Social Research Design Week 11: Field Research

Overview of the Chapter

    Welcome to Week 11 of Sociology 201 online.  In this unit of the course, we are going to examine a qualitative data collection technique: field research.

    The discussions and activities of this unit are linked to Chapter 10 of The Practice of Social Research.   To preview the topics contained in Chapter 10, click here.  You can click on any of the major headings for a brief overview of that topic.  You might want to read the overview prior to reading that section of the chapter and/or read the overview after the chapter to make sure you got what you were supposed to get from it.

    Your tasks for completing this first unit of the course are to:

(1) Preview and read Chapter 10,
(2) View the slide shows provided, and

The Grounded Theory Method (GTM) has generated a number of web sites, which should assist you in understanding this research paradigm.  Click here to see some of those sites.

Field research raises the issue of the observer's impact on what is being observed.  Click here for an examination of that issue.