-Earl_Babbie-_The_Practice_of_Social_Research(BookFi)

•THOMSON VVADSVVORTH Tile Practice of Social Researc/t, Eleventh Edition Earl Babbie AcquisiriollS Editor: Chris Caldeira Production Service Greg Hubit Bookworks Dew/opmem Ediwr: Sherry Symington Text Designer. Carolyn Deacy Assistam Editor. Kristin Marrs Copy Editor Molly D. Roth Technology Project AJanager Dee Dee Zobian Illustrator. Lotus Art AIarketing Manager· Michelle Williams Cowr Designer: Bill Stanton AIarkethzg COlllmunications Manager: Linda Yip COI'fr Image PhotoAlto/SuperSrock Project Manager, Editorial Prodl!ction Matt Ballantyne COl'er Primer; Phoenix Color Corp Creative Director.: Rob Hugel Composiror: G& S Typesetters, Inc Prilll Buyer. Becky Cross Prillier· RR Donnelley-Crawfordsville Permissions Editor Bob Kauser © 2007 Thomson Wadsworth, a part of The Thomson Thomson Higher Education Corporation. Thomson, the Star logo, and Wadsworth 10 Davis Drive are trademarks used herein under license. Belmont, CA 94002-3098 USA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used For more information abour our products, contact us at: in any form or by any means-graphic, electronic, or Thomson Learning Academic Resource Center mechanicaL including photocopying, recording, taping, 1-800-423-0563 web distribution, information storage and retrieval sys- For permission to use material from this text tems, or in any other manner-without the written or product, submit a request online at permission of the publisher. http://www.thomsonrights.com Any additional questions abour permissions can be Printed in the United States of America submitted bye-mail [email protected] 3 4 5 6 7 10 09 08 07 Library of Congress Control Number: 2005932100 Student Edition ISBN-I3: 978-0-495-09325-1 ISBN-10: 0-495-09325-4 International Student Edition ISBN-13: 978-0-495-18738-7 ISBN-IO: 0-495-18738-0 °EmmView0 and Exam View Pro are registered trade- marks of FSCreations, Inc Windows is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation used herein under license. Macintosh and Power Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc Used herein under license. © 2007 Thomson Learning, Inc All Rights Reserved. Thomson Learning WebTutornl is a trademark of Thomson Learning, Inc

Dedication Sheila Babbie

An Introduction to Inquiry 1 11 Unobtrusive Research 318 12 Evaluation Research 348 1 Human Inquiry and Science 2 2 Paradigms,Theory, and Social Research 30 Analysis of Data 375 3 The Ethics and Politics of Social Research 60 13 Qualitative Data Analysis 377 The Structuring of Inquiry 85 14 Quantitative Data Analysis 404 15 The Elaboration Model 430 4 Research Design 86 16 Statistical Analyses 449 5 Conceptualization,Operationalization, 17 Reading and Writing Social Research 488 and Measurement 120 Appendixes A1 6 Indexes, Scales, and Typologies 152 A Using the Library A2 7 The Logic of Sampling 179 B GSS Household Enumeration Questionnaire A8 Modes of Operation 219 ( Random Numbers A18 8 Experiments 220 D Distribution of Chi Square A20 9 Survey Research 243 E Normal Curve Areas An 10 Qualitative Field Research 285 F Estimated Sampling Error A23 G Twenty Questions aJournalist Should Ask about Poll Results A24 vi

Preface xv Main Points 27 0 Key Terms 28 0 Review Acknowledgments xxii Questions and Exercises 28 • Additional Read- ings 29 0 SSPS Exercises 29 • Online Study Part 1 An Introduction Resources 29 to Inquiry 1 Paradigms, Theory, Human Inquiry and Science 2 and Social Research 30 Introduction 3 Introduction 31 Looking for Reality 4 Some Social Science Paradigms 31 Ordinary Human Inquiry 4 Macrotheory and Microtheory 33 Tradition 5 Early Positivism 33 Authority 5 Social Danvinism 34 Errors in Inquiry, and Some Solutions 6 Conflict Paradigm 34 What's Really Real? 7 Symbolic Interactionism 35 The Foundations of Social Science 10 Ethnomethodology 36 Theory, Not Philosophy or Belief 10 Structural Functionalism 37 Social Regularities 11 Feminist Paradigms 37 Aggregates, Not Individuals 13 Critical Race Theory 39 A Variable Language 14 Rational Objectivity Reconsidered 40 Some Dialectics of Social Research 19 Idiographic and Nomothetic Explanation 19 Elements of Social Theory 43 Inductive and Deductive Theory 22 Qualitative and Quantitative Data 23 Two Logical Systems Revisited 44 Pure and Applied Research 25 The Traditional Model of Science 44 The Ethics of Social Research 26 Deductive and Inductive Reasoning: Voluntary Participation 26 A Case Illustration 46 No Harm to Subjects 27 A Graphic Contrast 49 Deductive Theory Construction 51 Getting Started 51 Constructing Your Theory 52 vii

viii Contents Part 2 The Structuring of Inquiry 85 An Example of Deductive Theory: Distributive Justice 52 Research Design 86 Inductive Theory Construction 54 An Example of Inductive Theory: Introduction 87 Why Do People Smoke Marijuana? 54 Three Purposes of Research 87 The Links between Theory and Research 55 Exploration 88 Main Points 56 • Key Terms 57 • Review Description 89 Questions and Exercises 58 • Additional Read- Explanation 89 ings 58 • SSPS Exercises 59 • Online Study Resources 59 The Logic of Nomothetic Explanation 90 The Ethics and Politics of Social Research 60 Criteria for Nomothetic Causality 90 False Criteria for Nomothetic Causality 91 Introduction 61 Ethical Issues in Social Research 62 Necessary and Sufficient Causes 93 Units of Analysis 94 Voluntary Participation 62 No Harm to the Participants 63 Individuals 96 Anonymity and Confidentiality 64 Groups 96 Deception 67 Organizations 97 Analysis and Reporting 68 Social Interactions 97 Institutional Review Boards 69 Social Artifacts 97 Professional Codes of Ethics 71 Units of Analysis in Review 99 Two Ethical Controversies 71 Faulty Reasoning about Units of Analysis: Trouble in the Tearoom 71 The Ecological Fallacy and Reductionism 99 Observing Human Obedience 73 The Politics of Social Research 74 The Time Dimension 101 Objectivity and Ideology 75 Cross-Sectional Studies 102 Politics with a Little \"p\" 78 Longitudinal Studies 102 Politics in Perspective 79 Approximating Longitudinal Studies 105 Main Points 80 • Key Terms 81 • Review Examples of Research Strategies 107 Questions and Exercises 81 • Additional Read- ings 82 • SSPS Exercises 82 • Online Study How to Design a Research Project 107 Resources 82 Getting Started 109 Conceptualization 110 Choice of Research Method 110 Operationalization III Population and Sampling III Observations III Data Processing III Analysis 112 Application 112 Research Design in Review 112

The Research Proposal 113 Contents ix Elements of a Research Proposal 114 Who Decides What's Valid? 148 Main Points 115 • Key Terms 116 • Review Tension between Reliability and Validity 148 Questions and Exercises 117 • Additional Read- Main Points 149 • Key Terms 150 • Review ings 117 • SSPS Exercises 118 • Online Study Questions and Exercises 150 • Additional Read- Resources 118 ings 150 • SSPS Exercises 151 • Online Study Resources 151 Conceptualization, Indexes, Scales, Operationalization, and Typologies 152 and Measurement 120 Introduction 153 Introduction 121 Indexes versus Scales 153 Index Construction 156 Measuring Anything That Exists 121 Conceptions, Concepts, and Reality 122 Item Selection 156 Concepts as Constructs 123 Examination of Empirical Relationships 157 Index Scoring 162 Conceptualization 124 Handling Missing Data 163 Indicators and Dimensions 125 Index Validation 165 The Interchangeability of Indicators 127 The Status of Women: An Illustration Real, Nominal, and Operational of Index Construction 167 Definitions 128 Scale Construction 168 Creating Conceptual Order 128 Bogardus Social Distance Scale 168 An Example of Conceptualization: Thurstone Scales 169 The Concept of Anomie 130 Likert Scaling 170 Semantic Differential 171 Definitions in Descriptive Guttman Scaling 172 and Explanatory Studies 132 Typologies 175 Main Points 176 • Key Terms 176 • Review Operationalization Choices 133 Questions and Exercises 177 • Additional Read- Range of Variation 133 ings 177 • SSPS Exercises 177 • Online Study Variations between the Extremes 135 Resources 177 A Note on Dimensions 135 Defining Variables and Attributes 136 The Logic of Sampling 179 Levels of Measurement 136 Single or Multiple Indicators 140 Introduction 180 Some Illustrations of Operationalization A Brief History of Sampling 181 Choices 141 Operationalization Goes On and On 142 President Alf Landon 181 President Thomas E Dewey 182 Criteria of Measurement Quality 143 Two Types of Sampling Methods 183 Precision and Accuracy 143 Reliability 143 Validity 146

x Contents Part 3 Modes of Operation 219 Nonprobability Sampling 183 Reliance on Available Subjects 183 Experiments 220 Purposive or Judgmental Sampling 184 Snowball Sampling 184 Introduction 221 Quota Sampling 185 Topics Appropriate to Experiments 221 Selecting Informants 186 The Classical Experiment 222 The Theory and Logic Independent and Dependent Variables 222 of Probability Sampling 187 Pretesting and Posttesting 222 Experimental and Control Groups 223 Conscious and Unconscious The Double-Blind Experiment 224 Sampling Bias 188 Selecting Subjects 225 Representativeness and Probability Probability Sampling 225 of Selection 189 Randomization 226 Random Selection 190 Matching 226 Probability Theory, Sampling Distributions, Matching or Randomization? 227 and Estimates of Sampling Error 191 Variations on Experimental Design 228 Preexperimental Research Designs 228 Populations and Sampling Frames 199 Validity Issues in Experimental Research 230 Review of Populations and Sampling An Illustration of Experimentation 234 Frames 201 Alternative Experimental Settings 237 Web-Based EX\"periments 237 Types of Sampling Designs 202 \"Natural\" Experiments 237 Simple Random Sampling 202 Strengths and Weaknesses Systematic Sampling 202 of the Experimental Method 239 Stratified Sampling 205 Main Points 240 • Key Terms 241 • Review Implicit Stratification in Systematic Questions and Exercises 241 • Additional Read- Sampling 207 ings 241 • SSPS Exercises 241 • Online Study Illustration: Sampling University Resources 241 Students 208 Survey Research 243 Multistage Cluster Sampling 208 Multistage Designs and Sampling Error 209 Introduction 244 Stratification in Multistage Cluster Topics Appropriate for Survey Sampling 211 Research 244 Probability Proportionate to Size (PPS) Guidelines for Asking Questions 245 Sampling 211 Disproportionate Sampling and Choose Appropriate Question Forms 246 Weighting 213 Make Items Clear 247 Probability Sampling in Review 215 Main Points 215 • Key Terms 216 • Review Questions and Exercises 216 • Additional Read~ ings 217 • SSPS Exercises 217 • Online Study Resources 217

Avoid Double~Barreled Questions 247 Contents xi Respondents Must Be Competent to Answer 248 Qualitative Field Respondents Must Be Willing to Answer 249 Research 285 Questions Should Be Relevant 249 Short Items Are Best 249 Introduction 286 Avoid Negative Items 250 Topics Appropriate to Field Research 286 Avoid Biased Items and Terms 250 Special Considerations in Qualitative Field Research 289 Questionnaire Construction 251 The Various Roles of the Observer 289 General Questionnaire Format 252 Relations to Subjects 291 Some Qualitative Field Research Formats for Respondents 252 Paradigms 293 Naturalism 293 Contingency Questions 252 Ethnomethodology 294 Grounded Theory 296 Matrix Questions 254 Case Studies and the Extended Case Method 298 Ordering Items in a Questionnaire 255 Institutional Ethnography 300 Participatory Action Research 301 Questionnaire Instructions 256 - Conducting Qualitative Field Research 303 Pretesting the Questionnaire 257 Preparing for the Field 304 Qualitative Interviewing 305 A Composite Illustration 257 Focus Groups 308 Recording Observations 309 Self-Administered Questionnaires 257 Research Ethics in Qualitative Field Mail Distribution and Return 260 Research 312 Monitoring Returns 261 Strengths and Weaknesses of QUalitative Follow-up Mailings 261 Field Research 312 Acceptable Response Rates 262 Validity 313 A Case Study 263 Reliability 314 Main Points 314 • Key Terms 31 5 • Review Interview Surveys 264 Questions and Exercises 315 • Additional Read~ The Role of the Survey Interviewer 264 inab s 315 • SSPS Exercises 316 • Online Study General Guidelines for Survey Resources 317 Interviewing 265 Unobtrusive Research 318 Coordination and Control 267 Introduction 319 Telephone Surveys 269 Content Analysis 320 Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) 270 Response Rates in Interview Surveys 271 New Technologies and Survey Research 272 Comparison of the Different Survey Methods 275 Strengths and Weaknesses of Survey Research 276 Secondary Analysis 277 Main Points 280 • Key Terms 281 • Review Questions and Exercises 282 • Additional Read- inaos 282 • SSPS Exercises 283 • Online Study Resources 283

xi i Contents Topics Appropriate to Content Analysis 320 The Social Context 362 Sampling in Content Analysis 321 Logistical Problems 363 Coding in Content Analysis 325 Some Ethical Issues 364 An illustration of Content Analysis 328 Use of Research Results 365 Strengths and Weaknesses of Content Analysis 330 Social Indicators Research 369 Analyzing Existing Statistics 330 The Death Penalty and Deterrence 370 Durkheim's Study of Suicide 331 Computer Simulation 371 The Consequences of Globalization 332 Units of Analysis 333 Main Points 371 • Key Terms 372 • Review Problems of Validity 333 Questions and Exercises 372 • Additional Read- Problems of Reliability 334 ings 372 • SSPS Exercises 373 • Online Study Sources of Existing Statistics 335 Resources 373 Comparative and Historical Research 338 Part 4 Analysis of Data 375 Examples of Comparative and Historical Research 338 Qualitative Data Analysis 377 Sources of Comparative and Historical Data 341 Introduction 378 Analytical Techniques 342 Linking Theory and Analysis 378 Main Points 345 • Key Terms 345 • Review Discovering Patterns 378 Questions and Exercises 345 • Additional Read- Grounded Theory Method 380 ings 346 • SSPS Exercises 346 • Online Study Semiotics 381 Resources 346 Conversation Analysis 383 Evaluation Research 348 Qualitative Data Processing 384 Coding 384 Introduction 349 Memoing 388 Topics Appropriate to Evaluation Concept Mapping 389 Research 350 Formulating the Problem: Computer Progranls Issues of Measurement 351 for Qualitative Data 390 Specifying Outcomes 352 Leviticus as Seen through NUD*IST 391 Measuring Experimental Contexts 353 UsinG NVivo to Understand Women Film Specifying Interventions 354 Specifying the Population 354 {:> New versus Existing Measures 354 Operationalizing Success/Failure 355 Directors, by Sandrine Zerbib 393 Types of Evaluation Research Designs 356 The Qualitative Analysis Experimental Designs 356 of Quantitative Data 398 Quasi-Experimental Designs 357 Main Points 401 • Key Terms 401 • Review Qualitative Evaluations 361 Questions and Exercises 401 • Additional Read- ings 402 • SSPS Exercises 402 • Online Study Resources 402

