Types of Analysis

9. A Sociological Analysis utilizes one of the types of analysis described here
while utilizing social concepts, processes, theories & one or more sociological paradigms.

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Utilize common social science concepts

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Utilize one or a few theories

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Utilize a school of thought / cluster of theories

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Utilize one or two perspectives or paradigms

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Each theorist & school may be placed in a paradigm, & uses concepts differently

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Use social analysis to show cause & effect

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Social Theory

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10. An analysis that utilizes a Future Orientation should, in relationship
to the variables & issues examined, predict the future.

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A Future Orientation should discuss the immediate term, long term, & distant term

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A Future Orientation should discuss the best, middle, & worst case

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A Future Orientation should apply narrative to the future

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11. An analysis that offers a Social Policy is essentially proposing an integrated set of solutions
that operate at both the individual & the social levels.

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Social vs individual social policy

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Other Types of Analyses are allowed & encouraged;
however, they must be approved by the Professor prior to use

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IntroductionA weak analysis will only tell a story or describe the topic.
A good analysis will go beyond a mere description by engaging in several of the types of analysis listed below, but it will be weak on sociological analysis, the future orientation & the development of social policy.
An excellent analysis will engage in many of the types of analyses discussed below and will demonstrate an aggressive sociological analysis which develops a clear future orientation and offers social policy changes to address problems associated with the topic.

It is strongly suggested that all assignments contain a Socio-Historical Analysis. All assignments are required to have an extensive Future Orientation section of at least 10% of the length of the assignment. All assignments are required to have an extensive Social Policy section of at least 10% of the length of the assignment.

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1. A Narrative Analysis tells a story using a lot of relevant & descriptive details; usually organized to tell the story in sequence. The thesis is often implied, but, preferably, makes some specific, clearly articulated point about the story being told.

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Emphasize story telling here! Post-modernists revolt against linear, scientific analysis & instead, let the story provide insight. Novel/vignette
Action play
Read someone else's story/biography/experience, then analyze or unpack or explain it

You may also use anything from literature, the arts, the media to convey your message
The classics are always best
      Titanic: myth of making it big
      Romeo & Juliet: ethnicity? classism
      Autobiography of Macolm X
      Hurricane Carter
      Friends
      Northern Exposure

If you utilized your own experience ( biography ), tell it as a story/novel

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Story-Telling will generally not include the "moral of the story." The person who is truly committed to this method will only use narrative & refuse to offer explanations. Most sociologist will use narrative, but then go on to explain/apply it. The master of this method will so combine them so that the observer will not know whether the work is narrative or analysis. Thus the reader is forced/allowed/lead to create their own meaning from the narrative. The writer is not imposing his/her story, but presenting "reality" & then letting others decide/judge it.

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2. A Descriptive Analysis offers a detailed description through the use of objective or subjective language to describe some object (a person, place or thing; it may be a “social object” such as discrimination), & in the process, give the reader some dominant impression (the thesis) of the thing being described. The writer should identify their vantage point (the perspective from which they are viewing the object) which also determines the organization of the essay--going from far (macro-structural) to close up (micro-structural), changing the angle or starting w/ a general description, moving towards a specific one.

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3. A Socio-Historical Analysis examines historical events utilizing social concepts. While a historical analysis is merely a description of people & events from the past, a socio-historical analysis examines history using social concepts (see Social Theory below) such as the industrial revolution, urbanization, democratization, etc., to not only describe history, but also to understand it perhaps in a way that not even the people living at the time understood it. It is strongly suggested that all assignments contain a Socio-Historical Analysis.

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4. A Comparative Analysis explains how something is like or unlike something else. The items compared need to have a basis of comparison--that is, they need to be enough alike to warrant a comparison. The thesis should indicate whether the essay will focus on similarities or differences. The purpose of the essay should be in the thesis statement's main clause. Subject-by-subject comparison treats each of the subjects the writer is comparing, but does so separately. Each subject should be evaluated according to the same criteria and in the same order. A point-by-point comparison treats subjects individually but alternately, in pairs.

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5. A SWOT Analysis addresses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, & threats to the topic. This comprehensive type of analysis addresses a topic w/ the aim of taking action in relation to the topic. If an analysis demonstrates particular strengths & weakness, then particular opportunities & threats (actions) are implied.

