Monday, November 18, 2013

Lesson 3: Research Methods


 Quantitative research deals with measurable data; numbers, time, statistics, etc. Through quantitative research you could find the amount of bones, and how long they've been there. 
Quantitative research involves more abstract data that cannot easily be converted into numbers, like what kind of dreams this person once had. 
Ethnography is the method of studying people in their own environment to understand the meanings they attribute to their activities.

Participant observation is where the researcher studies the subjects while becoming a member in their social setting. From this point of view it feels as though you are in the grass next to the girls. 

Value-free sociology is an ideal where researchers identify facts completely unbiased. Here is a petrified person in Pompeii, if you were to study them completely objectively you would have to abandon all emotions because those cause bias. 


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