Tag: methodology

SOC513 – Visual Sociology (Guest Edition)

Abstract

In a world with rapid changes to technology from the advent of photography to camera phones to social media and the Mark Zuckerberg’s “metaverse,” there has also been an emergence of other ways of revealing aspects of our world. One is Visual Sociology. Please join us for our conversation with the media scholar and sociologist Dr. Patricia Prieto-Blanco, whose work uses photography and visual analysis to find meaning among diasporas and migrant communities and families. How can sociologists use images they find and create to learn more about our social world? Tune in for this fun conversation!

Keywords

Research methods, visual sociology, photography, audiovisual

Sources

  • Follow Patricia here:
    • Twitter
    • Blog, which has some great primer posts on visual sociology:
      • Blogpost on visual sociology and social inquiry 
      • Blogpost on “What We See vs. What Is There
  • Patricia mentioned the Spanish gag law on taking photos of police. Here’s an article about it.
  • Think you have work in visual sociology that you want to submit for an award? 
    • Contexts publishes photo essays!
    • Apply for the Rachel Tanur Memorial Prize!
    • And check these IVSA awards out! Here’s a quick excerpt about the award: 
      • Rieger Award Program for outstanding work by graduate students in visual sociology, the Prosser Award Program for outstanding work by beginning scholars in visual methodologies, and the Anticolonialism & Antiracism (ACAR) Award Program for outstanding work by researchers and activists who use visual methodologies or advance visual activism through their work

SOC508 – Changing the Narrative for Native Hawaiian Wellbeing (Guest Edition)

Abstract

Aloha mai kākou, we take a local perspective today with special guests, Brandon from Kamehameha Schools and Lisa from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, who walk us through a new radical study aiming to change the traditionally deficits-based narrative about the Native Hawaiian people to one of strength and resiliency. Drawing from the Kūkulu Kumuhana dimensions of Native Hawaiian wellbeing, we discuss the ʻImi Pono Hawaiʻi Wellbeing Survey 2021, from which a number of local organizations have analyzed and published numerous briefs, including ones on COVID-19 impacts in Hawaiʻi and more. Be sure to check out our website for great links that support indigenous research as well as a vocabulary list of all the Hawaiian words used in the episode!

Keywords

Native Hawaiian Wellbeing, Kūkulu Kumuhana, Indigenous Frameworks, Culture, Data

Sources

Hawaiian words in the episode (in order of use):

Hawaiian online dictionary 

  • Aloha mai kākou – greetings to all of you
  • Mahalo – thank you; gratitude
  • E kala mai – forgive me; sorry; apologies
  • Moʻokūʻauhau – ancestry; genealogy
  • ʻImi pono – to seek out fullness/completeness/balance 
  • ʻOhana – family
  • Kaiaulu – community
  • Honua – world, environment
  • Ea – self-determination
  • ʻŌiwi – cultural identity and native intelligence
  • ʻĀina Momona – healthy and productive lands and people
  • Pilina – mutually sustaining relationships
  • Waiwai – ancestral abundance and collective wealth
  • Kupuna – elders
  • Ke Akua Mana – spirituality
  • Mōʻi – King; chief; ruler
  • He Ali’i Ka ‘Āina; He Kauwā ke Kanaka – The Land is Chief; Man is its Servant
  • Kai – ocean; salt water
  • Wai – fresh water
  • Kūkulu – to build; pile up; a pillar
  • Kumu – the source (e.g., teacher); basis; main stalk or root of plant
  • Haumāna – students
  • Hana – the work; activity
  • Kūkulu Kumuhana – “the pooling of strengths, emotional, psychological, and spiritual for a shared purpose. A unified, unifying purpose.” (Source).
  • Naʻau – intuition; feelings; gut instinct
  • Kākoʻo – agree; support
  • Moʻolelo – story; tale; myth
  • Mana – divine power, among other things. (Read the book!).
  • Hoʻoponopono – to correct; the name of a traditional healing process (conflict resolution) to resolve issues within ʻohana 
  • Heluhelu i ka puke – read a book!

SOC122 – PhD’s Guide to Research Methods

Abstract

We continue our PhD’s guide series with a broad overview of sociological research methodology. WAIT! Don’t fall asleep! We talk a ton about concepts and theories, but how do sociologists come up with the evidence to back them up? How do we do our research? This episode will give you a little insight into how. We cover the basics of qualitative and quantitative methods, as well as discuss the ethics of human research. Whether you like numbers or words, statistics or stories, there’s a method to suit your mode of thinking! Join in as we discuss the Nuremberg trials, the Stanford Prison Experiment, and a run down of the basics of sociological research.

Transcript

Find the transcript for this episode here! Thank you so so much to Jennifer Tyree for transcribing and supporting us!

Keywords

sociology, sociological imagination, methodology

Sources

  1. On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City by Alice Goffman
  2. Good summary and follow up to the aftermath of this book (NYTimes)
  3. Victor Rios harsh criticism of book in book review
  4. Amazing easy-to-read primer on multiple regression analysis. A 5TH GRADER CAN READ IT. Every sociologist needs this book
  5. Here’s a fun crash course on sociological research methods
  6. Institutional Ethnography–Lecture by the founder, Dorothy Smith

Quantitative

▪ data are reduced to numbers and statistical analyses are commonly

conducted

▪ research tool tends to be reliable

▪ results of research are more generalizable to larger and other populations

▪ cannot study individual units of analysis in depth

▪ studies large populations broadly

▪ commonly used methods of data collection used are:

✓ survey

✓ experiments

✓ content analysis

Qualitative

▪ data are text or visual images

▪ can study populations that are hard to find (snowball sampling)

▪ results tend to be accurate

▪ studies a small number of units of analysis in depth

▪ research results generally are not generalizable

▪ commonly used methods of data collection used are:

✓ participant observation (aka ethnography or fieldwork)

✓ historical research

Discourse analysis

Institutional ethnography