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6. A "Cause & Effect" Analysis demonstrates how the occurrence of one event correlates w/ a particular outcome. ( Remember in the social sciences, we generally hold that technically there is no "cause & effect" only correlations. ) While there are many types of cause & effect relationships, for most assignments in the social sciences, the focus should be on social causes and social effects. It is also reasonable to examine how non-social (e.g. physical, biological, psychological, etc.) causes also have social effects. Statistical Analysis are often designed to demonstrate cause & effect, i.e. correlations between variables. It is often helpful to ask: How does this particular cause & effect relationship really work? ( as to opposed to how many believe it works )

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Social causes should be the focus, not personal causes. The challenge of sociology is to make people look beyond personal causes

Example: Durkheim on Suicide
Suicide:
    Depressed
    Lost spouse ( death, break-up, desertion )
    Lost other relative
    Lost job
    Lonely
Durkheim:
   Religion
   Sex
   Age
Catholics less likely than other Protestant religions to commit suicide
Females less than males to commit suicide
Young & old less likely to commit suicide

Why? Link
Social regulation
Social integration

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Identify all social causes & effects. To identify social causes & effects utilize social science concepts, theories, schools, & paradigms      1. Show your cause - effect relationship
      2. Brain storm on all causes
      3. Identify levels of causes ( personal, psychological, political, economic, etc. )
      4. Translate causes into social concepts
      5.   Look for theories, schools & paradigms that address your area
            See which of those theories apply

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Example: School shootings. Why do students kill students? Depressed, Angry, Alone, Hurt,

Social isolation
Alienation
Lack of regulation
Socialization
Discrimination
Technology
Social structure: the media, gun industry
Small group dynamics

Now which theories deal w/ school shootings or any of the concepts above?
Which schools do they operate within? ( i.e. related theories )
Which paradigms to the schools operate within?

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A Flow chart of immediate & remote causes is often useful. Use your analysis to construct a flow chart w/ all possible causeShow interactions
Show how individual cause are affected by social forces
Show how individual forces aggregate to create social forces

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7. A Statistical Analysis will generally be used to demonstrate a "cause & effect" relationship (i.e. a correlation) or a Comparison. Statistical Analysis should always assume that the reader does not understand statistics. Thus, Statistical Analysis should always be accompanied by the appropriate type of analysis discussed here-in such as a Comparative Analysis or a "Cause & Effect" Analysis.

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Statitical Analysis is a.ka. Aggregate Data Analysis / Archival Research Analysis of records & artifacts
Old records
Census
Other current records
     pop
     income
     race
     rel
     ed
     age
     gender
Aggregate Data Analysis is used to study current or historical events

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ExamplesDurkheim's Suicide
Sir Francis Galton (1872) efficacy of prayer to prolong life
Statistical inquiries into the efficacy of prayer. Fortnightly Review. 12, 125-135.
Phillips (1977) copy-cat suicides
Phillips, DP (1977) Motor vehicle fatalities increase just after publicized suicide stories. Science, 196, 1464-1465

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8. A Critique assesses the ideas of another or a social phenomenon. Generally, critiques address the strengths & weakness & take a position on the balance of the two. In addressing strengths & weaknesses, critiques may address the validity of a cause & effect relationship, examining whether the relationship exists as assumed by its proponents. Critiques are frequently given for private & public social policies. The weakness of a critique is that it offers nothing but criticism. This weakness, however, is mitigated in the current assignment by the requirement that all assignments are to offer their own social policy/solutions.

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9. A Sociological Analysis utilizes one of the types of analysis described here while utilizing social concepts, processes, theories & one or more sociological paradigms.    the writer seeks to find causes and/or describe or predict effects. Non-sociological types of analyses (biological, psychological, etc.) focus on the individual while sociological analysis focuses on - factors external to the individual such as social conditions
   in the community or society
- the meanings that members of a social organization share
- an individual's social location (class, status, gender,
   ethnicity, race, religion, authority position, etc.).

In examining causes, the writer should look beyond the commonly accepted explanations (i.e., take nothing for granted, especially common sense assessments or explanations based on the prevailing view in society).

It is often helpful to ask:
       How does this particular cause & effect relationship really work? (as to opposed to how many believe it works)
       Who really has the power?
       Who benefits under the existing social arrangements, and who does not?
       What is the social structure or context in which the issue exists?

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Social Theory: One of the most effective ways to develop an analysis in-line w/ a particular academic field is to use a particular set of concepts, processes, & theories in the analysis that are rooted in that academic field. Thus, in a social analysis, it is effective to use social concepts, & theories. The writer should attempt to:- use one of the sociological perspectives (functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism)
- use the framework one or more sociological theorist (Parsons, Mead, Marx, Merton, Habermas, Giddens, etc.)
- use many sociological concepts (alienation, anomie, culture, socialization, structure, etc.)

