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Qualitative research vs quantitative research
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Qualitative research vs quantitative research
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In the first two chapters of the novel Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh The book opens during Venkatesh’s first week as a graduate student at the University of Chicago. During orientation lectures, students are warned repeatedly to stay in the safe areas of the city and not to venture outside them. Venkatesh lives on the edge of one of these safe zones, on the border between the university campus and a poor, black neighborhood. He has recently moved to Chicago from California and spends his time exploring the city. He is especially interested in the poor black neighborhoods; when he walks in these areas he is the subject of intense scrutiny but feels perfectly safe. Venkatesh then introduces some of the basic ideas of sociology, explaining that sociologists usually collect large amounts of information using survey and then translate the results into statistical data. This is the quantitative approach and has been criticized by some sociologists, who prefer to “observe” the subjects—the people—of their research in a more intimate way. Venkatesh favors the observational approach, as he finds that quantitative methods are often too abstract, too far removed from the reality of people’s lives. In the second chapter
Venkatesh begins to spend time with J.T. and some of the senior members of his gang. He tells us that it would take him years to
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often hang out at diners, where they discuss topics ranging from the history of Chicago to the sociological literature on gangs. J.T. always offers to pay for Venkatesh’s meals, for which he is very grateful. Sometimes they would sit in silence while J.T. worked out the logistics of gang operations and Venkatesh read his textbooks. J.T. writes almost nothing down—he doesn’t want to leave any evidence of his gang’s activities—and as a result, he has an excellent memory. While Venkatesh does make notes of his time with the Black Kings, he hardly ever does so in front of J.T., in case it makes him
Jumped in by Jorja Leap is an autobiographical book about the experiences of a UCLA professor’s struggle to understand the lifestyle of gangs, and to figure out a way to end gang violence. Jorja Leap is an outsider looking at these communities from an intellectual sociological point of view, but she also has her personal biases shown. She stated in the book she is similar to an anthropologist, committing research specifically on gangs to comprehend their motivations. Her research leads her to interact with individuals that were or are affected by gang violence, whether they were the culprit or the victim. A large amount of the individuals she interviewed also want to end gang violence. These people know the negative effects that it has had on their communities and the suffering that it causes. These
In the story of how “A Rouge Sociologist Takes to the Streets”, Sudhir Venkatesh finds himself in the projects of Chicago documenting his first hand experiences of his journey on how he is introduced to the black culture. Sudhir, a first year college student in the University of Chicago, decides to participate in a research project regarding “how young blacks were affected by specific neighborhood factors”, when he realizes how ineffective these questionnaires are, he decides to proceed in unconventional ways to retrieve his answers. Sudhir’s accumulated a growing fascination with the housing projects in Chicago the longer he spent in the community. Before long Sudhir had befriended a gang leader, by the name of J.T., who had given him a powerful
Venkatesh's research began rather intimately; he focused on individuals and the stories they had to tell. Ultimately, Venkatesh's objective grew as he strove to encapsulate the Robert Taylor Homes as a whole, as opposed to given tenants. It is in this instance that Venkatesh's research methods took an unethical turn. Venkatesh initially walked into the projects with a clear cut plan, boasting surveys with
Throughout the article “The Code of the Streets,” Elijah Anderson explains the differences between “decent” and “street” people that can be applied to the approaches of social control, labeling, and social conflict theories when talking about the violence among inner cities due to cultural adaptations.
In Sudhir Venkatesh’s ethnography Gang Leader for a Day, is his research is through the University of Chicago in the 1990s and chose to do research on poor black people. He stated about his experience with JT in the Robert Taylor Housing and to understand how their life if differentiates from others. Throughout this paper I will be speaking about Venkatesh’s research, the limitation, my opinion in how Venkatesh understood all of his findings, and how his experience mesh with my own. The novel is his dissertation, his ethnography where he collected data record their observations, and find a way to understand the meaning behind it all.
