Methods + Culture & Media: Sociology (Chapters 2 and 3)

dana boyd

Researcher that studies to understand the social lives of teens

Scientific Method

A procedure involving the formulation, testing, and modification of hyptheses based on systematic observation, measurement, and/or experiments.

Theory

An abstracted, systematic model of how some aspect of the world works. It articulates a system of relationships between facts, suggesting causes and effects emerging out of those relationships.

Research Methods

Approaches that social scientists use to investigate the answers to research questions. These methods provide us with tools to describe, explore, and explain social phenomena in an ethical fashion. There are two: quantitative and qualitative.

Quantitative Methods

Methods that seek to obtain information about the social world that is already in, or can be converted to, numeric form. (Using surveys, sampling bank records, weighing people on a scale, or hanging out with teens at the mall). example methods: Surveys, experiments, census data, statistics

Qualitative Methods

Methods that attempt to collect information about the social world that cannot be readily converted to numeric form. Usually used for two possible goals. They provide a way to document the subjective meanings behind social actions. (This can range from spending time with people and recording what they say and do [participant observation] to interviewing them in an open-minded manner to reviewing archives). Example methods: Ethnography, interviews, content analysis

Casual Relationship

the idea that one factor influences another through a chain of events; such a dynamic differs from two associated or correlated factors, which may appear to vary together but could both vary due to chance or a third factor. Both quantitative and qualitative estasblish this.

Deductive Approach

A research approach that starts with a theory, forms a hypothesis, makes empirical observations, and then analyzes the data to confirm, reject, or modify the original theory.

Inductive Approach

A research approach that starts with empirical observations and then works to form a theory.

Correlation or Association

A relationship that exists when two variables tend to track each others positively or negatively.

Experiment

A method for investigating casual relationships by introducing an intervention into a subset of a group and comparing the effect against the portion of the group that does not receive the intervention.

Natural Experiment

Something that takes place in the world that effects people in a way that is unrelated to any other preexisting factors or their characteristics, thereby approximating random assignment to treatment or control group.

Causality

The notion that a change in one factor results in a corresponding change in another.

Reverse Causality

A situation in which the researcher believes that A results in a change in B, but B is actually casuing A.

Dependent Variable

The outcome the researcher is trying to explain. The outcome — the variable the researcher is trying to explain. ex. Grade on the exam

Independent Variable

A measured factor that the researcher believes has a casual impact on the dependent variable. The presumed cause — the factor the researcher manipulates or measures first. ex. hours spent studying

Hypothesis

A proposed relationship between two variables, usually with a stated direction.

Operationalization

How a concept is defined and measured in a given study.

Validity

The extent to which an instrument measures what it is intended to measure.

Reliability

The likelihood of obtaining consistent results using the same measure.

Generalizability

The extent to which we can claim our findings inform us about a group beyond the one we studied.

Mixed-Methods Research

Research that combines quantitative and qualitative methods within a single study.

Ethnography

A qualitative method of studying people or a social setting that uses observation, interaction, and sometimes formal interviewing to document behaviors, customs, experiences, social ties, and so on.

Participation Observation

A qualitative researcher method that seeks to uncover the meanings people give their social actions by observing their behavior in practice.

Survey

An ordered series of questions intended to elicit information from respondents.

Representative Sample

The idea that a particular slice of social observation — a sample of survey respondents, an ethnographic research site such as an organization, or batch of social media posts— captures in an accurate way the larger set (or universe) of those phenomena that it is meant to stand in for.

Historical Methods

Research that collects data written from reports, newspaper articles, journals, transcripts, television programs, diaries, artwork, and other artifacts that date back to the period under study.

Comparative Research

A methodology by which two or more entities (such as countries), which are similar in many dimensions but differ on the one in question, are compared to learn about the dimension that differs between them.

Content Analysis

A systematic analysis of the content rather than the structure of a communication, such as a written work, speech, or film.

Population

An entire group of individual persons, objects, or items from which samples may be drawn.

Sample

The subset of the population from which you actually collected data.

Case Study

An intensive investigation of one particular unit of analysis in order to describe it or uncover its mechanisms.

Experimental Methods

Methods that seek to alter the social landscape in a very specific way for a given sample of individuals and then track what results that change yields; they often involve comparisons to a control group that did not experience such an intervention.

White Coat Effect

The phenomenon wherein a researcher’s presence affects that subjects’ behavior or response, thereby disrupting the study.

Reflexivity

Analyzing and critically considering our own role in, and effect on, our research.

Feminist Methodology

A set of systems or methods that treats women’s experiences as legitimate empirical and theoretical resources, that promotes social science for women (think public sociology, but for a specific half of the public) and that takes into account the researcher as much as the overt subject matter.

Cultural Relativism

Taking into account the differences across cultures without passing judgement or assigning values

Cultural Scripts

Modes of behavior and understanding that are not universal or natural

Ethnocentrism

The belief that one’s own culture or group is superior to others, and the tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one’s own.

Nonmaterial Culture

Values, beliefs, social norms, and idealogies

Material Culture

Everything that is a part of our constructed, physical environment, including technology

Cultural Lag

The time gap between the appearance of a new technology and the words and practices that give it meaning

Cultural Shock

Doubt, confusion, or anxiety airising from immersion in an unfamiliar culture.

Code Switch

To flip fluidity between two or more languages and sets of cultural norms to fit different cultural context

Values

Abstract standards of what is good, right, or desirable in a society

Norms

How values tell us to behave

Idealogy

A system of concepts and relationships; an underlying explanation of phenomena in society; a framework of causes and effects.

