research methods

case studies & definitions

Venkatesh

Venkatesh

longitudinal

overt observations

unstructured interviews

ethnography

Venkatesh study

Gang Leader for a Day → offered to join the gang (he did for 10 years) to find out why people join gangs.

→ Discovered that they offer health facilities/housing/protection and a sense of community. Most people join bc of poverty.

Barker

overt observations

interviews

ethnography

Barker case study

The Moonies → to find if the unification church were a cult or not.

She sat in meetings and workshops and concluded that it wasn’t a cult.

Amy Flowers

covert observation

ethnography

participant

Flowers case study

Sex Hotline → signed up to work as one of the women on the sex hotline to see how they handled it.

Concluded they treated it like virtual reality and detached from it.

Humpherys

covert observation

ethics

Humpherys’ case study

TeaRoom Trade → Study impersonal homosexual relationships.

Joined the subculture as the ‘watch queen’ and took their personal info to follow up later. Found they were normal men with families and outed them.

Archer

secondary research

content analysis

Archer case study

Girl Gangs → to find out why girls joined gangs

She used police interviews and records to find out about the girl gangs.

Said they joined out of frustration of subordination in society. (Riot GRRRLs were empowering) and offered protection.

Willis

focus groups

Willis case study

Lads and Ear’oles → research on anti-school and pro-school subcultures.

Focus group with 12 lads.

They didn’t see the point in trying academically bc they would have manual jobs that they didn’t need academics for in the future.

Crime Survey of England and Wales

structured interviews

questionnaires

Crime Survey of England and Wales case study

Crime Surveys → find the extent of unreported crime.

Sent a survey out to 50,000 people each 12 months to see if people have been victim to crimes.

Alice Sullivan

Questionnaires

Alice Sullivan case study

cultural capital → to find out who has cultural capital.

Sent out questionnaires that had names of key cultural figures and the participants had to tick which profession/category they are known for.

Found that children with parents who went to uni had more cultural capital than not.

Gillborn

overt observations

Gillborn case study

Teacher Bias