Families Are Socially Constructed: Pragmatic Implications for Researchers

2020 ◽  
pp. 0192513X2090533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Sanner ◽  
Lawrence Ganong ◽  
Marilyn Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Family Relationships ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Family Language ◽  
Theoretical Thinking ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Family Membership

Scholars have long recognized that the boundaries of family membership and definitions of family relationships are socially constructed. The social construction of family membership, and the accompanying ambiguity surrounding family language and labels, particularly in complex families who have experienced divorce, remarriage, and other structural transitions, creates obstacles for recruiting study participants and for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data. In this paper, we explore how the increasing complexity of family structure and family membership can pose pragmatic challenges for researchers. Using our own work as examples, as well as the research of others, we share methodological approaches to addressing these challenges within both qualitative and quantitative research designs. We argue that giving primacy to respondents’ relational definitions changes how researchers approach their projects, stimulates innovative theoretical thinking, and advances understanding of how individuals and families construct their social worlds.

scholarly journals La práctica de actividad física y deporte: una demanda sociológicamente construida = The practice of physical activity and sports: a socially constructed demand

2018 ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
María Martín Rodríguez ◽  
María Espada Mateos ◽  
David Moscoso Sánchez ◽  
José Emilio Jiménez-Beatty ◽  
José Antonio Santacruz Lozano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Age Group ◽  
National Plan ◽  
National Scale ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship

Resumen: En este artículo se analizan los datos de un estudio sobre las demandas sociales de actividad física y deporte entre las personas adultas en España. En concreto, se estudia la relación existente entre las diferencias sociológicas de los individuos, según el tamaño demográfico de su municipio de residencia, nivel de estudios y clase social, y las demandas de actividad física o deporte. Para ello, se ha llevado a cabo una investigación de carácter cuantitativo, consistente en la realización de una encuesta administrada de forma presencial a una muestra de 3.463 personas a escala nacional de una franja de edad de 30 a 64 años. La investigación fue financiada en el marco del Plan Nacional de I+D+i, del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación del Gobierno de España. Los resultados muestran diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre los diversos tipos de demanda de actividad física o deporte, según el nivel de estudios finalizados y la clase social.Abstract:In this paper are analysed data from a study on the social demands of physical activity and sport among adults in Spain. Concretely, are studied the relationship between the sociological differences of individuals, according to the demographic size of their municipality of residence, level of education and social class, and the demands of physical activity or sport. In order to, a quantitative research has been carried out. This research consisted of the conduct of a survey administered presently to a sample of 3463 people to national scale in an age group of 30 to 64 years. The research was funded under the National Plan of I+D+i Plan of the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain. The results show statistically significant differences between the diverse types of demand for physical activity or sport, according to the level of studies completed and social class.

scholarly journals EFFECTS OF TV COMMERCIALISM ON THE SOCIAL NORMS

2018 ◽  
Vol 02 (02) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shafayat Ali ◽  
Dr. Zahid Yousaf
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Television Commercials ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Sound Effects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
The World ◽  
Chi Square Test

This research focuses on Television commercialism and its sound effects on the values and norms of society. As “Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services by an identified sponsor” It is described that, television commercials are altering the values of our society not only in Pakistan but also in the world. Correspondingly, the aim of the current research is to disclose the role of the commercials in people’s lives and the effects of ads on the norms of society. In this regard, quantitative research designs to investigate the problem. The research distributed the questionnaires to respondents himself for the collection of data. The population for the current study is comprised of 150 Television viewers from twin city i.e Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The data analyzed by applying statistics tools and the chi-square test. the research would be an incentive in revealing the effects of types of advertisements on media and TV audiences.

Models for Interpretive Information Systems Research, Part 1

2012 ◽  
pp. 222-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. (Ruth) De Villiers
Keyword(s):  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Systems Research ◽  
Information Systems Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Postgraduate Studies ◽  
Research Action

Interpretive research designs are increasingly being applied in Information Systems (IS). This chapter is a meta-research study that briefly explains the concepts of positivism, interpretivism, and qualitative and quantitative research, before overviewing the advent of interpretive IS research. The chapter then presents two interpretive models that can serve as research designs for postgraduate studies and ad-hoc research. Action research, which originated in the social sciences, involves longitudinal studies, in which the researcher participatively investigates products or interventions that address real-world problems over several cycles, in a reflective and responsive way. Grounded theory can serve as a research method, as well as a full research design, since it can be integrated into other models as an analysis approach. Grounded theory is applied to generate themes, patterns, and theories from continuous collection, coding, and analysis of contextual data. The patterns and grounded theories emerge inductively, and are expanded and refined as further data is gathered.

Is a Bourdieusian Ethnography Possible?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey J. Sallaz
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Research Program ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Entire Body ◽  
Partial Knowledge ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Dangerous Knowledge

Chapter abstract This chapter argues that Pierre Bourdieu’s research program is less compatible with ethnography than it first appears. Bourdieu was critical of structuralism, that perspective on the social world that prioritizes general patterns over lived experience, whereas ethnography claims as its raison d’être the elucidation of lived experience. A close reading of Bourdieu’s entire body of writings, however, reveals multiple reservations about the ethnographic method. At various points Bourdieu argues that ethnography is partial knowledge, impotent knowledge, and dangerous knowledge. This chapter elaborates each of these critiques, and gives ethnography a chance to respond. Ultimately, it concludes that it is possible to do ethnography from within the Bourdieusian research program. But ethnographers must take care to contextualize their field data in its extra-local context; they should deploy systematic research designs; and they must exercise reflexivity as to how one’s position as a scholar shapes one’s experience of others’ social worlds.