Hegemony

A condition by which a dominant group uses its power to elicit the voluntary “consent” of the masses

Subculture

The distinct cultural values and behavioral patterns of a particular group in society; a group united by sets of concepts, values, symbols, and shared meanings specific to the members of that group and distinctive enough to distinguish it from others within the same culture or society. ex. Gamers

Counterculture

A large cultural group defined in opposition to the ideologies, values, and norms of the mainstream culture. ex. Hippies, any kind of anti-establishment.

Culture War

A conflict between distinct cultures within a given society.

Socialization

The process by which individuals internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of a given society and learn to function as members of that society.

Reflection Theory

The idea that culture is a projection of social structures and relationships into the public sphere, a screen onto which the film of the underlying reality of social structures of a society is projected. The media that we consume mirrors how we act. Mass media caters to what people want to see.

Media

Any formats, platforms, or vehicles that carry, present, or communicate information

Social Media

Technologies that allow users to produce, share, and consume media in a variety of formats

Consumerism

The steady acquisition of material possesions, often with the belief that happiness and fulfillment can thus be achieved.

Moderating Variable

Has an impact on the cause of causality, and established fact. Has a role in casuality. When, for whom, or under what conditions does X affect Y?

Mediating Variable

establishes that there is a positive connection. Impact on the extent, How or why does X lead to Y?

Spurious Correlation

Exists when two variables appear related only because a third variable (confounder)
causes both. The relationship between A and B disappears once you control for C.

Random Sample

Every person in the population has an equal chance of being chosen. Gold standard for generalizability.

Experiment

Tests a hypothesis under controlled conditions by randomly assigning participants to an
experimental group (gets the treatment) and a control group (does not). Everything else is held constant

Field Experiment

Run in real-world settings rather than labs. Example: sending identical résumés with Black-sounding vs. white-sounding names to measure racial discrimination in hiring (Devah Pager)

Limitations

Many social phenomena cannot be experimentally tested for ethical or practical reasons. You cannot randomly assign people to poverty or abuse.

Secondary Data Analysis

Uses datasets collected by others — government agencies, prior researchers, organizations — to answer new questions. The data already exists; the researcher brings a new question to it.

Ethics of Social Research

Informed consent, voluntary participation, do no harm, and confidentiality

Culture

the learned practices, beliefs, values, rules for proper conduct, and material objects that make up the
sum total of social life — everything except the natural environment around us.

Ideal Culture

What a society says it values — the norms, beliefs, and goals officially proclaimed or widely endorsed.

Real Culture

What people actually do — the actual behaviors, norms, and practices that characterize daily life, which often differ from the ideal.

Folkways

Informal, low-stakes norms — violations cause mild social disapproval but no serious sanction
e.g., eating with your mouth open; not holding the door

Mores

Strongly held norms tied to core moral values — violations cause serious social disapproval
e.g., Incest taboo; cheating on tests; lying on a résumé

Taboos

The most powerful norms — violations cause extreme sanctions and social exclusion
e.g., Cannibalism; sexual abuse of children

High Culture

Cultural forms associated with elites - opera, classical music, fine art, literary fiction, haute cuisine. Confers status.

Popular Culture

Cultural forms and practices enjoyed by the masses — pop music, blockbuster films, social media, fast food, reality TV.

Cultural Capital (Bourdieu)

Non-financial social assets — cultural knowledge, tastes, skills, credentials — that confer status and open social doors. A person who 'knows' classical music, fine wine, and elite schools has cultural capital that helps them navigate and succeed in elite institutions.

Cultural Diffusion

The spread of cultural practices, symbols, and ideas from one society to another through trade, migration, media, or conquest.

e.g., Pizza from Italy to the US; K-pop globally; jeans worldwide

Cultural Imperialism

The domination of one culture over others through economic, military, or media power - spreading values and practices that displace local ones.

e.g., Hollywood, McDonald's, and American English displacing local culture globally

Cultural Hybridization

The blending of two or more cultures to create new cultural forms that belong fully to neither original - distinct from assimilation.

e.g., Tex-Mex cuisine; Spanglish; Bollywood; Afrobeat

Hypodermic Needle Model

Media 'injects' messages directly into passive audiences who absorb and act on them uncritically. Media has powerful, direct, one-way effects.

Limited Effects Model

Media messages are filtered through 'opinion leaders' who interpret and relay them to others. Effects are indirect and shaped by social context.

Agenda-Setting Theory

Media may not tell us what to think - but it powerfully influences what we think about. Media sets the public agenda by selecting which issues and frames receive attention.

Cultural Globalization

The rapid worldwide spread of cultural practices,
ideas, and products through digital media and global
markets.

Effects:
• Netflix changes TV globally
• BTS and K-pop reached every continent
• Instagram standards of beauty spread worldwide
• English becomes de facto global language

Structural Functionalism

Culture binds society together through shared norms, values, and rituals. Media transmits culture and reinforces social cohesion. Manifest function: inform and entertain. Latent function: socialize audiences into dominant values.

Conflict Theory

Culture is a site of struggle. Dominant groups use media and cultural production to maintain hegemony. Media ownership, advertising, and content all reflect and reinforce class, race, and gender inequalities.

Symbolic Interactionism

Culture is built through everyday interaction — through shared symbols, language, and rituals. People are not passive consumers of cultural messages but active interpreters who negotiate meaning.