Thursday, March 19, 2009

Sociological Research


There are many different ways to gather sociological information. During class, the types of research we discussed were surveys, observations, and sampling.
Surveying a group of people is exactly what you think it might be. Surveying allows you to find out what is popular or unpopular within a society by actually giving a certain amount of people questions to answer about a certain topic. The people you are going to survey are the population. We usually see this quite often with high school and middle school projects. In order to get information for a project, some students might make a survey and ask others to fill it out and answer the questions in order to get the information they need. Within surveying, there is sampling. Sampling is taking a number of people from your population to work with on the topic your studying. There is also random sampling, in which the people you choose from your population are completely random, there is no specified order. For example, in order to find out who you might want to survey within Barrington High School, one might use a random number generator and get I.D. numbers and then find those kids with the I.D. numbers and survey them.
Another type of sociological research is observation. In this method, the researcher is only observing, they are not intervening with the population and talking to them. This is a good way to research if you have a large population, such as a whole city. For example, we might research which drink is most popular at a coffee shop by seeing which mixtures run out the fastest and need to be refilled. This specifically is called unobtrusive observation, in which the people do not know they are being researched. This way, your research is not influenced by people knowing whether or not they are being observed.
I believe that the best way to research a population is by unobtrusive population. I find that sometimes when people know they are being researched or surveyed, their answers to different questions may change. Of course, surveying gives you more direct results, because it comes straight from the people you're researching. However, whichever way someone chooses to interview someone, these methods have been discussed and have been proven to be effective.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Norms and the Normative Order



In each society, there are different things that are considered normal in society and should be followed. These different things or rules are called norms. They are different for every society, and especially for America, have changed over the years. The Normative order gives the people within a society an idea of how to behave and, in a general sense, live their lives so as not to get into trouble. When someone breaks the rules, there are sanctions, or consequences, that one must recognize.
One of the norms that have been adjusted over the years in America is dresscode. Looking back in history, one will notice that they dressed vastly different from how we do today. In the 1700's, the women all dressed in floor length dresses and were covered very well. They always looked formal. The men always looked formal too, usually wearing a dress coat with tails and dress shoes. If someone today were to wear this out and about, they would get some odd looks from people. When we looked at the Barrington High School dress code of 1969, our class found that the dress code was completely different from how it is today. Girls were not allowed to wear pants, tight fitting clothes, or spaghetti straps to school, only skirts. Harsh or bold makeup was not allowed, and neither were extreme hairstyles. Boys were not allowed to wear plain white t-shirts, as they were considered underwear, nor were they allowed to wear any shirt with the name of a non-campus group. Today, to see a guy wearing a hollister shirt or a girl wearing blue jeans is completely normal. Our dress code consists of short skirts, tank tops, t-shirts, flip-flops, tight jeans, or shorts. From looking at the dress code in 1969, we can clearly see that norms are adjusted from generation to generation, creating change in the society.
Though some norms have changed drastically, some have not changed quite as much. For example, many of our table manners that were applied during the 1960's still apply today. In class, we talked about how eating with your elbows on the table is considered rude. This rule is dated back all the way to the middle ages in Europe, when the people all wore clothes with long sleeves. If you put your elbows on the table, your sleeves would get in your food, which is messy and rude. So, the rule was created that having your elbows on the table during dinner is rude, and in most cases is still enforced today. Another table manner might be putting your napkin in your lap before you begin eating. Although I'm not exactly sure how far back this rule dates, you'll notice even in movies that were made in the 1960's, everyone put their napkins on their laps before they ate. This rule, in general, has not changed either.
So, norms are what tells the people in a society how to behave, and usually change through the years. When someone does not follow the norm, there are sanctions, or punishments, for their actions that go against the normative order. It's all been engraved into everyone's heads what is right or wrong for our society, but living in another society, there are different norms. Every society is different in this way, and because of this we sometimes have conflict. Maybe if we all learned to accept each other's differences in our own normative order, the world might get along a little better.