Contents xiii Quantitative Data Analysis 404 Elaboration and Ex Post Facto Hypothesizing 444 Introduction 405 Main Points 445 • Key Terms 446 • Review Questions and Exercises 446 • Additional Read- Quantification of Data 405 ings 447 • SSPS Exercises 447 • Online Study Developing Code Categories 406 Resources 447 Codebook Construction 408 Data Entry 409 Statistical Analyses 449 Univariate Analysis 409 Introduction 450 Distributions 410 Descriptive Statistics 450 Central Tendency 411 Dispersion 414 Data Reduction 450 Continuous and Discrete Variables 415 Measures of Association 451 Detail versus Manageability 415 Regression Analysis 455 Inferential Statistics 459 Subgroup Comparisons 416 Univariate Inferences 460 \"Collapsing\" Response Categories 416 Tests of Statistical Significance 461 Handling \"Don't Knows\" 418 The Logic of Statistical Significance 462 Numerical Descriptions in Qualitative Chi Square 466 Research 419 Other M.ultivariate Tedmiques 470 Path Analysis 471 Bivariate Analysis 419 Time-Series Analysis 471 Percentaging a Table 421 Factor Analysis 474 Constructing and Reading Bivariate Analysis of Variance 476 Tables 423 Discriminant Analysis 478 Log-Linear Models 482 Introduction to Multivariate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) 483 Analysis 424 Main Points 484 • Key Terms 486 • Review Questions and Exercises 486 • Additional Read- Sociological Diagnostics 425 ings 486 • SSPS Exercises 487 • Online Study Main Points 427 • Key Terms 428 • Review Resources 487 Questions and Exercises 428 • Additional Read- ings 428 • SSPS Exercises 429 • Online Study Resources 429 The Elaboration Model 430 Reading and Writing Social Research 488 Introduction 431 The Origins of the Elaboration Model 431 Introduction 489 The Elaboration Paradigm 436 OrgarIizing a Review of the Literature 489 Replication 437 Explanation 437 Interpretation 439 SpeCification 439 Refinements to the Paradigm 442

xiv \" Contents ( Random Numbers A18 D Distribution of Chi Square A20 Journals versus Books 490 E Normal Curve Areas A22 Evaluation of Research Reports 491 F Estimated Sampling Error A23 Using the Internet Wisely 496 G Twenty Questions a Some Useful Websites 496 Searching the Web 496 Journalist Should Ask Evaluating the Quality of Internet about Poll Results A24 Materials 498 Citing Internet Materials 502 Bibliography B1 Writing Social Research 503 Some Basic Considerations 503 Glossary G1 Organization of the Report 505 Guidelines for Reporting Analyses 507 Index 11 Going Public 508 Main Points 509 • Key Terms 510 0 Review Questions and Exercises 510 • Additional Read- ings 511 0 SSPS Exercises 511 • Online Study Resources 511 Appendixes A1 A Using the Library A2 B GSS Household Enumeration Questionnaire A8

A \"few\" years ago (I hate to tell you how many), 30 Being prepared to make appropriate compro- I began teaching my first course in social research mises whenever field conditions do not per- methodso The course focused specifically on survey mit the routine application of established research methods, and I had only six students in techniqueso the classo As the semester progressed, I became more relaxed as a teacher. Before long, my stu- The next day, unexpectedly, Wadsworth called and dents and I began meeting in my office, where I asked me to write a methods text! could grab and lend books from my own library as their relevance occurred to me during class Survey Research Methods was published in 19730 meetingso My editors and I immediately received some good news, some bad news, and some additional good One nagging problem I faced then was the lack news. The first good news was that all survey re- of a good textbook on survey research. The avail- search instructors seemed to love the book, and it able books fell into one of two groupso Some books was being used in virtually every survey research presented the theoretical logic of research methods course in the countryo The bad news was that there in such abstract terms that I didn't think students weren't all that many survey research courseso would be able to apply any of the general prin- ciples to the practical world of \"doing\" researcho The final good news, however, was that many The other books were just the oppositeo Often instructors who taught general social research termed \"cookbooks,\" they presented detailed, courses-covering survey research alongside other step-by-step instructions on how to conduct a research methods-were inclined to use our book survey. Unfortunately, this approach only pre- and supplement it with other books dealing with pared students to conduct surveys very much like field research, experiments, and so on. While ad- the one described by the authorso Neither the ab- justing to our specialized book, however, many in- stract nor the \"cookbook\" approach seemed truly structors suggested that Wadsworth have \"that same useful to students or their instructors. guy\" write a more general social research text One day I found myself jotting down the table The preface of the first edition of The Practice of . of contents for my ideal research methods text- Social Research (1975) acknowledged the assistance book. It was organized around three theoretical of a dozen social research instructors from Califor- principles on which scientific research is based: nia to Floridao The book was a collaboration in a very real sense, even though only my name was 10 Understanding the theoretical principles on on the cover and I was ultimately responsible for it. which scientific research is based. The Practice ofSocial Research was an immediate 20 Seeing how those principles are reflected in the successo Although it was initially written for sociol- established techniques for doing research. ogy courses, subsequent editions have been in- creasingly used in fields such as Psychology, Public xv

xvi Preface Administration, Urban Studies, Education, Commu- have been assigned the book; many of the changes nications, Social Sciences, and Political Science- come from them. in some 30 different disciplines, I'm told. Moreover, it's being used by teachers and researchers in nu- Here are some of the other changes in this edi- merous countries around the world, and in 2000 tion, arranged by chapter: a Beijing publisher released a Chinese edition. Chapter 1, \"Human Inquiry and Science\" I've laid out this lengthy history of the book Birthrate data have been eX\"panded and up- for a couple of reasons. First, when I was a student, dated. In the interests of highlighting the inter- I suppose I thought of textbooks the same way that national character of social research, I've added I thought about government buildings: They were a report on a courageous Egyptian sociologist, just there. I never really thought about them as Saad Ibrahim. There is also a discussion of being written by human beings. I certainly never Crystal Eastman, an applied researcher early thought about textbooks as evolving: being up- in the twentieth century. dated, getting better, having errors corrected. As a student, I would have been horrified by the Chapter 2, \"Paradigms, Theory, and So- thought that any of my textbooks might contain cial Research\" The discussions of feminist mistakes! paradigms and of postmodernism have been expanded. There is a new section, \"Critical Second, pointing out the evolution of the book Race Theory.\" The Sherif experiments are sets the stage for a preview of the changes that have discussed in the section \"Rational Objectivity gone into this 11 th edition. As with previous revi- Reconsidered.\" sions' several factors have prompted changes. For example, because social research technology and Chapter 3, \"The Ethics and Politics of So- practices are continually changing, the book must cial Research\" There are two new sections: be updated to remain current and usefuL In my \"The Politics of Sexual Research\" and \"Politics own teaching, I frequently find improved ways to and the Census.\" There is an expanded discus- present standard materials. Colleagues also often sion of the Rik Scarce case, and participatory share their ideas for ways to teach specific topics. action research is introduced here, in the con- Some of these appear as boxed inserts in the book. text of social action. Both students and instructors often suggest that various topics be reorganized, expanded, clarified, Chapter 4, \"Research Design\" I discuss the shrunk, or-gasp-deleted. use of both qualitative and quantitative re- search, through an examination of terrorism New to the 11 th Edition studies. The importance of cohort studies is il- lustrated vvith an example in which the findings In an earlier edition of this book, I said, \"Revising a of simpler, cross-sectional studies are reversed. textbook such as this is a humbling experience. No The discussion of units of analysis has been ex- matter how good it seems to be, there is no end of panded. There is a new section on social inter- ideas about how it could be improved.\" That obser- actions as a unit of analysis. The discussion of vation still holds true. When we asked instructors reductionism has been revised, and there is an what could be improved, they once again thought eX\"panded treatment of literature reviews. of things, and I've considered all their suggestions, followed many of them, and chosen to \"think some Chapter 5, \"Conceptualization, Opera- more\" about others. I've also received numerous tionalization, and Measurement\" The dis- comments and suggestions from students who cussion of reification has been eX\"panded, and conceptualization has been illustrated with an analysis of the meaning of \"genocide.\" Chapter 6, \"Indexes, Scales, and Typolo- gies\" I've expanded the discussion of the dif- ference between indexes and scales. There's

Preface xvii also a discussion of the \"reverse Bogardus Chapter 12, \"Evaluation Research\" I've scale.\" expanded the discussion of different types of evaluation. Chapter 7, \"The Logic of Sampling\" The chapter begins by looking at the polls from Chapter 13, \"Qualitative Data Analysis\" the 2004 presidential election. I've expanded I've added a discussion of axial coding and the discussion of sampling error and replaced selective coding. \"Sampling Santa's Fans\" with an example of sampling in Iran. There's also a discussion of Chapter 14, \"Quantitative Data Analysis\" weighting by political party in political polls. A new section, \"Sociological Diagnostics,\" illus- trates the power of social scientific analyses in Chapter 8, \"Experiments\" I've added a dis- addressing real social problems. I've updated cussion of labeling theory in connection with Table 14-4 and expanded the explanation of it, an existing sample that illustrates it. There is as well as adding two new tables with discus- also a new section on web-based experiments. sions. I reformatted Figure 14-4 per reviewer suggestion. Chapter 9, \"Survey Research\" I've added some new examples and expanded the discus- Chapters 15, \"The Elaboration Model\" sion of factors increasing and decreasing re- The logic of elaboration lays the groundwork sponse rates. I've clarified that the rough guide- for most multivariate analysis in the social lines regarding acceptable response rates are sciences; I've expanded the discussion of that not based on theory; rather, they merely reflect point so students will understand why the my observation of professional norms. I've ex- chapter is important to their training in social panded the discussions of the General Social research. Survey and the \"Analyze\" program for analyz- ing GSS data online. I've eX\"panded the discus- Chapter 16, \"Statistical Analyses\" The ma- sion of online surveys, and there is a new dis- jor change in this chapter is the addition of cussion and citation for the secondary analysis sections on analysis of variance, discriminant of qualitative data. analysis, log-linear models, and Geographic In- formation Systems. I've expanded the discus- Chapter 10, \"Qualitative Field Research\" sion of the difference between statistical and There is a new example from John Lofland on substantive significance. Finally, I've dropped the demolition of an old building. I've intro- the opening discussion of Mathematical Marvin duced the concepts of \"etic\" and \"emic\" ap- and math avoidance to help make space for the proaches to field research. I've more clearly dis- expansion of techniques. tinguished case studies from comparative case studies, and I've added discussions of virtual Chapter 17, \"Reading and Writing Social ethnography and autoethnography. Finally, Research\" There is a new section on organiz- there is a discussion of telephone and online ing a review of the literature. There's also an- focus groups. other new section on presenting papers and publishing articles-activities that students are Chapter 11, \"Unobtrusive Research\" I've pursuing with increased frequency. added both qualitative and quantitative ex- amples of content analysis and added a sec- As always, I've updated materials throughout tion on the consequences of globalization. the book. As an instructor, I'm constantly searching There are directions for downloading the Sta- for new and more effective ways of explaining so- tistical Abstract ofthe United States from the web. cial research to my own students; many of those I've also added discussions of Stark's The Rise of new explanations take the form of diagrams. You'll Christianity and Deflem's book on international find several new graphical illustrations in this edi- policing. tion. Once again, I've sought to replace aging re- search examples (except for the classics) with more

xviii Preface Advances in computer graphics have helped me communicate to the Wadsworth artists what I recent ones. I've also dropped some sections that I see in my head and would like to share with don't think do much for students anymore. students. I'm delighted with the new graphics in this edition. There's one small change I'm especially pleased with. From the very first edition, I've tried to retain Boxed examples and discussions Students my sanity while writing glossary definitions by in- tell me they like the boxed materials that high- cluding some (arguably) funny ones. As I was do- light particular ideas and studies, as well as ing this revision, I received suggested additions varying the format of the book. Beginning in from two students, both outside the United States. the tenth edition, I've been using boxes that I've included several of their definitions and will be focus on the ways the mass media use and mis- open to more student submissions in the future. use social research. As with each new edition, I would appreciate Running glossary Key terms are highlighted any comments you have about how the book can in the text, and definitions for each term are be improved. Its evolution over the past 30 years listed at the bottom of the page. This will help has reflected countless comments from students students learn the definitions of these terms and others. and locate them in each chapter to review them in context. Pedagogical Features Main Points At the end of each chapter, a Although students and instructors both have told concise list of main points provides both a brief me that the past editions of this book were effective chapter summary and a useful review. The tools for learning research methods, I have used main points let students know exactly what this revision as an opportunity to review the book ideas they should focus on in each chapter. from a pedagogical standpoint, fine-tuning some elements, adding others. Here's the package we Key Terms A list of key terms follows the ended up with in the 11 th edition. main points. These lists reinforce the students' acquisition of necessary vocabulary. The new Chapter Overview Each chapter is preceded vocabulary in these lists is defined in context '''\"ith a pithy focus paragraph that highlights the in the chapters. The terms are boldfaced in the principal content of the chapter. text, defined in the running glossary that ap- Chapter Introduction Each chapter opens pears at the bottom of the page throughout the with an introduction that lays out the main text, and included in the glossary at the back of ideas in that chapter and, importantly, re- the book. lates them to the content of other chapters in the book. Review Questions and Exercises This re- Clear and provocative examples Students view aid allows students to test their under- often tell me that the examples-real and standing of the chapter concepts and apply hypothetical-have helped them grasp diffi- what they've learned. cult and/or abstract ideas, and this edition has many new examples as well as some that have Additional Readings In this section, I've in- proven particularly valuable in earlier editions. cluded an annotated list of references that stu- Graphics From the first time I took a course dents can turn to if they would like to learn in research methods, most of the key concepts more on the topics discussed in the chapter. have made sense to me in graphical form. Whereas my task here has been to translate SPSS Exercises and Online Study Re- those mental pictures into words, I've also in- sources This edition continues previous edi- cluded some graphical illustrations in the book. tions' movement into cyberspace. Students can use the annotated list of useful websites in this section, as well as other resources mentioned,

