment of the clients. An IRB completes its function by reviewing submitted applications from researchers. The researchers must provide the IRB with a good deal of information, such as the population (clients) involved in the research project, who will conduct the research, and a clear, worthwhile purpose demonstrating how this will benefit the population.
 * Zimbardo's (Stanford) Prison Stimulation**
 * __The Institutional Review Board (IRB__**)

Institutional Review Board: "The committee at a college, university, or research center responsible for evaluating the ethics of proposed research. Such committees exist at almost every college, university, and research center. Before any federal, state, or institutional money can be spent on research with human subjects, the research plan must be approved by the committee, and at least one of whose members is unaffiliated with the institution." (Adler, Clark.)

__The American Sociological Association's Code of Ethics__ "asks that sociologists demonstrate professional competence, integrity, professional, social, and scientific responsibility, and respect for people's rights, dignity, and diversity."
 * __Ethics__**: Researchers are expected to follow ethical principals in conducting research. These principals are defined as the set of values, standards, and principals used to determine appropriate and acceptable conduct at all stages of the research process.

__The National Science Foundation's Ethical Standards__: The policy is designed to ensure minimal standards for the ethical treatment of subjects. The goal is to limit harm to participants. No one should suffer harm just because they became involved as subjects in a research project. Institutions engaged in research should foster a culture of ethical research. According to the National Science Foundation's Ethical Standards, Ethical Research rests on three principles:

1. Respect for Persons- The researcher gives adequate information about the research and any risks, understandable to the participant, and allows them to voluntarily decide whether to participate. 2. BENEFICENCE- the study is designed to maximize benefits and minimize risks to subjects and society. 3. JUSTICE- The research is fair to individual subjects and does not exploit or ignore one group to benefit another group.


 * __Benefits & Cost__**

It takes cost effectiveness of different alternatives in order to see whether the benefits outweigh the costs. The process involves monetary value of initial and ongoing expenses vs. expected return. Cost vs. benefits is done to determine how well, or how poorly, a planned action will turn out. In class we learned each experiment was costly.


 * __Test 1 Part 1__**


 * Question 1**: Recently, an article in the New York Times claimed there was no evidence that coffee had negative effects on health. How might a post modernist respond to the article? How might a positivist respond to the article?


 * Answer**: (b) The positivist might be most likely to have questions about the methodology of the studies reviewed by the New York Times. The post-modernist might be more likely to have questions about who funded the studies reviewed by the New York Times.


 * Explanation**: Post-modernists believe we know nothing, we just think we do, and that we are just going around in circles. They are always focused on who did the studies or presented them because they believe everything is biased. On the other hand, positivists are less concerned about bias and believe if the study was done properly they can trust those findings. So they want to know how they came about their findings.


 * Question 2**: Which of the following techniques is best if you want to determine whether something causes something else to happen?


 * Answer**: (b) Experiments


 * Explanation**: In an experiment, the researcher has control of the independent variable because it is randomly assigned. If the groups are big enough you can assume that the 2 groups are very similar except that one is in the treatment group and the other in the control. If you don't do an experiment, you can't be certain of that.


 * Question 3**: A dependent variable is a(n) ___, while an independent variable is a(n)__ _. Choose the best answer


 * Answer**: (a) effect; cause


 * Explanation**: The definition of a dependent variable taking from section 8 of this wikipage is; A dependent variable is a variable that is hypothesized to vary depending on or under the influence of another variable- the effect. While an independent variable is hypothesized to cause or lead to, variation in another variable- the cause.


 * Question 4**: If you're interested in establishing a casual relationship between two variables using observational research, what should you try to do? Choose the best answer.


 * Answer**: (c) comparisons between similar groups that differ on the independent variable.


 * Explanation**: The reason you would compare similar groups is because they would likely share a common dependent variable. If the two groups had independent variables that differ it can show the casual relationship between each variables. For example if you ask does not eating meat make you healthier? The study would need to take individuals who are extremely similar except one group is vegetarian. The groups need to be similar because if they are not then one can argue that eating meat is not the variable that causes one to be healthier.


 * Question 5**: While ideographic explanations consist of _, nomothetic explanations consist of . Choose the best answer.


 * Answer**: (c) stories; variables


 * Explanation**: Ideographic narratives/explanations tell a very detailed story that focuses on individuals. They can tell unique facts or explain a history of someone. Nomothetic explanations are focused on abstractions. These explanations are looking at abstract principles in the world.


