AHSS*1130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Stanford Prison Experiment, Logical Assertion, Discourse Analysis
Sociology Week 2
How Sociologists Do Research
Historically speaking, sociology has prided itself on being a science from its inception
oOutsider perspective
oobjectively and bias
oBut what about the “situation observer”
Milgram: obedience to authority experiment
Zimbardo: Stanford Prison experiment
Positivism: the belief that every rational and logical assertion can be verified by scientific
oExperiment, measurement, empiricism (observation)
Sociological positivism: belief that the same scientific
Comte: coined “sociology:
1. Qualitative methods
- Ethnography (write the people)
oDense, layered naturalistic description
oUsing concepts at play in that social world (insider perspective)
-Whyte: Street Corner Society
oInterviews, pioneer of participant observation, key informants
oCase studies, narratives, content analysis (Goffman), semiotics, discourse analysis,
geneology (Foucault)
- Content analysis: can be used to analyze content for patterns or themes – often used in
conjunction with media analysis
oGoffman looked at how ritualized displays of gender make them seem normal but
they are the furthest thing from natural
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Historically speaking, sociology has prided itself on being a science from its inception: outsider perspective, objectively and bias, but what about the situation observer . Positivism: the belief that every rational and logical assertion can be verified by scientific: experiment, measurement, empiricism (observation) Sociological positivism: belief that the same scientific. Ethnography (write the people: dense, layered naturalistic description, using concepts at play in that social world (insider perspective) Whyte: street corner society: interviews, pioneer of participant observation, key informants, case studies, narratives, content analysis (goffman), semiotics, discourse analysis, geneology (foucault) Things you can count (behaviourly: how many people don"t use their signal light, rates of suicide, crime rate, tv audience ratings. Operational definitions (abstract concrete: how do we make something abstract and make it measurable, & a theory: part definition, part explanation. A statement of cause & effect (relationship: variables: in determining cause n effect we need to know which are the key variables.
