Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Sociology Research Methods Research Methods Discussions from social research argue over or try to maintain a sense of equilibrium while answering and discussing the questions of "objectivity" and "neutrality" vs. "bias" and "subjectivity." While reading, "So what do you want from us here?" by Barbara Myerhoff, "Getting In" by Ruth Horowitz, and "Jelly’s Place" by Elijah Anderson I focused on the questions of "objectivity" vs. "subjectivity." Using the authors field research I found that the authors found specific approaches that affected their data whether it was interacting and forming relationships with the community members or just observing what roles or social order occur in society. There were many positive and negative research methods and approaches used by some and others had better access to data and received more insight from other outside sources. In the field research by Barbara Myerhoff, I found that she dealt with her research by using a bias approach. It seemed to be intentional because of her up bringing and her childhood exposure to her religious background. Her parents and grandparents avoided the topics of being Jewish and were ashamed by being called "greenhorns." " We were confused and embarrassed about our background." (Myerhoff, p. 84) Her focus was to "explore the process of aging and to study the factors that give elderly people the strength to face such problems as poverty, neglect, loneliness, poor health, inadequate housing, and physical danger." (Myerhoff, p. 83) This was also a chance to return to her roots and to find out what her heritage was really about after all these years. Myerhoff formed relationships with many of the Centers elderly, but she ran into many suspicious people and was made to feel "guilty" about her understanding of her heritage and of "them" as a race or society. Myerhoff became one of the elderly trying to educate herself with her Jewish Heritage and learn their laws and language. She jumped into the role of being one of the elderly, literally. She wore tight gloves so she wouldn’t be able to perform easy tasks, also she wanted to heighten her awareness of being elderly by taking off her glasses wearing ear plugs and using the heaviest pair of shoes she could find in the Center. She practiced participant observation so that she could become elderly and see the world from their viewpoint. Not knowing enough and being young affected her study. They continued to make her feel guilty about who she was and what she stood for. She also felt a sense of resentment, but other times she felt admired and honored. Myeroff knew she didn’t understand and was told that she wouldn’t. "You have not set your eyes on any part of the place we lived in. How can you expect to understand?" (Myerhoff, p. 88) The research methods she developed affected her data by concentrating on what the elderly people were all about and how they perceived life. While Myerhoff was wearing their garb she felt a sense of vulnerability and wanted to avoid from falling because of observing the elderly even though she knew she was in good health. " This recognition occurred after I had been watching two very old women walk down the alley with great concentration, arms tightly linked, navigating impediments in slow-motion. So great was their concern with balance they might have been walking on a high wire." (Myerhoff, p. 88) She felt as if she became the ethnic joke where she could eat and they could not digest, where they had to wait for her at her convenience, and knowing she had her husband and many had no one. Still many of them have been through so much in life and still enjoy everything life has to offer. She was left with the satisfaction of knowing what the elderly stood for and what they had accomplished in their life and look forward to becoming old. "Getting In" by: Ruth Horowitz started her field research using Chicano residents of the 32nd street neighborhood in Chicago. She wanted to understand the cultural patterns of the contradicting ways of the neighborhood. Horowitz focused on "teenagers as they interacted and developed identities in various social settings and how they transitioned from being teenagers to older community members." (Horowitz, p. 45) Horowitz spent a great deal of time with the teenager’s from the 32nd street neighborhood. She observed them from the streets, in school, at parties, sometimes at home, and in political meetings. She focused her attention on the gang members in the community not becoming one of them, but becoming more like a reporter. Horowitz looked at different options like the males and females that were in the neighborhood. If you were male you could fight and get caught up in the streets or avoid the streets and concentrate on education or a job. For females they had the option of being a mother and sexual or start working towards a career. Many chose the streets of Chicago. Horowitz started out as being objective and neutral, but became more subjective the further she went into her studies. "She found that residents increasingly defined her in terms of local community expectations, creating problems for her as a "neutral" sociologist." (Horowitz, p. 46) Horowitz became a resident making their food going to their social gatherings and then hanging around with the neighborhood gang. Horowitz found out that being a female she was not aloud to be alone with a single gang member as she usually did. Also, she was not allowed to ask "stupid" questions as she was seen as an outsider. While observing them and conducting semi-structured interviews with many of the gang members and residents of the neighborhood she earned their trust and began to learn what they were all about. Horowitz learned which gangs wore what colors and how each of the gangs ran their operations. The gang she hung out with was named the "Lions." At first people thought she was a narcotics agent because they knew she was not from the "hood" because of her actions in public. Her relationship with the gang members and the youths began slowly, but she learned further that being a woman that she was not to attend fights or allowed to go out looking for other gang members. She began to attend parties and often drank with the gang members and on some occasions she observed the purchasing of firearms. Horowitz role of being female affected her ability to receive first hand information, but on other occasions was allowed to pry into the gang members private lives. Also, being female she wasn’t seen as being too harmful only if she started to control the situation. She was considered or labeled as being a "lady" so that she was respected, but at the same time was not able to get closer to the gang members because of her title. Gang members would discuss sex and swear in front of girls, but never a "lady." One of the beneficial roles she played was when she was called "Lois Lane" from then on Horowitz was able to ask questions about the gangs activities. Steadily gang members would start to come up to her to ask about stories others had told her and tell her more about what went on each day. "I was declared Lois Lane, the reporter from Superman. This provided them with the necessary identity with which I could ask about their activities and they could readily respond."