 * Question 6**: Say the gang that Sudhir Venkatesh studied was also observed by a second researcher, and this second researcher reported observations that contradicted the observations made by Sudhir. In this (purely hypothetical) case, what kinds of questions would be raised about Sudhir’s study?


 * Answer**: (c) concerns about reliability and validity


 * Explanation**: In conducting research, one strives to attain reliability and validity within their research. Reliability is a necessary condition for validity, as research that lacks reliability lacks validity. A reliable measure is one that consistently offers similar results following the conclusion of each experiment. A valid measure is one that successfully measures or observes what the research was intended to measure or observe. However, if two independent observers write a report on a similar experiment and emerge with contradicting observations, questions concerning whether the source of the data is authentic or produced under false pretenses will emerge. As a reliable report is one that regardless of the researcher will emerge consistently with similar results. Also, regardless of the researcher, a valid report would successfully observe or measure what it is intended to measure or observe. To conclude, the concepts of reliability and validity go hand in hand. For when conducting research, reliability and validity is necessary. However, if these concepts are not achieved, the research requires restructuring at the drawing board as it is false.


 * Question 7**: The main goal of ethnography is to


 * Answer**: b. tell the story of a group of people from the group's perspective


 * Explanation**: This method gives researchers a better understanding of the culture, traditions and reasons of why they groups live the way they do.


 * Question 8**: Which of the following statements is true? Choose one.


 * Answer**: (b) Causal questions are usually better addressed with qualitative research than with quantitative research


 * Explanation**: Because of the abstract nature of certain situations it is sometimes impossible to clearly understand why something has occurred by solely utilizing Quantitative research which only utilizes static data, like statistics and base averages but does not cover the motivations and circumstantial evidence as to why a result has occurred especially when dealing with peoples motivations and sub-groups. Thus a scientist cannot merely categorize peoples emotions due to the fact that there is no set rubric for gagging them and that peoples experiences are never the same due to the fact that interpretation is subjective and not objective by nature, thus **correlation not causation is an integral part of why something has occurred which is why qualitative research methods are the best tool to utilize since it gets to the abstract or sole of why something has occurred the way it did.**


 * Question 9**: Ideally, about how many people should be in a focus group, according to the collective wisdom of experts?


 * Answer**: B. 8-12 people


 * Explanation**: A focus group should ideally have between 8-12 people in it because it gives the individuals within the focus group the opportunity to raise a specific amount of questions to come to a conclusion. The amount of questions that should be asked is about the same amount as people in a focus group, 8-12. Therefore, this enables each individual to bring one question to everyone’s attention. 8-12 people permits an even range of questions to be raised by the participants.


 * Question 10**: Which of the following is a true statement about the relationship between reliability and validity in social science research?


 * Answer**: A. reliability is a necessary but not sufficient condition for validity.


 * Explanation**: Reliability is an answer based on average of data gathered, and through empirical estimation is used to determine an **approximate** answer on repeatability of a given result; but is not sufficient for validity due to the fact that the results are untested in the real world, thus being an unproven hypothesis.


 * Question 11**: Consider the connection between education and income. People with more education tend to make more money. Can we conclude based on this observation that education causes income to increase?


 * Answer**: (b) No, there may be other variables causing both education and income.


 * Explanation**: There is a third variable that effects the two. For example ice cream consumption and crime both peak in the summer. They have nothing to do with each other. The third variable is the weather. It effects the other two variables. It causes them to rise.


 * Question 12**: Which of the following statements are characteristics of good research questions?


 * Answer**: All Of The Above


 * Explanation**: Interest and research ability are two vital aspects of asking the right questions throughout ones research. This question needs to be more than just looking through a book for the answer; it needs to have an undefined amount of research done. The research question also needs to be widespread and have some appeal to all cultures.


 * Question 13**: If we wanted to know with certainty whether one variable causes another, what would we have to do?


 * Answer**: Go back in time, and change the value of the independent variable, keep everything else the same, and see what happens.


 * Explanation**: You would want to change the value of the independent variable (the cause), then you can discover if outcome of the effect would be different or the same.


 * __Test 1 Part 2__**


 * Question 14**: Which of the following would generally be considered appropriate social scientific research questions? Select All answers that apply.


 * Answer**: A. Why are less educated women more likely to have children before getting married than more educated women? D. Why do men tend to make more money than women do in the US? E. If local governments hire more police officers, (how much) will crime rates go down?