Preface xix to take their learning beyond the text and it heavily as a review of the text, and I count the classroom. exercises as half their grade in the course. Appendixes As in previous editions, a set of In this edition, Ted and I have once again appendixes provides students with some re- sorted through the exercises and added new ones search tools, such as a guide to the library, a we've created in our own teaching or heard about table of random numbers, and so forth. There from colleagues. These include matching, multiple- is an SPSS primer on the book's website along choice, and open-ended discussion questions for with primers for NVivo and Qualrus. each chapter, along with four to six exercises that use examples from everyday life to reinforce the Clear and accessible writing This is perhaps material learned in the text. Also included are the the most important \"pedagogical aid\" of alL I answers to the matching and multiple-choice re- know that all authors strive to write texts that view questions, as well as a General Social Survey are clear and accessible, and I take some pride appendix, plus chapter objectives, chapter sum- in the fact that this \"feature\" of the book has maries, and key terms. been one of its most highly praised attributes through its ten previous editions. It is the one SPSS Student Version CD-ROM 74.0 thing students write most often about. For the (Windows only) 11 th edition, the editors and I have taken spe- cial care to reexamine literally every line in the Based on the professional version of one of the book, pruning, polishing, embellishing, and world's leading desktop statistical software pack- occasionally restructuring for a maximally ages, SPSS Student Version for Windows provides \"reader-friendly\" text. Whether you're new to real-world software for students to do sociological this book or intimately familiar with previous data analysis, such as interpreting the GSS data sets editions, I invite you to open to any chapter found on the companion website. and evaluate the vvriting for yourself. Supplements SPSS Practice Workbook The Practice ofSodal Research, 11 th edition, is accom- This handy guide is coordinated with the text and panied by a wide array of supplements prepared for SPSS CD-ROM 14.0 to help students learn basic both the instructor and student to create the best navigation in SPSS, including how to enter their learning environment inside as well as outside the own data; create, save, and retrieve files; produce classroom. All the continuing supplements for The and interpret data summaries; and much more. Practice ofSocial Research, 11 th edition, have been Also included are SPSS practice exercises correlated thoroughly revised and updated, and several are with each chapter. The guides comes free when new to this edition. I invite you to examine and bundled with the text. take full advantage of the teaching and learning tools available to you. GSS Data Disk For the Student Over the years, the publisher and I have sought to provide up-to-date personal computer support for Guided Activities forThe Practice of students and instructors. Because there are now Social Research, 77th Edition many excellent programs for analyzing data, we've provided data to be used with them. With this edi- The student study guide and workbook Ted Wage- tion, we've updated the data disk to include the naar and I have prepared continues to be a main- 2004 GSS data. stay of my own teaching. Students tell me they use

xx Preface Experiencing Social Research: For the Instructor An Introduction Using MicroCase, 2nd Edition Instructor's Manual with Test Bank This supplementary workbook and statistical pack- age, written by David 1. Ayers of Grove City Col- This supplement offers the instructor brief chapter lege, includes short discussions, quizzes, and com- outlines, detailed chapter outlines, behavioral ob- puterized exercises in which students vvilliearn jectives, teaching suggestions and resources, Info- and apply key methodological concepts and skills TraceD College Edition exercises, Internet exercises, by analyzing, and in some cases collecting and and possible study guide answers. In addition, for building, simple data files for real sociological data. each chapter of the text, the Test Bank has 20-30 Designed to accompany The Practice ofSodal Re- multiple-choice questions, 10-15 true-false ques- search, the workbook and statistical package take tions, and 3-5 essay questions with answers and a step-by-step approach to show students how to page references. All questions are labeled as new, do real sociological research, using the same data modified, or pickup so instructors know if the and techniques used by professional researchers, question is new to this edition of the Test Bank to reinforce, build on, and complement course picked up but modified from the previous edition materials. of the Test Bank, or picked up straight from the previous edition. Readings in Social Research, 2nd Edition Exam View Computerized Testing The concepts and methodologies of social research for Macintosh and Windows come to life in this interesting collection of articles specifically designed to accompany The Praaice of This allows instructors to create, deliver, and cus- Soda I Research Diane Kholos Wysocki includes an tomize printed and online tests and study guides. interdisciplinary range of readings from the fields ExamView includes a Quick Test Wizard and an On- of psychology, sociology, social work criminal jus- line Test Wizard to guide instructors step-by-step tice, and political science. The articles focus on the through the process of creating tests. The test ap- important methods and concepts typically covered pears onscreen exactly as it will print or display on- in the social research course and provide an illus- line. Using ExamView's complete word-processing trative advantage. Organized by key concepts, each capabilities, instructors can enter an unlimited of the reader's II chapters begins with an introduc- number of new questions or edit questions in- tion highlighting and explaining the research con- cluded with ExamView. cept that each chapter's readings elucidate. Multimedia Manager with Instructor's Resources: Researching Sociology on the Intemet, 3rd Edition AMicrosoftB PowerPoint® Tool This guide is designed to help sociology students do This one-stop lecture and class preparation tool research on the Internet. Part One contains general makes it easy to assemble, edit, publish, and pre- information necessary to get started and answers sent custom lectures for a course, using Microsoft questions about security, the type of sociology ma- PowerPoint. The Multimedia Manager brings to- terial available on the Internet, the information gether art (figures, tables, maps) from this text, that is reliable and the sites that are not, the best preassembled Microsoft PowerPoint lecture slides, ways to find research, and the best links to take sociology-related videos, and video and animations students where they want to go. Part Two looks at from the web or your mVil materials-culminat- each main topic in sociology and refers students to ing in a powerful, personalized, media-enhanced sites where they can ?btain the most enlightening presentation. The CD-ROM also contains a full In- research and information. structor's Manual, Test Bank, and other instructor resources.

Preface xxi Internet-Based Supplements Companion Website for The Practice of Social Research, 71th Edition SociologyNow™: Research Methods The book's companion website (http://sociology This feature empowers students with the first .wadsworth.com/babbie_practicelIe) includes assessment-centered student tutorial system for chapter-specific resources for instructors and stu- Social Research/Research Methods. Seamlessly dents. For instructors, the site offers a password- tied to the new edition, this interactive web-based protected instructor's manual, Microsoft Power- learning tool helps students gauge their unique Point presentation slides, and more. For students, study needs with a \"pretest\" for each chapter to as- there is a multitude of text-specific study aids, in- sess their understanding of the material. They are cluding the follovving: then given a personalized study plan that offers interactive, visual and audio resources to help them G Tutorial practice quizzing that can be scored master the material. They can check their progress and emailed to the instructor with an interactive posttest as well. G Web links WebTutor™ Toolbox on Blackboard and Weba G InfoTrac College Edition exercises G Flashcards This web-based software for students and instruc- G GSS data sets tors takes a course beyond the classroom to an any- III Data analysis primers where, anytime environment. Students gain access G MicroCase Online data exercises to the rich content from this book's companion III Crossword puzzles websites. Available for WebCT and Blackboard only. InfoTrac College Edition with InfoMarks™ Thomson InSite for Writing and ResearchTM_ with Tumitin'E! Originality Checker Available as a free option with newly purchased texts, InfoTrac College Edition gives instructors and InSite features a full suite of writing, peer review, students four months of free access to an extensive online grading, and e-portfolio applications. It is an online database of reliable, full-length articles (not all-in-one tool that helps instructors manage the just abstracts) from thousands of scholarly and flow of papers electronically and allows students popular publications going back as far as 22 years. to submit papers and peer reviews online. Also Among the journals available are American JOlln1at included in the suite is Turnitin, an originality ofSodology, Sodal Forces, Sodal Research, and Sodology. checker that offers a simple solution for instructors InfoTrac College Edition now also comes with Info- who want a strong deterrent against plagiarism, Marks, a tool that allows you to save your search as well as encouragement for students to employ parameters, as well as save links to specific articles. proper research techniques. Access is available for (Available to North American college and univer- packaging with each copy of this book. For more sity students only; journals are subject to change.) information, visit http://insite.thomson.com.

It would be impossible to acknowledge adequately Kimberly Dugan, Eastern Connecticut State all the people who have influenced this book. My University earlier methods text, Survey Research Methods, was dedicated to Samuel Stouffer, Paul Lazarsfeld, Herman Gibson, Henderson State University and Charles Glock. I again acknowledge my Ellen Goldring, Peabody College, Vanderbilt debt to them. Susan Gore, University of Massachusetts at Boston I also repeat my thanks to those colleagues ac- knowledged for their comments during the writing Sarah Hurley, Arkansas State University of the first, second, and third editions of this book. Jana L Jasinski, University of Central Florida The present book still reflects their contributions. Ivlichael Kleiman, University of South Florida Many other colleagues helped me revise the book Augustine Kposowa, University of California, as well-including the amazing 110 instructors Riverside who took the time to respond to our electronic sur- vey\" Their feedback was invaluable. I also particu- Patrick E McManimon, Jr., William Patterson larly want to thank the instructors who reviewed University the manuscript of this edition and made helpful suggestions: Jared Schultz, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Melanie Arthur, Portland State University Craig Forsyth, University of Louisiana Thomas C. Wilson, Florida Atlantic University at Lafayette Gary Wyatt, Emporia State University Robert Kleidman, Cleveland State University I would also like to thank survey participants who Marci B. Littlefield, Indiana State University took the time to provide valuable information on Jeanne Mekolichick, Radford University several features of the book: Bruce H. Wade, Spelman College James T. Ault, III, Creighton University Also, I appreciate the insights and assistance of Paul Calarco, SUNY at Albany those who reviewed the previous edition: Roy Childs, University of the Pacific Liz Depoy, University of Maine Victor Agadjanian, Arizona State University Pat Fisher, University of Tennessee Pat Christian, Canisius College Robert Gardner, Bowdoin College William T. Clute, University of Nebraska Elizabeth Jones, California University at Omaha of Pennsylvania Barbara Keating, Minnesota State University, Marian A. O. Cohen, Framingham State College Mankato xxii

