Studying Families

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Studying Families
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How Do Family Sociologists Know What They Know?

• Five major differences between research on
  families and general social or behavioral
  research
• Families are systems of individuals.
• Defining family is problematic.
• Family member occupy multiple roles and statuses
  simultaneously.
• Much family behavior is private and hidden.
• We all have preconceptions about families and
  family life.
• Greenstein, 2001, p. 8

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How Do Family Sociologists Know What They Know?
(cont.)

• Look at the family with objectivitythis allows
  conclusions to be drawn in a social situation
  that are unaffected by ones own beliefs
• Essence of scientific method forms a hypothesisa
  speculative statement about the relationship
  between two or more factors

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How Do Family Sociologists Know What They Know?
(cont.)

• Rarely possible for sociologists to conduct
  randomized experiments on families
• Research is generally done by one of two methods

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How Do Family Sociologists Know What They Know?
(cont.)

• Survey A study in which individuals from a
  geographic area are selected, usually at random,
  and asked a fixed set of questions
• Observational study A study in which the
  researcher spends time directly observing each
  participant

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How Do Family Sociologists Know What They Know?
(cont.)
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How Do Family Sociologists Know What They Know?
(cont.)

• National Surveys
• Larger
• Use in-person interviews
• Are longitudinal (interview conducted several
  times at regular intervals)
• Intended to be public resources
• Conducted by academic researchers