Research Catalog

Title

Methods, sex, and madness / Julia O'Connell Davidson and Derek Layder.

Author

O'Connell Davidson, Julia, 1960-

Publication

London ; New York : Routledge, ©1994.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Layder, Derek.

Description

xiii, 240 pages; 23 cm

Summary

"Social research yields knowledge which powerfully affects our daily lives. The 'facts' it generates shape not just how we see ourselves and others, but also whether or not we see the existing status quo as normal, just and legitimate. Everyone, particularly students of the social sciences, should therefore examine and question the methods used by social researchers to produce such knowledge. This book will help them to do so, focusing chiefly on research into human sexuality and madness, it introduces and critically assesses everything from survey methods to participant observation, opens up broader philosophical debates about the nature of knowledge, and highlights issues surrounding the ethics and politics of research." "Medical and social researchers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries both reproduced and helped to construct a vision of 'normal' sexuality. This research provides a clear example of the links between everyday life and scientific thinking and those between social research and social power. Taking this as a starting point, the book then looks at the research community and the research process in more detail before moving on to examine the main techniques used in social research: the use of official statistics, the survey method, interviewing, laboratory observation, ethnography, the use of documentary sources and textual analysis. By exploring both technical and conceptual problems in the work of researchers like Freud and Kinsey, and by considering the difficulties faced by researchers concerned with phenomena such as rape, witch hunts and prostitution, this book makes methodological issues both interesting and accessible."--Jacket.

Subject

• Sexology > Research
• Psychiatry > Research
• Sex (Biology)
• Attitude (Psychology)
• Social values
• Research Design
• Sex
• Attitude
• Social Values
• sex (biological characteristic)
• Social values
• Psychiatry > Research
• Sexology > Research
• Psychose
• Sexualwissenschaft
• Methodologie
• Sociaal-wetenschappelijk onderzoek
• Seksualiteit
• Psychische stoornissen
• Research Design
• Sex
• Attitude
• Social Values
• maladie mentale > méthodologie > recherche sociale > sexualité
• recherche sociale > sexologie

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

• 1. Social research and everyday life. Common-sense and 'scientific' constructions of 'normal' sexuality. Everyday thinking and scientific knowledge -- 2. Dimensions of social research. Two research traditions. Methodology and the research community. The research process: theory and evidence. Towards better research and research practice -- 3. Official statistics and social research. Durkheim, suicide and official statistics. The phenomenological critique of official statistics. Marxist and feminist critiques of official statistics. Using official statistics critically -- 4. The survey method. Sex research and survey methods. The principles of sample design. Kinsey's sampling techniques. The problem of non-response. Kinsey's response rate. Issues of coding and questionnaire design. Kinsey's question schedule and coding system -- 5. Interviewing. The orthodox approach to asking questions. Qualitative approaches to asking questions. The feminist approach to asking questions.
• Interviewing Kinsey style. Interviews with Sigmund Freud. Interviewing without sympathy -- 6. Observation in laboratories and other structured settings. Observation and sex research. Experimental research in the social sciences. Milgram's experimental research on obedience: ethics and interpretation. The effect of the observer on the observed -- 7. Ethnography and qualitative analysis. Types of observation, field roles and access. Gathering data and selecting informants. Coding and analysis. Interpretation and validity of findings. Varieties of ethnographic work -- 8. Documentary sources and textual analysis. Documentary evidence and witchcraft. Content analysis. Content, author and audience: Mercer on Mapplethorpe -- 9. The practice of research. Researching prostitution. Politics, power and social research.

ISBN

• 0415097630
• 9780415097635
• 0415097649
• 9780415097642

LCCN

94005596

OCLC

• ocm29846491
• 29846491
• SCSB-2035879

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library