Acknowledgments xxiii 1. David Martin, Ivlidwestern State University to acknowledge Wendy Gordon for her inspired marketing efforts, making sure everyone on the Patrick A. Moore, University of Great Falls planet is aware of the book; Dee Dee Zobian for breaking new ground in publishing with her work I also ,vish to thank Anne Baird, Morehouse on the website and other technology supplements; College; Rae Banks, Syracuse University; Roland Elise Smith for managing the development of all of Chilton, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; the useful print supplements to round out the M. Richard Cramer, University of North Carolina, teaching package; and Matt Ballantyne for shep- Chapel Hill; Joseph Fletcher, University of Toronto; herding the countless pieces and people required Shaul Gabbay, University of Illinois, Chicago; Mar- to turn a manuscript into a book. cia Ghidina, University of North Carolina, Ashe- ville; Roland Hawkes, Southern illinois University; I also wish to thank Greg Hubit for managing Jeffrey Jacques, Florida A&M University; Daniel J. all the critical production processes >vith great skill, Klenow, North Dakota State University; Wanda and Carolyn Deacy for the creative new design for Kosinski, Ramapo College, New Jersey; Manfred the book. Kuechler, CUNY Hunter College; Cecilia Menjivar, Arizona State University; Joan Morris, University Molly Roth is the standard by which copy edi- of Central Florida; Alisa Potter, Concordia College; tors should be judged, though that might set the Zhenchoa Qian, Arizona State University; Rob- standard too high. Molly and I have worked to- ert W. Reynolds, Weber State University; Laurie K. gether on several books now, and she is simply the Scheuble, Doane College; Beth Anne Shelton, Uni- best. She successfully walks the thin line that sepa- versity of Texas, Arlington; Matthew Sloan, Uni- rates a reluctance to say the author failed and a de- versity of Wisconsin, Madison; Bernard Sorof- light in saying it. I have never felt she let me get man, University of Iowa; Ron Stewart; Randy away >vith anything, nor have I felt anything but Stoecker, University of Toledo; Theodore Wage- the highest support for my intention. Somehow, naar, Ivliami University, Ohio; Robert Wolf, Eastern Molly can see what I'm trying to say and can of- Connecticut State University; and Jerome Wolfe, ten find ways of saying it more clearly and more University of Miami. powerfully. Over the years, I've become more and more Ted Wagenaar has contributed extensively to impressed by the important role played by editors this book. Ted and I coauthor the accompanying in books like this. Although an author's name ap- student study guide, Guided Activities for Practicing pears on the book's spine, much of its backbone Social Research, but that's only the tip of the ice- derives from the strength of its editors. Since 1973 berg. Ted is a cherished colleague, welcome I've worked >vith many sociology editors at Wads- critic, good friend, and altogether decent hu- worth, which has involved the kinds of adjust- man being. ments you might need to make in successive mar- riages. As this book was gearing up for revision, the The II th edition of the book benefited from developmental editor, Sherry Symington, took edi- the assistance of a young sociologist you'll see and torial responsibility for this II th edition, and she hear more of in the future: Sandrine Zerbib, a first- immediately showed herself to be in command of rate methodologist and scholar, working both the the process. This is a new partnership, and I'm qualitative and quantitative sides of the street. She thrilled by the prospect of working together >vith is particularly sensitive to feminist perspectives, her in the future. I also look forward to working and her experiences as a woman add a new dimen- >vith my new acquistions editor, Chris Caldeira, sion to the sociomethodological concerns we share\" who came on board recently. Sandrine's efforts are most apparent in Chapters 10 and 13. There are also others at Wadsworth whose tal- ents have had an impact on this book. I would like I've dedicated this book to my wife, Sheila, who has contributed greatly to its origin and evolu- tion. Sheila and I first met when she was assigned

xxiv Acknowledgments to assist me on a project I was supervising at UC lure, My gratitude to Sheila, however, extends well Berkeley's Survey Research CenteL* We've worked beyond our research activities, She is a powerful on numerous research projects during 40 years of partner in life. Her insight and support take me al- marriage, and I suppose we'll do more in the fu- ways to the horizon of my purpose and allow me to look beyond, There's no way to thank her ade- *1 have always enjoyed saying Sheila married her boss, but quately for that. 40 years later, it seems possible to me that I married mine,

i I I

cience is afamiliar word; everyone uses it. Yet, images of science differ greatly. For some, sci- ence is mathematics; for others, it's white coats and laboratories. It's often confused with technology or equated with tough high school or college courses. Science is, of course, none of these things per se. It is difficult, however, to specify exactly what science is. Scientists themselves disagree on the proper definition. For the purposes of this book, we look at science as a method of inquiry-a way of learning and knowing things about the world around us. Contrasted with other ways of learning and knowing about the world, science has some special characteristics. It is aconscious, delib- erate, and rigorous undertaking. Sometimes it uses sta- tistical analyses, but often it does not. We'll examine these and other traits in this opening set of chapters. Dr. Benjamin Spack, the r~nowned author and pedi- atrician, began his books on .child care by assuring new parents that they already know more about child care than they think they do. I want to begin this book on a

I• I I• similar note. Before you've read very far, you will realize theoretical paradigms that shape the nature of inquiry that you already know agreat deal about the practice of and largely determine what scientists look for and how social research. In fact, you've been condu(ting research they interpret what they see. all your life. From that perspettive, the purpose of this book is to help you sharpen skills you already have and Whereas most of this book deals with the scientific perhaps to show you some tricks that may not have oc- concerns of social research, Chapter 3 introduces two curred to you. other important concerns: the ethics and politics of re- search. Researchers are governed by aset of ethical Part 1 of this book lays the groundwork for the rest constraints that reflect ideals and values aimed at help- of the book by examining the fundamental characteris- ing, not harming, people. Social research is also shaped tics and issues that make science different from other by the fact that it operates within the political codes and ways of knowing things. In Chapter 1, we'll begin with systems of the societies it seeks to study and under- alook at native human inquiry, the sort of thing you've stand. These two topics appear throughout the book as been dOing all your life. In the course of that examina- critical components of social research. tion, we'll see some of the ways people go astray in try- ing to understand the world around them, and I'll sum- The overall purpose of Part 1 is to construtt aback- marize the primary chara(teristics of scientific inquiry drop against which to view the specifics of research de- that guard against those errors. sign and execution. After completing Part 1, you'll be ready to look at some of the more concrete aspetts of Chapter 2 deals with social theories and the links social research. between theory and research. We'll look at some of the 1

Human Inquiry and Science Introduction Some Dialectics of Social Research Looking for Reality Ordinary Human Inquiry Idiographic and Tradition Nomothetic Explanation Authority Inductive and Deductive Errors in Inquiry, and Theory Some Solutions Qualitative and What's Really Real? Quantitative Data Pure and Applied Research The Foundations of Social Science The Ethics of Social Research Voluntary Participation Theory, Not Philosophy or No Harm to Subjects Belief Social Regularities Aggregates, Not Individuals A Variable Language Sociologyi@Now'\": Research Methods Use this online tool to help you make the grade on your next exam. Aiter reading this chapter, go to the \"Online Study Resources\" at the end of the chapter for instructions on how to benefit from SociologyNow: Research Methods.

Introduction 3 Introduction by means of personal experience and discovery alone, things are set up so we can simply believe This book is about knowing things-not so much what others tell us. We know some things through !Vhat we know as ho!V we know it. Let's start by ex- tradition and some things from \"experts.\" I'm not amining a few things you probably know already. saying you shouldn't question this received knowl- edge; I'm just draHring your attention to the way You know the world is round. You probably you and society normally get along regarding also know it's cold on the dark side of the moon, ''1'hat's so. and you know people speak Chinese in China. You know that vitamin C can prevent colds and that There are other ways of knowing things, how- unprotected sex can result in AIDS. ever. In contrast to knowing things through agree- ment, we can know them through direct experi- How do you know? Unless you've been to the ence-through observation. If you dive into a dark side of the moon lately or done experimental glacial stream fIoHring through the Canadian Rock- research on the virtues of vitamin C, you know ies, you don't need anyone to tell you it's cold. The these things because somebody told them to you, first tin1e you stepped on a thorn, you knew it hurt and you believed what you were told. You may before anyone told you. have read in National Geographic that people speak Chinese languages in China, and that made sense When our experience conflicts with what to you, so you didn't question it. Perhaps your everyone else knows, though, there's a good physics or astronomy instructor told you it was cold chance we'll surrender our experience in favor of on the dark side of the moon, or maybe you heard the agreement. it on National Public Radio (NPR). Let's take an example. Imagine you've come to Some of the things you know seem absolutely a party at my house. It's a high-class affair. and the obvious to you. If someone asked you how you drinks and food are excellent. In particular, you're know the world is round, you'd probably say, taken by one of the appetizers I bring around on a \"Everybody knows that.\" There are a lot of things tray: a breaded, deep-fried appetizer that's espe- everybody knows. Of course, everyone used to cially zesw You have a couple-they're so deli- \"know\" that the world was fIat. cious! You have more. Soon you're subtly moving around the room to be wherever I am when I ar- Most of what you and I know is a matter of rive with a tray of these nibblies. agreement and belief. Little of it is based on per- sonal experience and discovery. A big part of Finally, you can't contain yourself any more. growing up in any society, in fact, is the process of \"What are they?\" you ask. \"How can I get the learning to accept what everybody around us recipe?\" And I let you in on the secret: \"You've \"knows\" is so. If you don't know those same things, been eating breaded, deep-fried worms!\" Your re- you can't really be a part of the group. If you sponse is dramatic: Your stomach rebels, and you were to question seriously whether the world is throw up all over the living-room rug. Argh! What really round, you'd quickly find yourself set apart a terrible thing to serve guests! from other people. You might be sent to live in a hospital 'with other people who question things The point of the story is that both of your feel- like that. ings about the appetizer were quite reaL Your ini- tialliking for them, based on your own direct Although most of what we know is a matter of experience, was certainly real. But so was the feel- believing what we've been told, there is nothing ing of disgust you had when you found out that wrong 'with us in that respect. It is simply the way you'd been eating worms. It should be evident, human societies are structured, and it is a quite however, that this feeling of disgust was strictly a useful quality. The basis of knowledge is agree- product of the agreements you have with those menL Because we can't learn all we need to know around you that worms aren't fit to eat. That's an

4 Chapter 1: Human Inquiry and Science agreement you entered into the first time your support: It must make sense, and it must not con- parents found you sitting in a pile of dirt with half tradict actual observation. Why do earthbound of a wriggling worm dangling from your lips. When scientists accept the assertion that the dark side of they pried your mouth open and reached down the moon is cold? First, it makes sense, because your throat in search of the other half of the worm, the moon's surface heat comes from the sun's rays, you learned that worms are not acceptable food in and the dark side of the moon is dark because it's our society. turned away from the sun. Second, scientific mea- surements made on the moon's dark side confirm Aside from these agreements, what's wrong this logical expectation. So, scientists accept the re- with worms? They are probably high in protein ality of things they don't personally experience- and low in calories. Bite-sized and easily packaged, they accept an agreement reality-but they have they are a distributor's dream. They are also a deli- special standards for doing so. cacy for some people who live in societies that lack our agreement that worms are disgusting. Some More to the point of this book, however, sci- people might love the worms but be turned off by ence offers a special approach to the discovery of the deep-fried breading. reality through personal experience. In other words, it offers a special approach to the business Here's another question to consider: \"Are of inquiry. Epistemology is the science of knowing; worms 'really' good or 'really' bad to eat?\" And methodology (a subfield of epistemology) might be here's a more interesting question: \"How could you called the science of finding out. This book presents know which was really so?\" This book is about an- and examines social science methodology, or swering the second kind of question. how social scientists find out about human social life. The rest of this chapter looks at how we know what is real. We'll begin by examining inquiry as a Why do we need social science to discover natural human activity, something we all have en- the reality of social life? TO find out, let's first gaged in every day of our lives. We'll look at the consider what happens in ordinary, nonscientific source of everyday knowledge and at some kinds of inquiry. errors we make in normal inquiry. We'll then ex- amine what makes science-in particular, social Ordinary Human Inquiry science-different. After considering some of the underlying ideas of social research, we'll conclude Practically all people, and many other animals as with an initial consideration of issues in social well, exhibit a desire to predict their future circum- research. stances. Humans seem predisposed to undertake this task by using causal and probabilistic reason- looking for Reality ing. First, we generally recognize that future cir- cumstances are somehow caused or conditioned by Reality is a tricky business. You probably already present ones. We learn that getting an education suspect that some of the things you \"know\" may will affect how much money we earn later in life not be true, but how can you really know what's and that swimming beyond the reef may bring an real? People have grappled with this question for unhappy encounter with a shark. Sharks, on the thousands of years. other hand-whether or not they reason the mat- ter through-may learn that hanging around the One answer that has arisen out of that grap- reef often brings a happy encounter with unhappy pling is science, which offers an approach to both swimmers. agreement reality and experiential reality. Scientists have certain criteria that must be met before they Second, we also learn that such patterns of will accept the reality of something they have not cause and effect are probabilistic in nature. That is, personally experienced. In general, a scientific the effects occur more often when the causes occur assertion must nave both logical and empirical than when the causes are absent-but not always.

looking for Reality 5 Thus, students learn that studying hard produces Tradition good grades in most instances, but not every tinle. We recognize the danger of swimming beyond the Each of us inherits a culture made up, in part, of reef, without believing that every such swim will firmly accepted knowledge about the workings be fatal. As we'll see throughout the book, science of the world. We may learn from others that plant- makes these concepts of causality and probability ing corn in the spring ,viII garner the greatest assis- more explicit and provides techniques for dealing tance from the gods, that eating too much candy with them more rigorously than casual human in- will decay our teeth, that the circumference of a quiry does. It sharpens the skills we already have circle is approximately twenty-two sevenths of its by making us more conscious, rigorous, and ex- diameter, or that masturbation will blind us. We plicit in our inquiries. may test a few of these \"truths\" on our own, but we simply accept the great majority of them. These In looking at ordinary human inquiry, we need are the things that \"everybody knows.\" to distinguish between prediction and understand- ing. Often, we can make predictions without Tradition, in this sense of the term, offers some understanding-perhaps you can predict rain dear advantages to human inquiry. By accepting when your trick knee aches. And often, even if we what everybody knows, we avoid the overwhelm- don't understand why, we're willing to act on the ing task of starting from scratch in our search for basis of a demonstrated predictive ability. A race- regularities and understanding. Knowledge is cu- track buff who discovers that the third-ranked mulative, and an inherited body of information and horse in the third race of the day always seems to understanding is the jumping-off point for the de- win will probably keep betting without knowing, velopment of more knowledge. We often speak of or caring, why it works out that way. Of course, the \"standing on the shoulders of giants,\" that is, on drawback in predicting without understanding will those of previous generations. be powerfully evident when one of the other horses wins and our buff loses a week's pay. At the same time, tradition may hinder human inquiry. If we seek a fresh understanding of some- Whatever the primitive drives or instincts that thing everybody already understands and has al- motivate human beings and other animals, satisfy- ways understood, we may be marked as fools for ing these drives depends heavily on the ability to our efforts. More to the point. however, it rarely predict future circumstances. For people, however, occurs to most of us to seek a different understand- the attempt to predict is often placed in a context of ing of something we all \"know\" to be true. knowledge and understanding. If you can under- stand why things are related to each other, why Authority certain regular patterns occur, you can predict bet- ter than if you simply observe and remember those Despite the power of tradition, new knowledge ap- patterns. Thus, human inquiry aims at answering pears every day. Quite aside from our own personal both \"what\" and \"why\" questions, and we pursue inquiries, we benefit throughout our lives from these goals by observing and figuring out. new discoveries and understandings produced by others. Often, acceptance of these new acquisitions As I suggested earlier in this chapter, our at- depends on the status of the discoverer. You're tempts to learn about the world are only partly more likely to believe that the common cold can be linked to direct, personal inquiry or experience. transmitted through kissing, for example, when Another, much larger, part comes from the agreed- you hear it from an epidemiologist than when you on knowledge that others give us, those things hear it from your uncle Pete (unless, of course, he's \"everyone knows.\" This agreement reality both as- also an epidemiologist). sists and hinders our attempts to find out for our- selves. To see how, consider two important sources Like tradition, authority can both assist and of our secondhand knowledge-tradition and hinder human inquiry. We do well to trust the authority. judgment of the person who has special training,

