Tag Archives: Qualitative Methods
A Picture of the Sociology Society at City College in New York
On February 14, 1949, Jackie Robinson spoke to the Sociology Society at City College in New York. It was 31 months after he became the first African American player in modern professional baseball and in the same year that he … Continue reading
The Significance of Touch
We live in a language-centered culture and so it is no surprise that the methods we use to investigate our social relations focus largely on language. From survey methods to life histories, from content analysis to conversation analysis, we seek … Continue reading
Trash the Focus of Anthropological Research in New York
New York University anthropologist Robin Nagle has found “a gold mine for garbage pickers.” New York’s Department of Sanitation collects almost 3.5 million tons of trash each year. The contents range from discarded photos of a divorced spouse and bottles … Continue reading
Affective Realism?
Is seeing believing? It’s natural to feel that when we observe events, or conduct lengthy interviews to learn what people saw or heard, we’re learning about the social world as it “really is.” But recent experiments by psychologists demonstrate a … Continue reading
Learn (and Teach) by Doing
Learning by “tinkering” has caught on at San Francisco’s Tinkering School. The idea is to enhance education by having children learn by carrying out projects. For example, have students form a construction crew to create a small cardboard city. Or … Continue reading
Can We Save (More) Babies?
800 cities and towns have adopted a home visiting program for young mothers in an ambitious effort to reduce infant mortality in the U.S. Although home visiting programs have been used for more than a century, their popularity increased dramatically … Continue reading
Movie “Facts” … or Fantasy?
Movies based on true stories often gain a wide audience. Selma. American Sniper. The Theory of Everything. The Imitation Game. I think you could call each of them a great movie. But how accurate are they? Research by psychologists has … Continue reading
Messaging and Emotions
Our social relations are increasingly mediated with technology. Does this distort our ability to relate to others? Consider using text messages to communicate. This truncated form of communication most leaves emotion out of the picture and so makes it difficult … Continue reading
Researching in a Social World 