 * Explanation**: The questions are good ones because of its social relevance to society, they poses what, and why questions that can be answered; and they have a clearly defined cause and effect scenario.


 * Question 15**: In the context of social science research, what would have to be true for a researcher's observations to be reliable? **Select ALL answers that apply.**
 * Answer**: c: The observations made by one researcher must agree with the observations made by another researcher & d: Assuming that the research subjects stay the same, the observations made by the researcher this month will be the same or at least similar to the observations he or she makes next month.
 * Explanation**: To have reliable research, you need at least two people to have the same findings, otherwise the observations could be skewed in some way. Furthermore, in order for a researcher's findings to be reliable, the observations should be the same or similar a month apart; if they are different, then something either changed or went wrong which would make the observations unreliable.


 * Question 16**: What types of questions are qualitative methods best suited? **Select ALL answers that apply.**


 * Answer**: (c) questions about culture or subculture that is mysterious to us (d) how one variable (X) causes another (Y), assuming we already know that X causes Y.


 * Explanation**: Qualitative methods is concerned with collecting data through the observation of people's behavior, therefore providing meaning to such behavior. This provides reasoning as to why techniques such as focus groups and ethnography are utilized in Qualitative research.


 * Question 17**: The people in a focus group should be: Select all answers that apply.


 * Answer**: (c) Homogeneous with respect to age, gender, race, and class.


 * Explanation**: In a focus group, the objective is to understand why a certain group (with respect to marketing) is buying or not buying a product. So if the group is comprised of all the same or similar people then they are more willing to share their ideas.


 * Question 18**: According to the post-modernist perspective: Select All answers that apply.


 * Answer**: A. As hard as we might try, we cannot find absolute truths. D. all of our observations are inevitably affected by our own biases.


 * Explanation**: The post-modernist perspective is stating that nothing in this world is absolute or stagnant, meaning that things are in a constant state of change and motion and that long held beliefs and dogmas are flawed notions that only serve as a mechanism to slow down the natural progress of human society; what is considered acceptable in one time can be viewed as wrong or taboo in another time and/or vice versa, depending on the people in power and their subjective view of the world.


 * Question 19**: According to the positivist perspective: Select All answers that apply.


 * Answer**: B. each year, our knowledge of the social world increases as we conduct more research. E. with rigorous methods, we can minimize bias in our research


 * Explanation**: The positivist perspective correlates its work with their rigorous effects to obtain more and more research. They feel that with more research, the sky will be the limit in terms of knowledge in the social world. Positivists view the use of scientific methods and research as something that must be desired and preferred to establish a stepping stone to becoming more knowledgeable in the social world. Finally, positivists try to be as objective as possible when it comes to the social facts that they obtain.


 * Question 20**: Which of the following statements are true? Select All answers that apply


 * Answer**: A. Ideographic explanations are more common in qualitative research than in quantitative research. C. Nomothetic explanations are more common in quantitative research than in qualitative research.


 * Explanation**: Ideographic explanations are more common in qualitative research than in quantitative. Ideographic explanations are more narrative and has a detailed account. Nomothetic explanations are more common in quantitative research than in qualitative research. Nomothetic explanations are less concerned with the nitty gritty details.


 * Question 21**:Qualitative research methods include: **Select ALL answers that apply.**


 * Answer**:(a) focus groups (c) ethnography (e) in-depth interviews


 * Explanation**: Qualitative research includes formal interviews, focus groups, and other free form data collection. Qualitative techniques also include ethnography, case studies, and content analysis.


 * Question 22**: Advisors to politicians conduct many focus groups. what kinds of conclusions can political pollsters draw from focus groups? Select all answers that apply.


 * Answer**: A. impressions of potential voters' feelings of warmth or coldness toward a candidate. D. the processes by which potential voters go about deciding which candidate they like. E. impressions of potential voters about what issues matter most to them


 * Explanation**: Focus groups are best used to explain why the public feels the way it does. Because they are centrally concerned with understanding attitudes rather than measuring them, thus the observer is interested in the thought process a person goes through when making a decision in order to tailor a candidate's policy and actions to persuade voters to elect them.


 * Question 23**: Which of the following statements are true about advocacy research and social scientific research? select All answers that apply.


 * Answer**: A. In advocacy research, there is usually no possibility of surprise. The researcher has a particular point of view and finds evidence to back up that point of view. D. In social scientific researcher tries to keep an open mind about conclusions, and tries to maintain the possibility of surprise in his or her research.

