Pick a topic
Review literature to find out what others
have already learned.
What exactly are your questions?
What will you need to carry out your
research?
Are there any ethical concerns?
What method will you use?
What will you record the data?
What do the data tell you?
What are your conclusions?
How can you share what you’ve learned?
There are a few ways to perform
research. Experiment, Participant Observation, Survey and Existing Sources.
You should start broad and narrow
down on exactly what you are trying to find out. Use a random sample so it does
not create a bias and use the biggest sample you can. There must not harm humans
during their lifetime during an experiment. Jane Goodall is an example of participant
observation in chimp society. A survey
is exactly what it sounds like. A series of questions to be filled out by
participants. Existing sources means to research and you must watch out for plagiarism.
People use common sense but that
does not always lead to the truth. Sociology uses empirical data.
Two main types of research are Qualitative and Quantitative.
Quantitative research uses lots of
data to get exact results. You process lots of information on lots of people
quickly. This starts by asking questions, reviewing literature to see what is
written. Then select the research method and propose a hypothesis. A hypothesis
is a statement and a theory is the explanation of the hypothesis.
Qualitative research uses
individual data to get broad results. This allows for individuals to give immediate
results. For this method you have to define the researchers roll in the group.
Define the Problem. Identify the theory that drives the problem. This involves
research and reviewing literature. Selecting information gathering tools and analyzing
the data.
Both perspectives are important
and have advantages. They are used to explain behavior and its consequences. You
can combine both and use mixed method.
Ethnology is the study of the
characteristics of various peoples and the differences and relationships between
them. Ethnology allows you to get as close as possible to seeing from another
groups point of view. The video explains that ethnography is completely immersive and attempts to record life without disruption. It applies social and academic theories to a small group to understand a larger one. It states that ethnography is actionable by working in complementary practices.
Positive from me to society: reconnect with old friends
Negative from me to society: Stay reclusive and disconnected
Positive from society to me: Sharing happy memories with reconnected friends
Negative from society to me: Exhausting to discern good people from bad
Cultural Experience 227 words:
The first time I left my home culture was when I joined the
Army. I was introduced to a new culture made up of a mixture of many cultures.
We learned to become a team by having a common goal. Even in this large mixed
culture eventually smaller groups began to form. People with similar
backgrounds or interests would group together.
The next major cultural experience for me was traveling to the Middle East. Spending time in the Arabic culture was very strange for many reasons. The first thing I noticed was the lack of diversity. In the US even in the least diverse areas there are still many groups of different people. In Mosul for example, there were only Iraqis. Everyone dressed the same and looked the same. They all spoke the same language. The only difference was religion and even that was hard to tell apart most of the time. At the time I thought the second major difference was the attitude towards community. They did not seem to care about their neighbors. Each house was surrounded by walls and gates. They would throw their trash out into the street with no care for how it made the entire community worse. As I have gotten older I can now see that there are communities like this all over the world and all over the US.