6 Chapter 1: Human Inquiry and Science expertise, and credentials in a given matter, espe~ observation more deliberate helps reduce error. If cially in the face of controversy. At the same time, you had to guess what your instructor was wearing inquiry can be greatly hindered by the legitinlate on the first day of class, you'd probably make a authorities who err within their own province. Bi- mistake. If you had gone to the first class with a ologists, after all, make their mistakes in the field of conscious plan to observe and record what your biology Moreover, biological knowledge changes instructor was wearing, however, you'd be far overtime. more likely to be accurate. (You might also need a hobby.) Inquiry is also hindered when we depend on the authority of experts speaking outside their In many cases, both simple and complex mea- realm of expertise. For example, consider the politi- surement devices help guard against inaccurate ob- calor religious leader vl'ith no medical or biochemi- servations. Moreover. they add a degree of preci- cal expertise who declares that marijuana can fry sion well beyond the capacity of the unassisted your brain. The advertising industry plays heavily human senses. Suppose, for example, that you had on this misuse of authority by, for example, having taken color photographs of your instructor that day. popular athletes discuss the nutritional value of (See earlier comment about needing a hobby.) breakfast cereals or having movie actors evaluate the performance of automobiles. Overgeneralization Both tradition and authority, then, act as When we look for patterns among the specific double-edged swords in the search for knowledge things we observe around us, we often assume that about the world. Simply put, they provide us with a few similar events provide evidence of a general a starting point for our own inquiry, but they can pattern. That is, we overgeneralize on the basis of lead us to start at the wrong point and push us off limited observations. (Think back to our now-broke in the wrong direction. racetrack buff.) Errors in Inquiry, and Some Solutions Probably the tendency to overgeneralize peaks when the pressure to arrive at a general under- Quite aside from the potential dangers of tradition standing is high. Yet it also occurs without such and authority, we often stumble and fall when we pressure. Whenever overgeneralization does occur, set out to learn for ourselves. Let's look at some of it can misdirect or impede inquiry. the common errors we make in our casual inquiries and at the ways science guards against those errors. Inlagine you are a reporter covering an animal- rights demonstration. You have orders to turn in Inaccurate Observations your story in just two hours, and you need to know why people are demonstrating. Rushing to the Quite frequently. we make mistakes in our obser- scene, you start interviewing them, asking for their vations. For example, what was your methodology reasons. The first three demonstrators you inter- instructor wearing on the first day of class? If you view give you essentially the same reason, so you have to guess, it's because most of our daily obser- simply assume that the other 3,000 are also there vations are casual and semiconscious. That's why for that reason. Unfortunately, when your story ap- we often disagree about what really happened. pears, your editor gets scores of letters from protest- ers who were there for an entirely different reason. In contrast to casual human inquiry, scientific observation is a conscious activity. Simply making Scientists often guard against overgeneraliza- tion by committing themselves in advance to a replication Repeating a research study to test and sufficiently large and representative sample of ob- either confirm or question the findings of an earlier servations. Another safeguard is provided by the study. replication of inquiry. Basically, replication means repeating a study and checking to see whether the same results are produced each time. Then, as a

looking for Reality 7 further test. the study may be repeated again under Illogical Reasoning slightly varied conditions. There are other ways in which we often deal with Selective Observation observations that contradict our understanding of the way things are in daily life. Surely one of the One danger of overgeneralization is that it can lead most remarkable creations of the human mind is to selective observation. Once we have concluded \"the exception that proves the rule.\" That idea that a particular pattern exists and have developed doesn't make any sense at alL An exception can a general understanding of why it exists, we tend draw attention to a rule or to a supposed rule, but to focus on future events and situations that fit the in no system of logic can it prove the rule it contra- pattern, and we tend to ignore those that do not. dicts. Even so, we often use this pithy saying to Racial and ethnic prejudices depend heavily on se- brush away contradictions with a simple stroke lective observation for their persistence. of illogic Sometimes a research design will specify in ad- What statisticians have called the gambler's fal- vance the number and kind of observations to be lac)' is another illustration of illogic in day-to-day made, as a basis for reaching a conclusion. If we reasoning. Often we assume that a consistent run wanted to learn whether women were more likely of either good or bad luck foreshadows its opposite. than men to support freedom to choose an abor- An evening of bad luck at poker may kindle the be- tion, vve would commit ourselves to making a lief that a v'{inning hand is just around the corner. specified number of observations on that question Many a poker player has stayed in a game much in a research project. We might select a thousand too long because of that mistaken belief. Con- carefully chosen people to be interviewed on the is- versely, an extended period of good weather may sue. Alternately, when making direct observations lead you to worry that it is certain to rain on the of an event. such as attending the animal-rights weekend picnic demonstration, we might make a special effort to find \"deviant cases\"-precisely those who do not Although all of us sometimes fall into embar- fit into the general pattern. Concluding that one rassingly illogical reasoning, scientists try to avoid youth became delinquent largely because of a lack this pitfall by using systems of logic consciously and of positive adult role models draws attention to the explicitly. We'll examine the logic of science in part role models play in keeping most youths on more depth in Chapter 2. For now, simply note the straight and narrow. that logical reasoning is a conscious activity for sci- entists and that other scientists are always around In this recollection of growing up in rural Ver- to keep them honest. mont. Levvis Hill (2000: 35) presents another ex- ample of selective observation: Science, then, attempts to protect its inquiries from the common pitfalls of ordinary inquiry. Ac- Haying began right after the Fourth of JUly. curately observing and understanding reality is not The farmers in our neighborhood believed an obvious or trivial matter. Indeed, it's more com- that anyone who started earlier was sure to suf- plicated than I've suggested. fer all the storms of late June in addition to those following the holiday which the old- What's Really Real? timers said were caused by all the noise and smoke of gunpowder burning. My mother Philosophers sometimes use the phrase Ilaive realism told me that my grandfather and other Civil to describe the way most of us operate in our daily War veterans claimed it always rained hard lives. When you sit at a table to write, you probably after a big battle. Things didn't always work don't spend a lot of time thinking about whether out the way the older residents promised, of the table is really made up of atoms, which in turn course, but everyone remembered only the are mostly empty space. When you step into the times they did. street and see a city bus hurtling down on you, it's

8 Chapter 1: Human Inquiry and Science not the best time to reflect on methods for testing Adopting the modern view is easy for most of whether the bus really exists. We all live with a us. Some might regard a dandelion as a beautiful view that what's real is pretty obvious-and that flower, whereas others see only an annoying view usually gets us through the day. weed. In the premodern view, a dandelion has to be either one or the other. If you think it is a I don't want this book to interfere with your weed, it is really a weed, though you may admit ability to deal with everyday life. I hope, however, that some people have a warped sense of beauty. that the preceding discussions have demonstrated In the modern view, a dandelion is simply a dande- that the nature of \"reality\" is perhaps more com- lion. It is a plant with yellow petals and green plex than we tend to assume in our everyday func- leaves. The concepts \"beautiful flower\" and \"an- tioning. Here are three views on reality that will noying weed\" are subjective points of view im- provide a philosophical backdrop for the discus- posed on the plant by different people. Neither is a sions of science to follow. They are sometimes quality of the plant itself, just as \"good\" and \"evil\" called premodern, modem, and postmodel71 views of were concepts imposed on the spirits in the tree in reality (W Anderson 1990) . our example. The Premodern View The Postmodem View This view of reality has guided most of human his- Increasingly, philosophers speak of a postmodel71 tory Our early ancestors all assumed that they saw view of reality. In this view, the spirits don't exist. things as they really were. In fact, this assumption Neither does the dandelion. All that's \"real\" are the was so fundamental that they didn't even see it as images we get through our points of view. Put dif- an assumption. No cavemom said to her cavekid, ferently, there's nothing \"out there\"; it's all \"in \"Our tribe makes an assumption that evil spirits here.\" As Gertrude Stein said of the city of Oak- reside in the Old Twisted Tree.\" No, she said, land, \"There's no there, there.\" \"STAY OUT OF THAT TREE OR YOU'LL TURN INTO A TOAD!\" No matter how bizarre the postmodern view may seem to you on first reflection, it has a certain As humans evolved and became aware of their ironic inevitability. Take a moment to notice the diversity, they came to recognize that others did not book you are reading; notice specifically what it always share their views of things. Thus, they may looks like. Because you are reading these words, it have discovered that another tribe didn't buy the probably looks something like Figure 1-1 a. wicked tree thing; in fact, the second tribe felt that the spirits in the tree were holy and beneficiaL The Does Figure 1-1 a represent the way your discovery of this diversity led members of the first book \"really\" looks? Or does it merely repre- tribe to conclude that \"some tribes I could name sent what the book looks like from your current are pretty stupid.\" For them, the tree was still wicked, and they expected that some misguided point of view? Surely, Figures 1-1b, c. and dare people would soon be moving to Toad City. equally valid representations. But these views of The Modem View the book differ greatly from each other. Which is the \"reality\"? What philosophers call the modem view accepts such diversity as legitimate, a philosophical \"differ- As this example illustrates, there is no answer ent strokes for different folks.\" As a modern thinker, to the question \"What does the book really look you would say, \"I regard the spirits in the tree as evil, like?\" All we can offer is the different ways it looks but I know that others regard them as good. Neither from different points of view. Thus, according to of us is right or wrong. There are simply spirits in the postmodern view, there is no \"book,\" only vari- the tree. They are neither good nor evil, but differ- ous images of it from different points of view. And ent people have different ideas about them.\" all the different images are equally \"true.\" Now let's apply this logic to a social situation. Imagine a husband and wife arguing. When she

Looking for Reality 9 a. b. c. d. FIGURE 1-3 FIGURE 1·1 Husband's Point of View. The husband has avery different ABook. All of these are the same book, but it looks different perception of the same set of events, of course. when viewed from different locations, perspectives, or \"points of view:' FIGURE 1-2 Of course, what the woman's husband sees is Wife's Point of View. There is no question in the wife's mind another matter altogether, as shown in Figure 1-3. as to who is right and rational and who is out of control. Take a minute to imagine experiencing the situa- tion from his point of view. What thoughts and looks over at her quarreling husband, Figure 1-2 is feelings would you have? How would you tell your what the wife sees. Take a minute to imagine what best friend what had happened? What solutions you would feel and think if you were the woman would seem appropriate for resolving the conflict? in this drawing. How would you eXlllain later to your best friend what had happened? What solu- Now consider a third point of view. Suppose tions to the conflict would seem appropriate if you you are an outside observer, watching this interac- were this woman? tion between a wife and husband. What would it look like to you now? Unfortunately, we can't eas- ily portray the third point of view without knovving something about the personal feelings, beliefs, past experiences, and so forth that you would bring to your task as outside observer. (Though I call you an \"outside\" observer, you are, of course, observing from inside your own mental system.) To take an extreme example, if you were a confirmed male chauvinist, you'd probably see the fight pretty much the same way that the husband saw it. On the other hand, if you were conmlitted to the view that men are generally unreasonable bums, you'd see things the way the vvife saw them in the earlier picture. Inlagine that instead you see two unreasonable people quarreling irrationally with each other.

10 Chapter 1: Human Inquiry and Science Would you see them both as irresponsible jerks, Let's turn now from general philosophical equally responsible for the conflict? Or would you ideas to the foundations of social scientific ap- see them as two people facing a difficult human sit- proaches to understanding. A consideration of uation, each doing the best he or she can to resolve these underpinnings of social researcl1 vvill prepare it? Imagine feeling compassion for them and notic- the way for our exploration of specific research ing how each of them attempts to end the hostility, techniques. even though the gravity of the problem keeps them fighting. The Foundations of Social Science Notice how different these several views are. Which is a \"true\" picture of what is happening be- Science is sometimes characterized as logico- tween the wife and the husband? You win the empirical. This ungainly term carries an important prize if you notice that the personal vie''Vpoint you message: As we noted earlier, the two pillars of sci- bring to the observational task will again color your ence are logic and observation. That is, a scientific perception of what is happening. understanding of the world must both make sense and correspond to what we observe. Both elements The postmodern view represents a critical are essential to science and relate to the three ma- dilemma for scientists. Although their task is to ob- jor aspects of social scientific enterprise: theory, serve and understand vvhat is \"really\" happening, data collection, and data analysis. they are all human and, as such, bring along personal orientations that will color what they ob- To oversimplify just a bit, scientific theory serve and how they explain it. There is ultimately deals with the logical aspect of science, whereas no way people can totally step outside their llll- data collection deals with the observational aspect. manness to see and understand the world as it Data analysis looks for patterns in observations and, \"really\" is-that is, independently of all human where appropriate, compares what is logically ex- viewpoints. pected with what is actually observed. Although this book is primarily about data collection and Whereas the modern view acknowledges the data analysis-that is, how to conduct social inevitability of human subjectivity, the postmodern research-the rest of Part 1 is devoted to the theo- view suggests there is actually no \"objective\" reality retical context of research. Parts 2 and 3 then focus to be observed in the first place. There are only our on data collection, and Part 4 offers an introduction several subjective views. to the analysis of data. You may want to ponder these three views of Underlying the concepts presented in the rest reality on your own for awhile. We'll return to of the book are some fundamental ideas that distin- them in Chapter 2 when we focus on specific sci- guish social science-theory, data collection, and entific paradigms. Ultimately, two points ,viII analysis-from other ways of looking at social phe- emerge. First, established scientific procedures nomena. Let's consider these ideas. sometimes allow us to deal effectively with this dilemma-that is, we can study people and help Theory Not Philosophy or Belief them through their difficulties without being able to view \"reality\" directly. Second, different philo- Today, social theory has to do vvith what is, not sophical stances suggest a powerful range of possi- with what should be. For many centuries, how- bilities for structuring our research. ever, social theory did not distinguish between these two orientations. Social philosophers liberally theory A systematic explanation for the observa- mixed their observations of what happened around tions that relate to a particular aspect of life: juvenile delinquency, for example, or perhaps social stratifi- cation or political revolution.

