SOCI 211 Chapter 10: SOCI 211 - Chapter 10 - Unobtrusive Research.docx
Document Summary
Unobtrusive research: methods of studying social beh without affecting it. This includes analysis of existing statistics, content analysis, & historical comparative research: ex of an analysis of existing stats: durkheim on suicide. In content analysis, researchers examine a class of social artifacts that are usually written documents such as newspaper editorials. Historical comparative research is a form of research w/ an admired history in the social sciences. Can be either qualitative or quantitative. (1) analyzing existing statistics. A variety of governmental & nongovernmental agencies provide aggregate statistical data for studying aspects of social life. They often have problems with reliability, so they must be used w/ caution. He found that provinces w/ the highest proportion of protestants also had the highest suicide rates. He created the concept of anomie: normlessness or a general sense of social instability & disintegration. He avoided the danger of ecological fallacy in 2 ways.