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Utilize common social science concepts. Below is a list of the most important sociological conceptsalienation
anomie
culture
     ideal & real culture
     subculture
class
class & false consciousness
deviance
discrimination
    bias
    prejudice
    stereotype
    institutional discrimination
division of labor
ideology
institutionalization
latent & manifest functions
organizational dynamics
power
    charisma
    coercion
    rational authority
    traditional authority
norms
roles
social movements/collective behavior
social structures
status
stratification
socialization
urbanization
values

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Utilize one or a few theories. It is perfectly acceptable, in a research project which will produce a journal article or something similar to utilize one theorists article as a "foil," i.e. a theory w/ which you have a conversation - compare & contrast compare your idea
- critique the other ideas
- use the other theory to critique your ideas
- build on the other ideas

You do not need to state that compare & contrast is the pt of your research, but if your thesis is directly related to another theory then you may continually refer to that theory

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Utilize a school of thought. A school of thought is where several theorists w/in a perspective construct ( propose & critique )a set of theories Durkheim, Marx, Weber, Parsons, Mead, Merton.....
or
Feminism, exchange theory, organizational theory, human ecology, equilibrium theory, evolutionary theory, social Darwinism, neo-Marxism, neo-functionalism, world-systems theory.....

Note that many contemporary authors work in these areas.
Some areas are very vibrant now: feminism, criminology
Some areas are out of favor: neo-Marxism, social Darwinism, but still have their advocates

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Utilize a perspective or paradigm

Three of sociological perspectives
1. Functionalism
2. Conflict theory
3. Symbolic interactionism

Other social sciences have perspectives or paradigms too:
Psych
1. Behavioral
2. Freudian
3. Humanistic
4. Cognitive
Neuro-chemical

Poli Sci
1. Rousseauian
2. Hobbesian

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Each theorists & school may be placed in a paradigm

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Use social analysis to show cause & effect. Use social analysis ( concepts, theory, schools, paradigms ) to show / uncover / explain all the causes affecting the object of the research

Cause & effect occur at many levels
Global Warming
CO2 enters atms physical
One person does it individual

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10. An analysis that utilizes a Future Orientation should, in relationship to the variables & issues examined, predict the future. Many of the types of analyses discussed here lean toward a discussion w/ a future orientation. One of the major goals of any science is to predict the future. In the future orientation analysis, the researcher uses any of the types of analyses discussed here, not only to understand the past & the present, but also to predict what will occur in the immediate term, the long term and in the distant term. All assignments are required to have an extensive Future Orientation section of at least 10% of the length of the assignment..

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The Future Orientation should analyze the immediate, long term, & distant terms.Immediate: tomorrow to 5 yrs
Long term: 5 yrs to 10 yrs
Distant term: beyond 10 yrs; usually in increments of 25 yrs

All sociological research should predict events for the next 5 yrs
Exactly what you report on for the future, depends on what you are looking at
The researcher needs to address those issues that he or she believes will be critical in the future
Be as specific as possible
Explain whether you believe we are due for
1. a gradual, incremental change
     which is more a continuation of present social forces
     - implies no new forces
2. a radical change
     which is due to either new social forces coming to play
     or due to aggregation of present social forces
     resulting in an imp threshold being reached
3. an incremental reversal of the current trend
     - waning of present social forces &/or
     - introduction of new social forces
4. a radical reversal of the current trend
     - waning of present social forces &/or
     - introduction of new social forces
5. No change: rare case

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The Future Orientation should analyze the best, middle, & worst cases. Whichever type of analysis you choose from above, you may want to offer three possible scenarios: best, middle, worst cases. In other words, you offer at least 3 possibilities ( you may offer more ). The possibilities should cover the entire range of possible behavior, w/in reasonable limits. Thus the range may include 3 continuing growth scenarios or 1 growth, 1 stable, 1 shrinkage scenarios or any combination.

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Apply narrative to the future. Do not get caught in simply posting numbers which describe future social relationships. Offer a picture, a narrative, an image of what the future will be like

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11. An analysis that offers a Social Policy is essentially proposing an integrated set of solutions that operate at both the individual & the social levels. An analysis may be used as a basis for assessing the outcomes or effects in a cause and effect relation and offering a recommendation or solution for the question examined. That is, an analysis may be used to formulate a policy that addresses the problems in relation to the causes or effects of the sociological analysis. All assignments are required to have an extensive Social Policy section of at least 10% of the length of the assignment.

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Social vs individual social policy. You may offer individual suggestions for change. Good research should offer social solutions.

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Other Types of Analysis: There are many other types of analysis/explanations, including: psychological, physical, biological, religious, historical, political, literary, etc. In general, these are not suitable for the social sciences. They may be used only when comparing them to, or in some way relating them to the types of analysis discussed above.

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