The Foundations of Social Science 11 them, their speculations about why, and their ideas criteria for deciding what outcomes are better than about how things ought to be. Although modern others-an agreement that seldom occurs. social researchers may do the same from time to time, as scientists they focus on how things actually As I indicated earlier, even knowing \"what is are and why. and why\" is no simple task. Let's turn now to some of the fundamental ideas that underlie social This means that scientific theory-and, more science's efforts to describe and understand social broadly, science itself-cannot settle debates about reality values. Science cannot determine whether capital- ism is better or worse than socialism. What it can Social RegulariUes do is determine how these systems perform in terms of some set of agreed-on criteria. For ex- In large part, social research aims to find patterns ample, we could determine scientifically whether of regularity in social life. Although all the sciences capitalism or socialism most supports human dig- share that aim, it sometimes imposes a barrier for nity and freedom only if we first agreed on some people when they first approach social science. measurable definitions of dignity and freedom. Our conclusions would then be limited to the meanings Certainly at first glance the subject matter of specified in our definitions. They would have no the physical sciences seems to be more governed by general meaning beyond that. regularities than does that of the social sciences. A heavy object falls to earth every time we drop it, By the same token, if we could agree that sui- but a person may vote for a particular candidate in cide rates, say, or giving to charity were good mea- one election and against that same candidate in the sures of the quality of a religion, then we could next. Similarly, ice always melts when heated determine scientifically whether Buddhism or enough, but habitually honest people sometimes Christianity is the better religion. Again, our con- steaL Despite such examples, however, social affairs clusion would be inextricably tied to our chosen do exhibit a high degree of regularity that research criteria. As a practical matter, people seldom can reveal and theory can explain. agree on precise criteria for determining issues of value, so science is seldom useful in settling such To begin with, the tremendous number of for- debates. In fact questions like these are so much a mal norms in society create a considerable degree matter of opinion and belief that scientific inquiry of regularity. For example, traffic laws in the United is often viewed as a threat to what is \"already States induce the vast majority of people to drive known.\" on the right side of the street rather than the left. Registration requirements for voters lead to some We'll consider this issue in more detail in Chap- predictable patterns in which classes of people vote ter 12, when we look at evaluation research. As in national elections. Labor laws create a high de- you'll see, researchers have become increasingly in- gree of uniformity in the minimum age of paid volved in studying social programs that reflect ideo- workers as well as the minimum amount they are logical points of view, such as affirmative action or paid. Such formal prescriptions regulate, or regular- welfare reform. One of the biggest problems they ize, social behavior. face is getting people to agree on criteria of success and failure. Yet such criteria are essential if social Aside from formal prescriptions, we can ob- research is to tell us anything useful about matters serve other social norms that create more regulari- of value. By analogy, a stopwatch cannot tell us if ties. Among registered voters, Republicans are one sprinter is better than another unless we first more likely than Democrats to vote for Republican agree that speed is the critical criterion. candidates. University professors tend to earn more money than unskilled laborers do. Men tend to Social science, then, can help us know only earn more than women. And so on. what is and why We can use it to determine what ought to be, but only when people agree on the Three objections are sometimes raised in regard to such social regularities. First some of the

12 Chapter 1: Human Inquiry and Science regularities may seem trivial. For example, Republi- hand, an explanation that makes obvious good cans vote for Republicans; everyone knows that. sense isn't supported by the facts. Second, contradictory cases may be cited, indicat- ing that the \"regularity\" isn't totally regular. Some A lesser person would have set the problem laborers make more money than some professors aside \"for further study.\" Stouffer. however, looked do. Third, it may be argued that. unlike the heavy for an explanation for his observations, and eventu- objects that cannot decide /lot to fall when dropped, ally he found it. Robert Merton and other sociolo- the people involved in the regularity could upset gists at Columbia University had begun thinking the whole thing if they wanted to, and writing about something they called reference grollp tlze01Y. This theory says that people judge Let's deal with each of these objections in turn, their lot in life less by objective conditions than by comparing themselves with others around them- The Charge of Triviality their reference group. For example, if you lived among poor people, a salary of $50,000 a year During World War II. Samuel Stouffer. one of the would make you feel like a millionaire. But if you greatest social science researchers, organized a re- lived among people who earned $500,000 a year, search branch in the US. Army to conduct studies that same $50,000 salary would make you feel in support of the war effort (Stouffer et a!. 1949- impoverished. 1950). Many of the studies concerned the morale among soldiers, Stouffer and his colleagues found Stouffer applied this line of reasoning to the there was a great deal of \"common wisdom\" re- soldiers he had studied. Even if a particular MP had garding the bases of military morale, Much of their not been promoted for a long time, it was unlikely research was devoted to testing these \"obvious\" that he knew some less deserving person who had truths. gotten promoted more quickly. Nobody got pro- moted in the MPs. Had he been in the Air Corps- For example, people had long recognized that even if he had gotten several promotions in rapid promotions affect morale in the military. When succession-he would probably have been able to military personnel get promotions and the promo- point to someone less deserving who had gotten tion system seems fair, morale rises. Moreover, it even faster promotions. An MP's reference group, makes sense that people who are getting promoted then, was his fellow MPs, and the air corpsman will tend to think the system is fair, whereas those compared himself v'lith fellow corpsmen. Ultimately, passed over will likely think the system is unfair. then, Stouffer reached an understanding of sol- By extension, it seems sensible that soldiers in units diers' attitudes toward the promotion system that with slow promotion rates will tend to think the (1) made sense and (2) corresponded to the facts. system is unfair. and those in units with rapid pro- motions will think the system is fair. But was this This story shows that documenting the obvious the way they really felt? is a valuable function of any science, physical or so- cia!. Charles Darwin coined the phrase fool's experi- Stouffer and his colleagues focused their ment to describe much of his own research- studies on two units: the Military Police (MPs), research in which he tested things that everyone which had the slowest promotions in the Army, else \"already knew.\" As Darwin understood, the and the Army Air Corps (forerunner of the U.S. obvious all too often turns out to be wrong; thus, Air Force), which had the fastest promotions. It apparent triviality is not a legitimate objection to stood to reason that MPs would say the promotion any scientific endeavor. system was unfair. and the air corpsmen would say it was fair. The studies, however. showed just the What about Exceptions? opposite. The objection that there are always exceptions Notice the dilemma faced by a researcher in a to any social regularity does not mean that the situation such as this. On the one hand, the obser- regularity itself is unreal or unimportant. A partic- vations don't seem to make sense. On the other

The Foundations of Social Science 13 ular woman may well earn more money than most When these regularities change over time, social men, but that provides small consolation to the scientists can observe and explain those changes. majority of women, who earn less. The pattern still exists. Social regularities, in other words, are Aggregates, Not Individuals probabilistic patterns, and they are no less real sin1ply because some cases don't fit the general The regularities of social life that social scientists pattern. study generally reflect the collective behavior of many individuals. Although social scientists often This point applies in physical science as well study motivations that affect individuals, the as social science. Subatomic physics, for example, individual as such is seldom the subject of social is a science of probabilities. In genetics, the mating science. Instead, social scientists create theories of a blue-eyed person with a brown-eyed person about the nature of group, rather than individual. will probably result in a brown-eyed offspring. life. Sinillarly, the objects of their research are The birth of a blue-eyed child does not destroy typically aggregates, or collections, rather than the observed regularity, because the geneticist individuals. states only that the brown-eyed offspring is more likely and, further, that brown-eyed offspring will Sometimes the collective regularities are amaz- be born in a certain percentage of the cases. The ing. Consider the birthrate, for example, People social scientist makes a sin1ilar, probabilistic pre- have babies for any number of personal reasons. diction-that women overall are likely to earn Some do it because their own parents want grand- less than men. Once a pattern like this is observed, children. Some feel it's a way of completing their the social scientist has grounds for asking why it womanhood or manhood. Others want to hold exists, their marriages together. enjoy the ex-perience of raiSing children, perpetuate the family name, or People Could Interfere achieve a kind of immortality. Still others have ba- bies by accident. Finally, the objection that the conscious will of the actors could upset observed social regularities If you have fathered or given birth to a baby, does not pose a serious challenge to social science. you could probably tell a much more detailed, idio- This is true even though a parallel situation does syncratic story, Why did you have the baby when not appear to exist in the physical sciences. (Pre- you did, rather than a year earlier or later? Maybe sumably physical objects cannot violate the laws you lost your job and had to delay a year before you of physics, although the probabilistic nature of could afford to have the baby. Maybe you only felt subatomic physics once led some observers to pos- the urge to become a parent after someone close tulate that electrons had free wil!.) There is no to you had a baby. Everyone who had a baby last denying that a religious, right-wing bigot could go year had their own reasons for doing so. Yet. de- to the polls and vote for an agnostic, left-wing spite this vast diversity, and despite the idiosyncrasy African American if he wanted to upset political of each individual's reasons, the overall birthrate scientists studying the election. All voters in an in a society-the number of live births per 1.000 election could suddenly switch to the underdog population-is remarkably consistent from year to just to frustrate the pollsters. SinillarIy, workers year. See Table 1-1 for recent birthrates for the could go to work early or stay home from work United States, and thereby prevent the expected rush-hour traffic But these things do not happen often enough If the US. birthrate were 15.9, 35,6, 7.8, 28,9, to seriously threaten the observation of social and 16.2 in five successive years, demographers regularities, would begin dropping like flies. As you can see, however, social life is far more orderly than that. Social regularities, then, do exist. and social sci- Moreover. this regularity occurs without society- entists can detect them and observe their effects. -vvide regulation. No one plans how many babies will be born or determines who -vvill have them.

14 Chapter 1: Human Inquiry and Science TABLE 1-1 Imagine that someone says to you, \"Women ought to get back into the kitchen where they be- Birthrates, United States: 1980- 2002 * long.\" You're likely to hear that comment in terms of what you know about the speaker. If it's your 1980 15.9 1992 15.8 old uncle Harry who is also strongly opposed to 15.4 daylight saving time, zip codes, and personal com- 1981 15.8 1993 15.0 puters, you're likely to think his latest pronounce- 14.6 ment simply fits into his rather dated point of view 1982 15.9 1994 14.4 about things in generaL If, on the other hand, the 14.2 statement is muttered by an incumbent politician 1983 15.6 1995 14.3 trailing a female challenger in an election race, 14.2 you'll probably explain his comment in a com- 1984 15.6 1996 14.4 pletely different way. 14.1 1985 15.8 1997 13.9 In both examples, you're trying to understand the behavior of a particular individuaL Social re- 1986 15.6 1998 search seeks insights into classes or types of individ- uals. Social researchers would want to find out 1987 15.7 1999 aboLlt the kind of people who share that view of women's \"proper\" role. Do those people have other 1988 16.0 2000 characteristics in common that may help explain their views? 1989 1M 2001 Even when researchers focus their attention on 1990 16.7 2002 a single case study-such as a community or a juvenile gang-their aim is to gain insights that 1991 16.2 would help people understand other communities and other juvenile gangs. Similarly, the attempt to 'Live births per 1,000 population fully understand one individual carries the broader Source: U.s. Bureau of the Census,Statistical Abstractofthe United States purpose of understanding people or types of people in generaL (Washington, DC: u.s. Government Printing Office, laOS), Table 70, p60. When this venture into understanding and ex- You do not need a permit to have a baby; in fact, planation ends, social researchers will be able to many babies are conceived unexpectedly, and some make sense out of more than one person. In un- are borne unwillingly. derstanding what makes a group of people hostile to women who are active outside the home, they Social scientific theories, then, typically deal gain insight into all the individuals who share that with aggregated, not individual, behavior. Their characteristic. This is possible because, in an im- purpose is to explain why aggregate patterns of be- portant sense, they have not been studying anti- havior are so regular even when the individuals feminists as much as they have been studying anti- participating in them may change over time. We feminism. It might then turn out that Uncle Harry could even say that social scientists don't seek and the politician have more in common than first to explain people at alL They try to understand appeared. the systems in which people operate, the systems that e>..1Jlain why people do what they do. The Antifeminism is spoken of as a variable be- elements in such a system are not people but cause it varies. Some people display the attitude variables. more than others do. Social researchers are inter- ested in understanding the system of variables that A Variable Language causes a particular attitude to be strong in one in- stance and weak in another. Our most natural attempts at understanding usu- ally take place at the level of the concrete and idio- syncratic. That's just the way we think. variables Logical groupings of attributes. The variable gender is made of up of the attributes male and female.