While Social Research does not suppress inconvenient evidence. Additionally, social research embraces inconvenient information because one point of view cannot determine the entire research. In the end one is a blind and almost fanatical faith in a given outcome, advocacy research; while the other is opened to data and information in order to further make the result accurate instead of inconvenient just to get results.
 * Explanation**: As stated in the wiki entries, advocacy researchers have already come to a predetermined result and typically only 'uncover' facts that support their hypothesis. This form of research can greatly fall victim to data manipulation, giving the desired answer but under false pretenses. For instance, Lawyers use advocacy research to prove the guilt or innocence of defendants.


 * Question 24**: Qualitative research methods are usually characterized by: **Select ALL answers that apply.**
 * Answer**: (b, c, f) relatively small number of subjects, a lot of in depth information from each subject, and a unstandardized interview process.


 * Explanation**: Qualitative research analysis is defined on the wiki page under: **3. Qualitative and Quantitative: What is the difference?** as "analysis that results in the interpretation of action or representation of meanings in the researchers own words." Qualitative research is about interviews and ethnography. In qualitative methods, you would want a small amount of subjects to get more in depth information from each subject. If you have a lot of subjects, it would be difficult to have one on ones with subjects and get a grasp of what they think or feel. Qualitative methods consists of unstandardized interview processes because each interview is shaped upon the subject being interviewed; each one if different.


 * Question 25**: Quantitative research methods are usually characterized by: Select All answers that apply.


 * Answer**: (a) relatively large numbers of subjects (d) not much in-depth information from each subject (e) a highly standardized interview process


 * Explanation**: Wiki page under Qualitative and Quantitative. Quantitative explains things on a Macro-level. Another difference lies in the gathering of numerical and non-numerical information. Qualitative deals with the gathering of non-numerical information. Quantitative research deals with the numeric. also uses statistical methods in the collection of data. This data collection aims to explain a lot with a little amount of information. This research method includes standardized surveys and questionnaires.


 * __Part 2.__**

__Abstract #1__

In the United States, racial disparities in incarceration and their consequences are widely discussed and debated. Previous research suggests that perceptions of crime and the operations of the criminal justice system play an important role in shaping how Americans think about race. **This study extends the conversation by exploring whether being incarcerated affects how individuals perceive their own race as well as how they are perceived by others**, using unique longitudinal data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Results show that respondents who have been incarcerated are more likely to identify and be seen as black, and less likely to identify and be seen as white, regardless of how they were perceived or identified previously. This suggest that race is not a fixed characteristic of individuals but is flexible and continually negotiated in everyday interactions.

What is the independent variable in the research article described in the abstract above? - Being incarcerated vs. not being incarcerated

What is the dependent variable in the research article described in the abstract above? - How individuals perceive their own race

How to Write Your Research Paper.

While writing our research paper we did it in many organized steps that would help our papers become a success.

We had to find a profession that interested us, and that we would be willing to write a paper about. Some students chose teachers, police officers, fire fighters, social workers, and even military jobs,

1.) We had to look up 10 blogs about the profession we picked. When we got these 10 blogs we had to write 2 128 character summary about each blog.

2.) Then we had to find typologies typologies are variables that our blogs had in common. Examples could be age gender frustration etc. Once we found all the variables we had to figure out which typologies would be most suitable to help come up with a research question.

3.) Once we found a research question we had to find 5 peer viewed journals that went along with our research question, and save them in a program called ref works. The easiest ways to find a journal was through Google Scholars

4.) After finding journals and reading over them we then had to do a literature review. A literature review involves a 3 paragraph summary of all 5 journal entries combined together. The main goal of a literature review is to show your understanding of what research you found out, and how you are going to use it in the future.

5.) The next step is explaining the data you collected and why you thought it would be useful in your paper.

6.) After the data section is the methods section which is the shortest and easiest part of your paper. All you have to do is explain what methods you used.

7.) The next section is the results section. In this section is a longer version of your literature review. You are basically quoting bloggers, and having quotes from your journal entries.

8.) The next section is the introduction section which is where you would you introduces all the work you have done so far on you people. You introduce it to the audience. 9.) The next section is the Conclusion Section this is where you summarize your results section, and literature review all into one. You also explain what reverlant is sociologically. 10.) The next section is the words cited page where you list what references you used in your paper. 11.) Final Draft this consists of all your sections put together in an organized fashion, and send it in.