The SRM Approach to Family Assessment

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 216-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Cook
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Risk Behaviors ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Family Relationships ◽  
Family Dynamics ◽  
Family Assessment ◽  
High Risk Behaviors ◽  
Analysis Group ◽  
The Social ◽  
Direction Of Effects

Abstract. In family systems, it is possible for one to put oneself at risk by eliciting aversive, high-risk behaviors from others ( Cook, Kenny, & Goldstein, 1991 ). Consequently, it is desirable that family assessments should clarify the direction of effects when evaluating family dynamics. In this paper a new method of family assessment will be presented that identifies bidirectional influence processes in family relationships. Based on the Social Relations Model (SRM: Kenny & La Voie, 1984 ), the SRM Family Assessment provides information about the give and take of family dynamics at three levels of analysis: group, individual, and dyad. The method will be briefly illustrated by the assessment of a family from the PIER Program, a randomized clinical trial of an intervention to prevent the onset of psychosis in high-risk young people.

A Tale of Two Cultures

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Goertz ◽  
James Mahoney
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Measurement Data ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Quantitative Research Methods ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
The Social ◽  
Scientific Worldview ◽  
Different Cultures

Some in the social sciences argue that the same logic applies to both qualitative and quantitative research methods. This book demonstrates that these two paradigms constitute different cultures, each internally coherent yet marked by contrasting norms, practices, and toolkits. The book identifies and discusses major differences between these two traditions that touch nearly every aspect of social science research, including design, goals, causal effects and models, concepts and measurement, data analysis, and case selection. Although focused on the differences between qualitative and quantitative research, the book also seeks to promote toleration, exchange, and learning by enabling scholars to think beyond their own culture and see an alternative scientific worldview. The book is written in an easily accessible style and features a host of real-world examples to illustrate methodological points.

The New Frontier

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Disadvantaged Groups ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Frontier ◽  
Equal Opportunity Employer

Does the burgeoning Indian Information Technology (IT) sector represent a deviation from the historical arc of caste inequality or has it become yet another site of discrimination? Those who claim that the sector is caste-free believe that IT is an equal opportunity employer, and that the small Dalit footprint is due to the want of merit. But they fail to consider how caste inequality sneaks in by being layered on socially constructed ‘pure merit’, which favours upper castes and other privileged segments, but handicaps Dalits and other disadvantaged groups. In this book, Fernandez describes how the practice of pure and holistic merit are deeply embedded in the social, cultural, and economic privileges of the dominant castes and classes, and how caste filtering has led to the reproduction of caste hierarchies and consequently the small Dalit footprint in Indian IT.

scholarly journals Social constructivism in mathematics? The promise and shortcomings of Julian Cole’s institutional account

Synthese ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenni Rytilä
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Mathematical Practice ◽  
Social Constructs ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Core Idea ◽  
Social Entities ◽  
In Virtue Of ◽  
Mathematical Reality

AbstractThe core idea of social constructivism in mathematics is that mathematical entities are social constructs that exist in virtue of social practices, similar to more familiar social entities like institutions and money. Julian C. Cole has presented an institutional version of social constructivism about mathematics based on John Searle’s theory of the construction of the social reality. In this paper, I consider what merits social constructivism has and examine how well Cole’s institutional account meets the challenge of accounting for the characteristic features of mathematics, especially objectivity and applicability. I propose that in general social constructivism shows promise as an ontology of mathematics, because the view can agree with mathematical practice and it offers a way of understanding how mathematical entities can be real without conflicting with a scientific picture of reality. However, I argue that Cole’s specific theory does not provide an adequate social constructivist account of mathematics. His institutional account fails to sufficiently explain the objectivity and applicability of mathematics, because the explanations are weakened and limited by the three-level theoretical model underlying Cole’s account of the construction of mathematical reality and by the use of the Searlean institutional framework. The shortcomings of Cole’s theory give reason to suspect that the Searlean framework is not an optimal way to defend the view that mathematical reality is socially constructed.

scholarly journals ‘Getting back to normality seems as big of a step as going into lockdown’: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with early to middle stage dementia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine V Talbot ◽  
Pam Briggs
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Cognitive Stimulation ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Middle Stage ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
The Social ◽  
Function Loss ◽  
The Government ◽  
Person With Dementia ◽  
The Impact

Abstract People with dementia can experience shrinkage of their social worlds, leading to a loss of independence, control and reduced well-being. We used ‘the shrinking world’ theory to examine how the COVID 19 pandemic has impacted the lives of people with early to middle stage dementia and what longer-term impacts may result. Interviews were conducted with 19 people with dementia and a thematic analysis generated five themes: the forgotten person with dementia, confusion over government guidance, deterioration of cognitive function, loss of meaning and social isolation, safety of the lockdown bubble. The findings suggest that the pandemic has accelerated the ‘shrinking world’ effect and created tension in how people with dementia perceive the outside world. Participants felt safe and secure in lockdown but also missed the social interaction, cognitive stimulation and meaningful activities that took place outdoors. As time in lockdown continued, these individuals experienced a loss of confidence and were anxious about their ability to re-engage in the everyday practises that allow them to participate in society. We recommend ways in which the government, communities and organisations might counteract some of the harms posed by this shrinking world.

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