Personal Bias In Social Research Outline
The Place of a Researcher: Subjectivity in Social Research
Christine Crowe
Submission for a Senior Honors Thesis
April 15, 2014
-1-
CONTENTS
I.
Introduction
II.
3
Section One: Bias
7
a. Personal Bias in Sociology 7
b. My Subjective and Objective Research Experience
c. Standpoint Theory
25
Section Two: Identity
28
a. Roles and Identity
III.
21
d. My Standpoint
28
b. Gender
34
c. Socioeconomic status
IV.
14
37
Section Three: My Experience 39
a. My Roles: Brown Student and Research Assistant
b. Finding my Place in an Elite Environment
39
41
c. My Research Experience: Objectivity Isn’t so Easy
V.
Conclusions
54
VI.
Appendix A
57
VII.
Bibliography …show more content…
I will then move into an explanation of why I was drawn to write this thesis and examine my own personal bias in my work with Professor Elliott. I will then present standpoint theory as an alternative approach in sociology that utilizes the author’s perspective and subjectivity instead of dismissing it and go on to detail my own standpoint. I then turn to the focus of this work: an analysis of my own personal experience regarding the factors of socioeconomic status and gender. I will first discuss and define these concepts in
-5-
connection to Brown University and broader society, then examine each in conjunction with my experience in the roles of undergraduate student and a sociological researcher.
While I use my experience at Brown University as a lens, the purpose of this sociological endeavor is not narrate the life of one working class student, but rather to bring attention to issues of objectivity and identity for the researcher in research and to offer one path of inquiry to future students whose backgrounds might not reflect the privileged positions of the institutions they inhabit. To do this I want to expose enough about who I am to give meaning to the work, but to also keep a distance that is …show more content…
To gather a sample that would represent the target population, an email was sent out to all undergraduate students. This email provided students with a link that allowed them to complete an online portion of a survey asking questions about their parental occupation status, concentration and happiness at Brown, among many other indicators of personal identity formation. There was an incentive which allowed the project to contribute five dollars to a selected organization of the student’s choosing for every survey completed.
From the completed surveys participants for in-depth interviews were randomly selected for participation. Not all of those selected chose to participate in the interviews.
- 14 -
Those who did were brought to the department, where participants were scheduled time for one on one interviews with members of a team of undergraduate Brown students who were trained to complete interviews with a series of guided questions. A copy of the interview document is located in Appendix A. Students were asked a series of open
Christine Crowe
Submission for a Senior Honors Thesis
April 15, 2014
-1-
CONTENTS
I.
Introduction
II.
3
Section One: Bias
7
a. Personal Bias in Sociology 7
b. My Subjective and Objective Research Experience
c. Standpoint Theory
25
Section Two: Identity
28
a. Roles and Identity
III.
21
d. My Standpoint
28
b. Gender
34
c. Socioeconomic status
IV.
14
37
Section Three: My Experience 39
a. My Roles: Brown Student and Research Assistant
b. Finding my Place in an Elite Environment
39
41
c. My Research Experience: Objectivity Isn’t so Easy
V.
Conclusions
54
VI.
Appendix A
57
VII.
Bibliography …show more content…
I will then move into an explanation of why I was drawn to write this thesis and examine my own personal bias in my work with Professor Elliott. I will then present standpoint theory as an alternative approach in sociology that utilizes the author’s perspective and subjectivity instead of dismissing it and go on to detail my own standpoint. I then turn to the focus of this work: an analysis of my own personal experience regarding the factors of socioeconomic status and gender. I will first discuss and define these concepts in
-5-
connection to Brown University and broader society, then examine each in conjunction with my experience in the roles of undergraduate student and a sociological researcher.
While I use my experience at Brown University as a lens, the purpose of this sociological endeavor is not narrate the life of one working class student, but rather to bring attention to issues of objectivity and identity for the researcher in research and to offer one path of inquiry to future students whose backgrounds might not reflect the privileged positions of the institutions they inhabit. To do this I want to expose enough about who I am to give meaning to the work, but to also keep a distance that is …show more content…
To gather a sample that would represent the target population, an email was sent out to all undergraduate students. This email provided students with a link that allowed them to complete an online portion of a survey asking questions about their parental occupation status, concentration and happiness at Brown, among many other indicators of personal identity formation. There was an incentive which allowed the project to contribute five dollars to a selected organization of the student’s choosing for every survey completed.
From the completed surveys participants for in-depth interviews were randomly selected for participation. Not all of those selected chose to participate in the interviews.
- 14 -
Those who did were brought to the department, where participants were scheduled time for one on one interviews with members of a team of undergraduate Brown students who were trained to complete interviews with a series of guided questions. A copy of the interview document is located in Appendix A. Students were asked a series of open