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Unobtrusive ResearchUAPP 702: Research Methods for Urban & Public PolicyClass Notes

Based on, Earl Babbie, The Practice of Social Research

Danilo Yanich

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Unobtrusive Research

Clues all around...must use some ingenuity to examine them...

Babbie uses examples of worn tiles in museum, mucus on window, radio dial settings

May have some problems with validity and reliability...

But that can be accommodated

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Three types of unobtrusive research

Content analysis

Analysis of existing statistics

Historical/comparative analysis

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Content Analysis

Study of recorded human communications

Record the content of those communications

Two types of content

Manifest

Latent

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Manifest content The visible, surface content of a communication

Analogous to a questionnaire with extent of specificity

Advantage of reliability, but may have some question of validity

Babbie’s example of erotic novel—can count number of times words like love, kiss, etc. are used in book...but

Is that a valid measure of eroticism?

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Latent content The underlying meaning of the content

Questions about reliability

Babbie’s example re: erotic novel Read entire novel and assess how erotic it is

Might be very different assessments by different coders/readers

Might even be different assessment if one person was the ONLY reader because no guarantee that definitions will remain same

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Content analysisLocal TV news example, content coding

Research question

A comparison of the reporting of adult vs. juvenile crime on local TV news stories in the Baltimore and Philadelphia markets

By offenses By the characteristics of the suspects and victims By the production modes of the story

NOTE: Juvenile crime story=story in which suspect or victim or both are under 18 years of age

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Content analysisLocal TV news example, content coding, p. 2

Sample

The videotaped broadcasts of a “constructed” week of the primary evening news broadcast…

During March and April 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1996…

For all stations delivering a regularly scheduled news broadcast to the market

Result: 153 broadcasts from 11 stations

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Content analysisLocal TV news example, content coding, p. 3

Unit of analysis

Individual news story

Result: 2400 total stories excluding sports and weather

Over 700 crime stories

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Coding instructions for local newsID# Continuous

Channel Continuous

Date Continuous

Story line Continuous

Time Duration in seconds

Type

1=Crime event;2=Police; 3=Courts; 4=Corrections; 5=CJ policy

Age suspect

1=Juvenile (under 18);2=Adult; 3=Adults & juveniles8=Unknown/Not reported9=NA

Age victim

1=Juvenile (under 18)2=Adult; 3=Adults & juveniles8=Unknown/Not reported9=NA

Source: CJ 0=No; 1=Yes; 9=NA

Source: Defense Atty 0=No; 1=Yes; 9=NA

Presentation mode 1=Anchor read; 2=VO/Anchor; 3=Live at location

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A news story in New York City

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What do we record?

ID# Chan Date Story Line Time Type AgeSus

AgeVic

SourceCJ

Source DefAtty Mode

4687 WABC 3/11/98 Teen pleads guilty in man’s death 45 3 1 2 1 1 2

4688 WABC 3/11/98 Man arrested for robbery 23 2 2 2 1 0 1

4689 WNBC 3/12/98Domestic dispute turns into hostage situation

45 1 2 3 1 9 3

Seconds 1=Crime event2=Police3=Courts4=Corrections5=CJ policy

1=Juv2=Adult3=Adults&Juv8=Unk/NotReport9=NA

1=Juv2=Adult3=Adults&Juv8=Unk/NotReport9=NA

0=No1=Yes9=NA

0=No1=Yes9=NA

1=Anchor read2=VO Anchor3=Live

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Content analysisLocal TV news example, content coding, p. 4

Careful not to take the position that the content analysis often shows what is common knowledge.

Example: Local news and race of victim and suspect

More often than not, the race or ethnicity of the victims and suspects is NOT reported on local TV news

Then, raises the obvious question—why the common assumption?

Other possible explanations—Placement of story? Production factors? Offenses?

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Table 1: In both markets, the race/ethnicity of the victims and suspects most often was not reported or not known

Baltimore Philadelphia

Race/Ethnicity of Victim/Suspect Victim% of stories

Suspect % of stories

Victim% of stories

Suspect% of stories

Not reported/not known 57 41 54 40

Only Caucasian 22 41 25 29

Only African-American 16 17 16 25

Only Hispanic 0 1 3 5

Mixed race/ethnicity 5 0 1 1

Only Asian 0 0 1 0

Source: Danilo Yanich (1998). Crime, Community & Local TV News, p 49

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Advantages of content analysis

Economy of both time and money

Safety—it is easier to redo if there is a problem

Permits the study of processes that occur over a long time

Content analyst has no effect on subject being studied

Reliability

You can always recode and recode again to ensure reliability

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Disadvantages of content analysis

Limited to the examination of recorded communications

Validity problems

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Analyzing Existing Statistics

Babbie makes distinction between secondary data and existing statistics

Secondary data—someone else’s data on which you conduct your own analysis.

Existing statistics—data analyses that others have done

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Analyzing Existing Statistics, p.2

Babbie uses Durkheim’s study of suicide as example

Concerned with social conditions that encouraged or discouraged it

Developed theory of anomie, “normlessness”—a general sense of social instability

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Analyzing Existing Statistics, p.3

Problems with validity

Two ways to deal with validity questions

Logical reasoning: Durkheim “reasoned” that most of the suicides in a predominantly Protestant region would be Protestants

Replication: Durkheim replicated his study for countries, regions, etc.

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Analyzing Existing Statistics, p.4

Problems with reliability

Babbie uses crime data for drug arrests

Arrests may be organizational or political “events”

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Sources of Existing Statistics

Most obvious and important is: Statistical Abstract of the United States

Published by U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of the Census: www.census.gov

Best source of data about the U.S.

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Historical/Comparative Analysis

Examines the development of social forms over time

Comparing those social forms across cultures

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Examples of historical/comparative analysis

Marx’s progression of history seen as “class struggle”

Sorokin’s notion of societies that cyclically alternate between “ideational” (spiritual & religious factors) and “sensate” (sense experiences) points of view

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Elements of historical/comparative analysis

Usually a qualitative method

Researcher must find patterns among details describing the subject matter

Often informed by a particular theoretical paradigm