(Horowitz, p. 50) To take more of their suspicions away after drinking with them she observed them smoking pot and taking hits of acid; she was even shown their weapons. Horowitz became a little bias towards the end of her research because she got caught up in her field studies. She contributed in bailing one of the members out of jail. If she was to stay neutral, she could have seen what went on if she did not bail out the gang member. Horowitz contaminated her own research to a degree, because she became too close with the gang members. "Jelly’s Place" by Elijah Anderson tries to discuss and discover the "social order underlying the interactions among the men who frequented Jelly’s."(Anderson, p. 9) What made the research easier for Anderson was that he was a black male and fit into the social background of the neighborhood and bar. Anderson started out by going into the Liquor store/bar just to relax and get away from college life. He saw himself as an outsider or visitor. He noticed soon enough that there was a social order or class that he was emerged in. There were regular customers that discussed information about the streets and were relaxed around each other, then there were the visitors which only came in to grab a drink and have a little fun in between hustling. Anderson observed that regulars would ignore visitors and let them share the space until they were finished with their business. There was "distrust and suspicions between the two groups." (Anderson, p. 10) While visiting the bar several more times Anderson began to notice another pattern; customers were not encouraged to hang in the liquor store by the regulars. The regulars would quiet down or stop talking until the intruder left. Anderson found out that you needed to gain the regular’s trust by talking with them and maintaining a safe distance from them. A man named Herman started to talk to Anderson and slowly but surely Anderson gained Herman’s trust which would benefit Anderson’s research. Herman was a regular, but not just any regular he was one of the elite members who took Anderson under his wing. After Herman discovered what Anderson did for a living he determined he was worthy enough to receive the title "regular." However, Anderson had to be open and encourage Herman’s questions and advances. Anderson’s outsider status was questioned repeatedly through out his experience in the bar. This bar was Herman’s turf and he ran the show. Anderson’s relationship with Herman grew stronger, finally Herman introduced him to all his buddies. At first they were all suspicious, but they soon became friendly and more relaxed because of Herman’s demeanor towards Anderson. What set Anderson apart from the rest of the regulars was that Herman invited him to his Christmas party at work where Anderson had to play the role of Herman’s cousin since he was not allowed to bring anyone but family. This signified and played an enormous role from then on about Anderson’s place and stature in Jelly’s. Herman considered Anderson to be his cousin and confided in him about things that he could not trust the other regulars with. Herman trusted Anderson because he knew that he could maintain a certain important social upbringing because he was a student and could act appropriately. Herman finally started to receive more respect from the regulars and his friends at the bar because of Anderson’s backing of his stories, which made Herman’s "rap" stronger. Their relationship became to be a protective one in nature. "The unspoken rule requires those who hang together to help or "take up for" one another in times of need."(Anderson, p. 18) Herman always stated that he has been "through it all." Meaning he is from the streets and has seen everything there is to see. Herman took a lot of pride in that and valued Anderson’s willingness to learn about what he has been through and what they can teach each other. Anderson took what Herman had to say and used Herman’s information to get through the streets and continue his fieldwork. Anderson kept his social research as objective and neutral because he came in as an outsider looking in. "All this fit nicely with the low-key, nonassertive role I assumed at the beginning of my study."(Anderson, p. 19) The pro’s and con’s of Myerhoff’s approach would be that she did not go into the study knowing more about her Jewish heritage which would have given her an opportunity for her to see the elderly open up a little bit more. I like how she stepped into the elderly shoes in her research to see what the elderly had to go through on a day to day basis and learned what their worries and discomforts were. Horowitz pro’s and con’s would be being female and a reporter she failed in getting personal information about, hopes, relationships, and families. She was also seen as too much as a "lady." The positive side was that she "maintained a degree of distance and legitimacy as a woman amongst men."(Horowitz, p. 53) Anderson’s approach was good in the way that he stood outside and looked in on the situation. He discovered the social order of Jelly’s and became "cousins" with Herman, which often happens in those types of atmospheres. The bad thing was that Anderson did not do anymore research in that he did not go out and interview more people in bars to see if his research was true about regulars and outsiders. I believe in Anderson’s case he had the better chance of accessing data and receiving more insight from others because he was a black male and infiltrated Jelly’s successfully and learned more about the streets and his identity then any researcher. Horowitz fit in to her surroundings in Chicago, but did not really fit in with the neighborhood teenagers she was always looked at as an outsider or "reporter." Myerhoff really went into her study blindly, but with the intent of learning more about the elderly and her Jewish heritage. If she had a little insight and understood some of her surroundings and religion she would have had an easier time with finding out more information from the elderly. Using the author’s field research I felt that many of them tried to enter their situation as an outsider looking in as most researchers do. Given time most of them were able to some what be accepted into their social surroundings. No matter what role or relationship the researchers developed along the way they still had to make choices to would affect their data in different ways. They just had to pick the correct approach and apply it. Finally all stories proclaimed different discussions of social science by using different forms of "objectivity" and "subjectivity." Bibliography: Word Count: 2384
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