Assignment P3
The goals of Assignment P3:
- To study the process of family formation: how people meet and come together
- To consider differences across culture or subculture, including across time
- To apply the criteria of scientific observation
- To link the concepts (theories) and findings (facts) from the textbook with observed data
Assignment P3 has three components: observation, analysis, and writing
- Observation phase gathers data about couples coming together to form a family from one of several sources
- Watching the movie “Arranged” about two women in modern America whose tradition involves arranged marriage
- Interviewing one or both members of each of two couples who either got married or started a family at least 25 years apart, or
are two generations in the same family. This could be you or a sibling (if you have started a family) + your parents, or your parents
and grandparents, or a couple you know in their 20s and another couple you know (unrelated) in their 50s or older. The greater the difference in ages, the more likely you are to see differences. The couples should be of the same race/ethnic background. - Interviewing one or both members of each of two couples of similar age but different ethnic or racial backgrounds. Here it is important that the couples be very similar in age so that you only see the effect of race/ethnicity not time.
- Interviewing one or both members of each of two couples with children about the impact of having children on their relationship to each other, on their work patterns and aspirations, and about the process of raising children
- Interviewing one or both members of a gay/lesbian couple in a committed relationship or who are raising children together and of a heterosexual couple who are in a committed relationship or who are raising together.
- Take notes during your interview or the movie, which are the data that you analyze for your paper. The notes are not your paper.
- Analysis phase: Making comparisons, observing patterns or theme
- The things that people said are their perspectives – but they are not the sociological perspective. For instance, if a couple from a culture different from yours says, “Culture makes no difference” but your data show that, as the book described, they had married at a later age and placed more emphasis on individualism than the other couple you interviewed, your analysis would show that differences exist, but members of various cultures may be unaware of those differences.
- Look for information in the Seccombe text about the features that distinguish the couples from each other: the time frame when the marriage/family was started,race/ethnicity, social class, gender orientation of couple – and see whether the stated fact is observed in your data.
- Writing phase: Present the results of your study in a 2 page paper
- Briefly (2-3 sentences, 1/2 page or less) describe the structure of the families whose members you interviewed, and the trait that distinguishes them (e.g., which social class, which ethnicity). (15 points)
- Describe two patterns or comparisons between the couples that are linked to information from the Seccombe text. Each comparison should take at least one paragraphs, and should have at least two citations to the Seccombe text book. (30 points each)
- Conclude with a paragraph in which you describe how you used the methods of social science in your interviewing and in your analysis. Your paragraph should include at least two citations of the earlier portion of the Seccombe text on methods and theory. (15 points)
- Your paper should be well-written, without spelling or grammatical errors, double-spaced, with a title page, and stapled. Papers that are not stapled will not be accepted. (10 points)
Due Date: Friday, November 13
Amy Skroch said
For our concluding pragraph you ask us to describe how we used the methods of social science with our analysis. What are the methods of social science, are they like the reseach methods from P1?