in chapter 3 of “FREAKONOMICS: Why Do Drug Dealers Live with Their Moms?” our author takes a look into the reason why so many drug dealers still live at home with their moms. Until provide a more in depth look into the gang lifestyle, our author recalls the experience of Sudhir Venkatesh with the black disciples. Venkatesh was born in India born, upstate New York native who held a degree in mathematics as well as a Ph.D. in in sociology. His first assignment nearly leads to his death, as his graduate advisor sent him out into Chicago poorest black neighborhoods. During his search for participants to help him complete a survey, he stumbled upon a Black Gangster Disciple Nation members who were in the midst of a turf war. Sudhir a random man
According to the book, Venkatesh was an Indian male who came from an immigrant background. He was a graduate student at the University of Chicago, and he essentially led a sheltered life. Sudhir describes his homeplace as the “lily-white suburbs of Southern California” and lived in “a studio apartment in a ten-story building” next to “a beautifully manicured Gothic campus” (Venkatesh 1). Sudhir didn’t struggle through life the same way that the residents of Robert Taylor did. Robert Taylor was composed of I think his background affected the results of the study because Venkatesh had his own opinions and perspectives on certain situations, and reacted differently because of them. For example, when Clarisse tells Sudhir that Ms. Bailey has not fed her children, he takes it upon himself to find food and water for her family. Ms. Bailey informs him later on that she feeds all the hungry children of the building, and that he cannot trust everyone, because “they’ll take advantage of you, and you won’t know what hit you. And I won’t be there to protect you” (Venkatesh 157). Sudhir’s need to protect and provide for these women, who are less fortunate than he is, causes him to react quickly to the situation. This affected the data in a positive manner because it highlights the need for truth and lack of interference. Sudhir learned that he could not take everything at face
These crime-ridden communities (or ghettos) are springing up all through the country, mainly in and around major metropolitan areas. These areas are the most populated, so that means that within these areas are the most people there to be influenced by the crimes committed by fellow people. In Male's reading he shows statistics that prove the fact that once the poverty factor is taken away then teen violence disappears. He later adds, “That if America wants to rid of juvenile violence than serious consideration needs to be given to the societally inflicted violence of raising three to 10 times more youth in poverty than other Western nations.” (Males p386)
Venkatesh, S. A. (2008). Gang leader for a day: a rogue sociologist takes to the streets. New York: Penguin Press.
Gang Leader for a Day written by Sudhir Venkatesh consisted of Sudhir himself studying, observing and partaking in a study for his dissertation on the South Side of Chicago with underprivileged African Americans who are gang affiliated. The methodological and ethical issues that were found in his book reflect potential strengths and weaknesses of his qualitative research. Venkatesh brought to light the dangers and awareness of being associated with the Black Kings gang, there were situations that were new to him that he had to adjust himself to and be cautious of for the future. Although there were a few ethical issues presented in his book, there was a greater lesson at large taken from his results.
...g measures out there. The reader is given plenty of background information on gangs allowing someone with little knowledge of the subject or the cities’ history to jump right in. Statistics, interviews, surveys and personal observations of the authors during ride-alongs make up much of the source material. The book’s strengths lie in the amount of research contained within it, as well as an insider look at the gang unit and what it takes to be an officer in that specialization. However, if it is not being used to supplement another research paper or study, the book comes off as a difficult and boring read, making a reader likely to put it down otherwise.
The story, Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh, is a ethnographic study of a Black King Gang in the Robert Taylor community. Venkatesh accidentally stumbles upon the gang lead by J.T. and decided to study them. Throughout his journey he learns from the violence and illegal activity he witnesses that “in the projects it’s more important that you take care of the problem first. Then you worry about how you took care of it”’ (Venkatesh. 2008:164). He witnesses beatings, selling of illegal drugs, and exploitation of residents; but he also gained a lot of knowledge about the community. He works with J.T. and Ms. Bailey, the community leader, closely through his study. J.T. has taken a sociology class and he allows Venkatesh to shadow the gang
A research model is an ideal model follow by eight basic steps and it is essential for sociological research. Sociologists may include all of the steps or omit some of the steps in their research. The Street Corner Society by William Foote Whyte is based on a case study of the community in Cornerville. In his fieldwork, a few steps were omitted from the research model. As Whyte was trying to assimilate into the community, some of his behavior was considered as an informal deviance.
For the course, the Professor Healy made these objectives priority for the class; to develop and apply a sociological imagination, analyze the causes and consequences of social inequality, analyze social/cultural diversity and complexity, evaluate and implement social theory, and implement scientific methods in conducting research. These objectives were vital to becoming successful when applying it to the real world. This course relates to my educational goals of growing my mental capacity of formal knowledge. This formal knowledge
...ts path into sociological treatises on the city might consequently be filtered and consolidated into a reasonable group of learning. By chance, just by method of some such hypothesis will the humanist get away from the vain practice of voicing in the name of sociological science a mixture of frequently unsupportable judgments concerning such issues as destitution, lodging, city-arranging, sanitation, metropolitan organization, policing, promoting, transportation, and other specialized issues. While the sociologist can't take care of any of these handy issues anyhow not independent from anyone else he might, assuming that he identifies his fitting capacity, have an imperative commitment to make to their appreciation and result. The prospects for doing this are brightest through a general, hypothetical methodology.