The Foundations of Social Science 15 The idea of a system composed of variables may Female Age seem rather strange, so let's look at an analogy. The Upper class African American subject of a physician's attention is the patient. If Young Occupation the patient is ill, the physician's purpose is to help Social class Gender the patient get welL By contrast, a medical re- Race/ethnicity Plumber searcher's subject matter is different-the variables that cause a disease, for example. The medical re- Age Young, middle-aged, old searcher may study the physician's patient, but for Gender the researcher, that patient is relevant only as a car- Occupation Female, male rier of the disease. Race/ethnicity Plumber, lawyer, That is not to say that medical researchers don't data-entry clerk ... care about real people. They certainly do. Their ul- Social class timate purpose in studying diseases is to protect African American, Asian, people from them. But in their research, they are Caucasian, Latino .. . less interested in individual patients than they are in the patterns governing the appearance of the Upper, middle, lower .. . disease. In fact. when they can study a disease meaningfully without involving actual patients, FIGURE '-4 Variables and Attributes. In social research and Iheory, bolh they do so. variables and attributes represent social concepts. Variables Social research, then, involves the study of are sets of related attributes (categories, valUes). variables and their relationships. Social theories are male and female: \"The class is 60 percent men and written in a language of variables, and people get 40 percent women.\" An unemployment rate can be involved only as the \"carriers\" of those variables. thought of as a description of the variable employ- mellt SlafllS ofa laborforce in terms of the attributes Variables, in turn, have what social researchers employed and unell/ployed. Even the report of fami(v call attributes (or categories or values). Attributes income for a city is a summary of attributes compos- are characteristics or qualities that describe an ing that variable: 53.124; 510,980; S35,000; and so object-in this case, a person. Examples include fe- forth. male, Asian. alienated. collservarive, dishonest, intelligent, and fanner. Anything you might say to describe Sometimes the meanings of the concepts that yourself or someone else involves an attribute. lie behind social science concepts are immediately clear. Other times they aren't This point is dis- Variables. on the other hand, are logical group- cussed in \"The Hardest Hit Was, ..\" ings of attributes. Thus, for example, male and fe- male are attributes, and sex or gender is the variable The relationship between attributes and vari- composed of those two attributes. The variable ables is more complicated in the case of explanation occupation is composed of attributes such as farmer, and gets to the heart of the variable language of sci- professor, and truck driver. Social class is a variable entific theory. Here's a simple example, involving composed of a set of attributes such as upper class, two variables, educarioll and prejudice. For the sake middle class, and lOlVer class. Sometimes it helps to think of attributes as the categories that make up a attributes Characteristics of people or things. variable. (See Figure 1-4 for a schematic review of what social scientists mean by variables and attributes.) The relationship between attributes and vari- ables forms the heart of both description and expla- nation in science. For example, we might describe a college class in terms of the variable gender by re- porting the observed frequencies of the attributes

16 Chapter 1: Human Inquiry and Science Inearly i 982, adeadly storm ravaged the San Francisco Bay Area, leav- Business destroyed Marin SantaCruz ing an aftermath of death, injury, and property damage..As the mass People killed media sought to highlight the most tragic results ofthe storm, they People injured $1.50 million $565 million sometimes focused on several people who were buried alive in amud People displaced 5 22 slide in Santa Cruz Other times, They covered the plight of the 2,900 Homes destroyed 50 made homeless in Marin County Homes damaged 379 400 Businesses destroyed 370 135 Implicitly, everyone wanted to know where the worst damage Businesses damaged 28 300 Vias done, but the answer was not clear. Here are some data describing Private damages 2,900 10 the results of the storm in two counties. Marin and Santa Cruz. Look Public damages 25 35 over the comparisons and see ifyou can determine which county was 800 \"hardest hit\" $65.1 million $50.0 million $15.0 million $565 million Certainly, in terms of the loss of life, Santa Cruz was the\"hardest hit\" ofthe two counties Yet more than seven times as many people were in- The question can be answered only ifwe can specify what we jured in Marin as in Santa Cruz;certainly, Marin County was\"hardest hit\" mean by\"hardest hit\"lf we measure it by death toll, then Santa Cruz was in that regard. Or consider the number of homes destroyed (worse in the hardest hit.lf we choose to define the variable in terms ofpeople in- Santa Cruz) or damaged (worse in Marin) It matters which you focus on. jured and or displaced, then Marin was the bigger disaster.The simple The same dilemma holds true for the value of the damage done:Should fact is that we cannot answer the question without specifying exactly we pay more attention to private damage or public damage? what we mean by the term hardest hitJhis is afundamental require- ment that will arise again and again as we attempt to measure social sci- So which county was\"hardest hi(7 Ultimately, the question as ence variables. posed has no answer. Although you and Iboth have images in our minds about communities that are\"devastated\" or communities that are Data soufce;San Francisco Chranide.!anuary 13, 1982,p.16. only\"lightly touched,\"these images are not precise enough to permit rigorous measurements of simplicity, let's assume that the variable education are uneducated and prejudiced. Here are two other has only two attributes: educated and uneducated, useful ways of viewing that relationship. Similarly, let's give the variable prejudice two attri- butes: prejudiced and ul1prejudiced. First, let's suppose that we playa game in which we bet on your ability to guess whether a Now let's suppose that 90 percent of the uned- person is prejudiced or unprejudiced. I'll pick the ucated are prejudiced, and the other 10 percent are people one at a time (not telling you which ones unprejudiced. And let's suppose that 30 percent of I've picked), and you have to guess whether each the educated people are prejudiced, and the other person is prejudiced. We'll do it for all 20 people in 70 percent are unprejudiced, This is illustrated Figure 1- 5a. Your best strategy in this case would graphically in Figure 1-5a. be to guess prejudiced eadl time, because 12 out of the 20 are categorized that way. Thus, you'll get 12 Figure 1-5a illustrates a relationship or right and 8 wrong, for a net success of 4. association between the variables educatiol1 and prejudice. This relationship can be seen in terms of Now let's suppose that when I pick a person the pairings of attributes on the two variables. from the figure, I tell you whether the person is There are two predominant pairings: (1) those who educated or uneducated. Your best strategy now are educated and unprejudiced and (2) those who would be to guess prejudiced for each uneducated

The Foundations of Social Science 17 a. The uneducated are more prejudiced than the educated. b. There is no apparent relationship between education and prejudice. FIGURE 1-5 Relationship between Two Variables (Two Possibilities). Variables such as education and prejudice and their attributes (educated/ uneducated, prejudiced/unprejudiced) are the foundation for the examination·of causal relationships in social research. person and unprejudiced for each educated person. that the two variables were unrelated to each other. If you followed that strategy, you'd get 16 right KnOwing a person's education would not be of any and 4 wrong. Your improvement in guessing value to you in guessing whether that person was prejudice by knoi'ving education is an illustration prejudiced. of what it means to say that the variables are related. We'll be looking at the nature of relationships between variables in some depth in Part 4. In par- Second, by contrast, let's consider how the 20 ticular, we'll eX1Jlore some of the ways relationships people would be distributed if education and preju- can be discovered and interpreted in research analy- dice were unrelated to each other (Figure 1-5b). sis. For now, you need a general understanding of Notice that half the people are educated, and half relationships in order to appreciate the logic of so- are uneducated. Also notice that 12 of the 20 cial scientific theories. (60 percent) are prejudiced. If 6 of the 10 people in each group were prejudiced, we would conclude Theories describe the relationships we might logically expect between variables. Often, the

18 Chapter 1: Human Inquiry and Science expectation involves the idea of causation\" That is, a relationship between the two variables based on person's attributes on one variable are expected to what we know about eadL We know, for example, cause, predispose, or encourage a particular attri- that education ex'Poses people to a wide range of bute on another variable\" In the example just illus- cultural variation and to diverse points of view-in trated, we might theorize that a person's being edu- short, it broadens their perspectives\" Prejudice, on cated or uneducated causes a lesser or greater the other hand, represents a narrower perspective. likelihood of that person seeming prejudiced\" Logically, then, we might expect education and prejudice to be somewhat incompatible. We might As I'll discuss in more detail later in the book, therefore arrive at an expectation that increasing educarioll and prejudice in this example would be education would reduce the occurrence of preju- regarded as an independent variable and a dice, an eX'Pectation that would be supported by dependent variable, respectively\" These two our observations. concepts are implicit in causa!, or deterministic, models\" In this example, we assume that the likeli- Because Figure 1-5 has illustrated two possibili- hood of being prejudiced is determined or caused ties-that education reduces the likelihood of prej- by something. In other words, prejudice depends on udice or that it has no effect-you might be inter- something else, and so it is called the \"dependent\" ested in knowing what is actually the case. As one variable\" What the dependent variable depends on measure of prejudice, the 2002 General Social is an independent variable, in this case, education\" Survey (GSS) asked a national sample of adults in For the purposes of this study, educarioll is an \"inde- the United States why\" (Negroes/Blacks/African- pendent\" variable because it is independent of prej- Americans) have worse jobs, income, and housing udice (that is, people's level of education is not than white people.\" One of the possibilities offered caused by whether or not they are prejudiced)\" respondents was \"because most (Negroes/Blacks/ African-Americans) have less in-born ability to Of course, variations in levels of education can, learn.\" Only 12 percent of all the respondents said in turn, be found to depend on something else\" that was the reason for African Americans' disad- People whose parents have a lot of education, for vantaged status. Table 1-2 presents an analysis of example, are more likely to get a lot of education those data, grouping respondents according to their than are people \"whose parents have little educa- levels of educational attainment (See the box for tion\" In this relationship, the subject's education is more about the GSS.) the dependent variable, and the parents' education is the independent variable\" We can say the inde- Notice that the theory has to do 'with the tvvo pendent variable is the cause, the dependent vari- variables educarioll and prejudice, not ..vith people able the effect as such\" People are the carriers of those two vari- ables, so the relationship between the variables In our discussion of Figure 1-5, we looked at the distribution of the 20 people in terms of the TABLE 1-2 Percent saying two variables\" In constructing a social scientific the- Education and Racial Prejudice African Americans have less ory, we would derive an eX'Pectation regarding the inborn ability to learn Level ofEducation independent variable A variable with values that Less than high school graduate 26 are not problematical in an analysis bu t are taken as High school graduate simply given\" An independent variable is presumed Junior college 10 to cause or determine a dependent variable\" Bachelor's degree Graduate degree 15 dependent variable A variable assumed to de- pend on or be caused by another (called the inde- 6 pendent variable)\" If you find that income is partly a function of amowlf offomwi education, iI/COllie is being 3 treated as a dependent variable\"

Some Dialectics of Social Research 19 The National Opinion Research Center (NaRC) at the University of that source You can learn more about the GSS at the official website Chicago conducts aperiodic national survey ofAmerican public maintained by the University of Michigan httpJ/wwVlicpsrumich opinion for the purpose of making such data available for analysis by the edu/GSSI. social research community. Many data examples in this book come from can only be seen when we observe people. Ulti- Sometimes we attempt to ex'Plain a single situa- mately, however, the theory uses a language of tion in idiosyncratic detaiL Thus, for example, you variables. It describes the associations that we may have done poorly on an exam because (I) you might logically expect to exist between particular forgot there was an exam that day, (2) it was in attributes of different variables\" (You can do this your worst subject, (3) a traffic jam made you late data analysis for yourself with nothing more than for class, (4) your roommate kept you up the night a connection to the Internet. See \"Analyzing Data before the exam by playing loud music, (5) the po- Online.\") lice kept you until dawn demanding to know what you had done with your roommate's stereo-and Some Dialectics what you had done with your roonm1ate, for that of Social Research matter-and (6) a wild band of coyotes ate your textbook. Given all these circumstances, it's no There is no one way to do social research. (If there wonder you did poorly. were, this would be a much shorter book) In fact, much of the power and potential of social research This type of causal reasoning is called an lies in the many valid approaches it comprises. idiographic explanation\" Idio- in this context means unique, separate, peculiar. or distinct, as in Four broad and interrelated distinctions, how- the word idiosYllcrasy\" When we have completed an ever, underlie the variety of research approaches\" idiographic explanation, we feel that we fully un- Although one can see these distinctions as compet- derstand the causes of what happened in this par- ing choices, a good social researcher learns each of ticular instance. At the same time, the scope of our the orientations they represent. This is what I mean explanation is limited to the single case at hand, Al- by the \"dialectics\" of social research: There is a though parts of the idiographic explanation might fruitful tension between the complementary con- apply to other situations, our intention is to ex'Plain cepts I'm about to describe. one case fully\" Idiographic and Nomothetic Explanation Now consider a different kind of explanation\" (I) Every time you study with a group, you do All of us go through life explaining things. We do better on the exam than if you had studied alone. it every day. You explain why you did poorly or (2) Your favorite team does better at home than on well on an exam, why your favorite team is win- ning or losing, why you may be having trouble idiographic An approach to explanation in which getting good dates or a decent job. In our everyday explanations, we engage in two distinct forms of we seek to exhaust the idiosyncratic causes of a par- causal reasoning, though we do not ordinarily dis- tinguish them. ticular condition or evenL Imagine trying to list all the reasons why you chose to attend your particular college. Given all those reasons, it's difficult to imaa - ine your making any other choice\" '\"

20 Chapter 1: Human Inquiry and Science can test the relationship between prejudice and education for surveys done since 1972 that included the two variables under study. have aconnection to the InternetJhe data just pre- Click \"Run the Table\"at the bottom to be presented with atable sented in the text are taken from the General Social Survey,found at containing the data shown in the textOnce you've done that, you might http!lwwwicpsLumich. edu/GSSI. want to do some exploration on your own. Once you reach that location, you'll discover several buttons along The\"Subject\"hyperlink will take you to acatalog oftopics studied the top of the page Click the box labeled \"AnalyzeNThis will open up a by the GSS over the years.You might wantto examine other indicators of data-analysis program created by the University of California, Berkeley prejudice RACDIF1, RACDIF3, and RACDIF4, for example. Or, EDUC will give you the number ofyears of education respondents report,ratherthan For present purposes,you should click the second radio button, for categorizing that variable as it's done in DEGREE. Or, you might want to \"Frequencies or crosstabulation,\" and then click\"Start\" near the bottom look at the relationship between education and prejudice over time- of the page. This will take you to apage where you can speci~ the analy- changing the value ofYEAR The possibilities are almost endless,and you sis you would like to seeJo replicate the analysis presented in the text, might have some fun. you will use three variables in the GSS data set RACDIF2 asks people whether they blame African Americans for their disadvantages in U.5.so- With the increase interest in online data analysis, you may find this ciety. DEGREE gives us the respondent's educationallevel,and YEAR let's GSS site overused and slow to respond In that case, you might look you speci~ which GSS survey you are interested in-2000 in this case. around for other analysis engines, such as the Cultural Policy and the Arts'CPANDA-FACTOID at httpJ/www.cpanda.org!codebookDB/ Enter this information in the online form as shown below. sdalite.jsp?id=a00079. Or you may want to search the web for some- This specifies RACDIF2 as the dependent variable (Row) and DE- thing like\"Analyze'General Social Survey:\" Because the web is an evolv- GREE as the independent variable (Column)YEAR(2000) indicates that ing resource, new tools will likely appear by the time this textbook you want to analyze data only from the 2000 survey (Filter) Leaving the reaches you filter blank would cause the program to analyze the data from all the SDA Tables Program (Selected Study: GSS 1972-2000 Cumulative Datafile) Help: G<2neral I ~codin9 Variabl<2s REQUIRED Variable !lames to specdy Row: IRACDIF2 OPTIONAL Variable names to specify Column: I - -IDEGREE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Control: S==e:.::I<2:.=.ct-,-,i..:con'F.F~iI,;,;t<2~r=\"s~:.L:IY-=E::.;A.:.:.P.(;::2~OO:.:O:!...)_ _ _ _ _ _::::Ex:.:..:o::.;,m.plei age(18-50) gender(l) Weight: No Weight ~ P<2rc<2ntaqing: f7!!: Column Row Total Other options Statistics Suppress table Question text Color coding ..J Show T -statistic I I[Run the Table [Clear Fields

Some Dialectics of Social Research 21 The difference between idiographic and nomothetic mode, we have asimpler, more general, explanation, which explanations can be found in everyday life. Considerthe wouldn't necessarily be true ofall teenage boys but portrays a following: general pattern. Idiographic: \"He's like that because his father and mother kept Be warned that neither explanation is necessarily trueWhen these giving him mixed signals. The fact that his family moved seven times by models are used in social research, other elements ofthe inquiry- the time he was twelve years old didn't help. Moreover, his older brother such as how subjects were chosen, how measurements were made, and is exactly the same and probably served as arole modeL\" so forth-strengthen the validity of conclusions drawn. Nomothetic: \"Teenage boys are like that.\" In the idiographic mode, we have aseemingly complete explana- tion for the behavior ofthe one boy in question.In the nomothetic the road. (3) Fraternity and sorority members get for example, while the idiographic explanation more dates than members of the biology club do. might be more convincing to your parole officer. Notice that this type of explanation is more general, (See \"Idiographic and Nomothetic Reasoning in covering a wider range of eX'Perience or observa- Everyday Life.\") tion. It speaks implicitly of the relationship between variables: for example, (a) whether or not you By the same token, both idiographic and study in a group and (b) how well you do on the nomothetic reasoning are powerful tools for social exam. This type of explanation-labeled nomo- research. For example, A. Libin and 1. Cohen- thetic-seeks to explain a class of situations or Mansfield (2000) contrast the way that the idio- events rather than a single one, Moreover, it seeks graphic and nomothetic approaches are used in to explain \"economically,\" using only one or just a studying the elderly (gerontology). Some studies few explanatory factors. Finally, it settles for a par- focus on the full eX'Periences of individuals as tial rather than a full explanation. they live their lives, whereas other studies look for statistical patterns descTibing the elderly in general. In each of these examples, you might qualify The authors conclude by suggesting ways to com- your causal statements Vl.ith such words or phrases bine idiographic and nomothetic approaches in as all the whole, Ilsually, or all else being equal, Thus, gerontology. you usually do better on exams when you've stud- ied in a group, but not always, Similarly, your team Social scientists, then, can access two distinct has won some games on the road and lost some at kinds of explanation, Just as physicists treat light home. And the attractive head of the biology club sometimes as a particle and other times as a wave, may get lots of good dates, while the homely mem- so social scientists can search for broad relation- bers of sororities and fraternities spend a lot of Sat- ships today and probe the narrowly particular to- urday nights alone working crossword puzzles. The morrow. Both are good science, both are reward- existence of such exceptions is the price we pay for ing, and both can be fun. a broader range of overall explanation. As I noted earlier, patterns are real and important even when nomothetic An approach to explanation in which they are not perfect. we seek to identify a few causal factors that gener- ally impact a class of conditions or events. Imagine Both the idiographic and the nomothetic ap- the two or three key factors that determine which proaches to understanding can be useful in daily colleges students choose-proximity, reputation, life. The nomothetic patterns you discover might and so forth. offer a good guide for planning your study habits,

22 Chapter 1: Human Inquiry and Science Inductive and Deductive Theory set of exams in college. You wonder about the best \\vays to study-how much you should review the Like idiographic and nomothetic forms of explana- readings, how much you should focus on your class tion, inductive and deductive thinking both playa notes. You learn that some students prepare by re- role in our daily lives. They, too, represent an im- writing their notes in an orderly fashion. Then you portant variation within social research. consider whether you should study at a measured pace or else pull an all-nighter just before the There are two routes to the conclusion that you exam. Among these kinds of musings, you might do better on exams if you study vvith others. On ask whether you should get together with other the one hand, you might find yourself puzzling, students in the class or just study on your own. You halfway through your college career, why you do could evaluate the pros and cons of both options. so well on exams sometimes but poorly at other times. You might list all the exams you've taken, Studying vvith others might not be as efficient, noting how well you did on each. Then you might because a lot of time might be spent on things you try to recall any circumstances shared by all the already understand. On the other hand, you can good exams and by all the poor ones. Did you do understand something better when you've ex- better on multiple-choice exams or essay exams? plained it to someone else. And other students Morning exams or afternoon exams? Exams in the might understand parts of the course that you natural sciences, the humanities, or the social sci- haven't gotten yet. Several minds can reveal per- ences? Times when you studied alone or ... spectives that might have escaped you. Also, your SHAZAJvl! It occurs to you that you have almost commitment to study with others makes it more always done best on exams when you studied with likely that you'll study rather than watch the spe- others. This mode of inquiry is known as inductioll. cial Brady BUl1ch retrospective. Inductive reasoning, or induction, moves In this fashion, you might add up the pros and from the particular to the generaL from a set of the cons and conclude, logically, that you'd benefit specific observations to the discovery of a pattern from studying with others. It seems reasonable to that represents some degree of order among all the you, the way it seems reasonable that you'll do bet- given events. Notice, incidentally, that your discov- ter if you study rather than not. Sometimes, we say ery doesn't necessarily tell you wlzy the pattern things like this are true \"in theory.\" To complete exists-just that it does. the process, we test whether they are true in prac- tice. For a complete test, you might study alone for There is a second and very different way that half your exams and study with others for the you might arrive at the same conclusion about other exams. This procedure would test your logical studying for exams. Imagine approaching your first reasoning. induction The logical model in which general prin- This second mode of inquiry, known as de- ciples are developed from specific observations. Hav- ductive reasoning or deduction, moves from the ing noted that Jews and Catholics are more likely to general to the specific. It moves from (1) a pattern vote Democratic than Protestants are, you might that might be logically or theoretically expected to conclude that religious minorities in the United (2) observations that test whether the expected States are more affiliated with the Democratic party pattern actually occurs. Notice that deduction be- and then your task is to explain why. This would be gins with \"why\" and moves to \"whether.\" whereas an example of induction. induction moves in the opposite direction. deduction The logical model in which specific ex- As you'll see later in this book, these two very pectations of hypotheses are developed on the basis different approaches both serve as valid avenues for of general principles. Starting from the general prin- science. Each approach can stimulate the research ciple that all deans are meanies, you might antici- process, prompting the researcher to take on pate that this one won't let you change courses. This specific questions and framing the manner in anticipation would be the result of deduction.

Some Dialectics of Social Research 23 Theories you didn't date more musicians, you might engage in nomothetic induction. oz Hypotheses oz We'll return to induction and deduction in ~ Empirical i= Chapter 2. Let's turn now to a third broad distinc- tion that generates rich variations in social research. :c:::l Generalizations () :1: Qualitative and Quantitative Data ::::l C The distinction between quantitative and qualita- W tive data in social research is essentially the distinc- C tion between numerical and nonnumerical data. When we say someone is intelligent. we've made a Observations qualitative assertion. A corresponding assertion about someone less fortunately endowed would be FIGURE '-6 that he or she is \"unintelligent.\" When psycholo- gists and others measure intelligence by IQ scores, The Wheel of Science. nle theory and research cycle can be they are attempting to quantify such qualitative compared to arelay race; although all participants do not nec- assessments, For example, the psychologist might essarily start or stop at the same point, they share a common say that a person has an IQ of 120. goal-to examine all levels of social life. Source:Adapted from Walter Wallace, The Logic ofScience in Sociology Every observation is qualitative at the outset. (New York: Aldine deGruyter, 1971 ).Copyright © 1971 by Walter LWallace. Used whether it is our experience of someone's intelli- by permission. gence, the location of a pointer on a measuring scale, or a check mark entered in a questionnaire. which they are addressed. Moreover, you'll see None of these things is inherently numerical or how induction and deduction work together to quantitative, but converting them to a numerical provide ever more powerful and complete under- form is sometimes usefuL (Chapter 14 of this book standings. Figure 1-6 shows how these two ap- will deal specifically vvith the quantification of data . ) proaches interact in the practice of social research. Quantification often makes our observations Notice, by the way, that the distinction between more exrplicit. It also can make it easier to aggre- deductive and inductive reasoning is not necessar- gate, compare, and summarize data. Further, it ily linked to the distinction between nomothetic opens up the possibility of statistical analyses, rang- and idiographic modes of explanation. These four ing from simple averages to complex formulas and characterizations represent four possibilities, in mathematical models. everyday life as much as in social research. Quantitative data, then, offer the advantages For example, idiographically and deductively, that numbers have over words as measures of some you might prepare for a particular date by taking quality.. On the other hand, they also carry the dis- into account everything you know about the per- advantages that numbers have, including a poten- son you're dating, trying to anticipate logically how tialloss in richness of meaning, For example, a so- you can prepare-what type of clothing, behavior, cial researcher might want to know whether hairstyle, oral hygiene, and so forth vviIllikely college students aged 18-22 tend to date people produce a successful date. Or, idiographically and older or younger than themselves, A quantitative inductively, you might try to figure out what it was answer to this question seems easily attained. The exactly that caused your date to call 911. researcl1er asks a given number of college students how old each of their dates has been, calculates an A nomothetic, deductive approach arises when average, and compares it vvith the age of the sub- you coach others on your \"rules of dating,\" when ject. Case closed. you vvisely explain why their dates vviIl be im- pressed to hear them expound on the dangers of satanic messages concealed in rock and roll lyrics. When you later review your life and wonder why

24 Chapter 1: Human Inquiry and Science Or is it? Although \"age\" here represents the my qualitative description, while it fleshes out the number of years people have been alive, sometimes meaning of the phrase, still does not equip us to say people use the term differently; perhaps for some how much older or even to compare two people in \"age\" really means \"maturity.\" You may date these terms without the risk of disagreeing as to people who are younger than you but who act which one is more \"worldly.\" more maturely than others of their age and thus represent the same \"age\" as you, Or someone It might be possible to quantify this concept might see \"age\" as how young or old your dates however. For example, we might establish a list of look or maybe the degree of variation in their life life experiences that would contribute to what we experiences and worldliness. These latter meanings mean by worldliness, for example: would be lost in the quantitative calculation of av- erage age. Qualitative data, in short, can be richer Getting married in meaning than quantified data. This is implicit in the cliche, \"He is older than his years.\" The poetic Getting divorced meaning of this expression would be lost in at- tempts to specify how much older. Having a parent die On the other hand, qualitative data bring the Seeing a murder committed disadvantages of purely verbal descriptions. For ex- ample, the richness of meaning I've mentioned is Being arrested partly a function of ambiguity. If the expression \"older than his years\" meant something to you Being exiled when you read it, that meaning came from your own experiences, from people you have known Being fired from a job who might fit the description of being \"older than their years\" or perhaps the times you have heard Running away with the circus others use that expression. Two things are certain: (1) You and I probably don't mean exactly the We might quantify people's worldliness as the same thing, and (2) you don't know exactly what I number of such experiences they've had: the more mean, and vice versa. such experiences, the more worldly we'd say they were. If we thought of some experiences as more I have a friend, Ray Zhang, who was respon- powerful than others, we could give those experi- sible for communications at the 1989 freedom ences more points. Once we had made our list and demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. Fol- point system, scoring people and comparing their lowing the Army clampdown, Ray fled south, was worldliness on a numerical scale would be straight- arrested, and was then released with orders to re- forward. We would have no difficulty agreeing on turn to Beijing. Instead, he escaped from China who had more points than who. and made his way to Paris. Eventually he came to the United States, where he resumed the graduate To quantify a nonnumerical concept like world- studies he had been forced to abandon in fleeing liness, then, we need to be explicit about what the his homeland. I have seen him deal with the concept means, By focusing specifically on what difficulties of getting enrolled in school vvithout any we'll include in our measurement of the concept; transcripts from China, of studying in a foreign lan- however, we also exclude any other meanings. In- guage, of meeting his financial needs-all on his evitably, then, we face a trade-off: Any explicated, own, thousands of miles from his family. Ray still quantitative measure vvill be less rich in meaning speaks of one day returning to China to build a sys- than the corresponding qualitative description. tem of democracy What a dilemma! Which approach should we Ray strikes me as someone \"older than his choose? Which is better? Which is more appropri- years.\" You probably agree. The additional detail in ate to social research? The good news is that we don't need to choose. In fact we shouldn't. Both qualitative and quanti- tative methods are useful and legitimate in social research. Some research situations and topics are amenable to qualitative examination, others to quantification\"