Qualitative & Mixed approaches
Ethnographic research has the unrivaled advantage to offer contextually-rich evidence on social relations. We examine the benefits and limitations of this approach along with its integration to the analysis of an American urban ghetto.
Excerpts from Chronicle of a Summer:
Background readings
Desmond, 2014, TS, “Relational ethnography”
Jerolmack & Khan, 2014, SMR, "Talk is cheap ethnography and the attitudinal fallacy"
Gramain & Weber, 2001, Geneses, "Ethnographie et économétrie: pour une coopération empirique"
Pearce, 2012, ABS, "Mixed methods inquiry in sociology"
Weber, 2001, Ethno, "Settings, interactions and things. A plea for multi-integrative ethnography"
Optional readings
Badger & Bui, 2018, NYT, "In 83 Million Eviction Records, a Sweeping and Intimate New Look at Housing in America"
Creswell, 2007, Ch4, "Five Qualitative Approaches to Inquiry"
Creswell, 2007, Ch11, "Turning the Story and Conclusion"
Creswell & Plano, 2006, Ch4, "Choosing a Mixed Methods Design"
Creswell & Plano, 2006, Ch1, "The Nature of Mixed Methods Research"
Emirbayer, 1997, AJS, "Manifesto for a relational sociology"
Kelle, 2001, FQSR, "Sociological explanations between micro and macro and the integration of qualitative and quantitative methods"
Schwartz, 2011, Ch, "L'empirisme irréductible"
Case-study for reading and commentary
Goffman, 2009, ASR, “On the run: Wanted men in a Philadelphia Ghetto”
Case-studies for written review
Adams, Jimi, and Jenny Trinitapoli. 2009. “The Malawi Religion Project: Data Collection and Selected Analyses.” Demographic Research 21:255–88. doi: 10.4054/DemRes.2009.21.10.
Andrews, Kenneth T. 2001. “Social Movements and Policy Implementation: The Mississippi Civil Rights Movement and the War on Poverty, 1965 to 1971.” American Sociological Review 66(1):71. doi: 10.2307/2657394.
Blee, Kathleen. 2013. “How Options Disappear: Causality and Emergence in Grassroots Activist Groups.” American Journal of Sociology 119(3):655–81. doi: 10.1086/675347.
Braunstein, Ruth, Brad R. Fulton, and Richard L. Wood. 2014. “The Role of Bridging Cultural Practices in Racially and Socioeconomically Diverse Civic Organizations.” American Sociological Review 79(4):705–25. doi: 10.1177/0003122414538966.
Cerda-Jara, Michael, and David Harding. 2024. “Criminal Record Stigma in the Labor Market for College Graduates: A Mixed Methods Study.” Sociological Science 11:42–66. doi: 10.15195/v11.a2.
Cerulo, Karen A., and Janet M. Ruane. 2014. “Apologies of the Rich and Famous: Cultural, Cognitive, and Social Explanations of Why We Care and Why We Forgive.” Social Psychology Quarterly 77(2):123–49. doi: 10.1177/0190272514530412.
Chan Tack, Anjanette, and Mario Small. 2017. “Making Friends in Violent Neighborhoods: Strategies among Elementary School Children.” Sociological Science 4:224–48. doi: 10.15195/v4.a10.
Cherlin, Andrew J., Tera R. Hurt, Linda M. Burton, and Diane M. Purvin. 2004. “The Influence of Physical and Sexual Abuse on Marriage and Cohabitation.” American Sociological Review 69(6):768–89. doi: 10.1177/000312240406900602.
Cherlin, Andrew, Caitlin Cross‐Barnet, Linda M. Burton, and Raymond Garrett‐Peters. 2008. “Promises They Can Keep: Low‐Income Women’s Attitudes Toward Motherhood, Marriage, and Divorce.” Journal of Marriage and Family 70(4):919–33. doi: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00536.x.
Desmond, Matthew. 2012 “Eviction and the Reproduction of Urban Poverty.” American Journal of Sociology.
Desmond, Matthew. 2012. “Disposable Ties and the Urban Poor.” American Journal of Sociology 117(5):1295–1335. doi: 10.1086/663574.
DeSoucey, Michaela. 2010. “Gastronationalism: Food Traditions and Authenticity Politics in the European Union.” American Sociological Review 75(3):432–55. doi: 10.1177/0003122410372226.
Duneier, Mitchell, and Harvey Molotch. 1999. “Talking City Trouble: Interactional Vandalism, Social Inequality, and the ‘Urban Interaction Problem.’” American Journal of Sociology 104(5):1263–95. doi: 10.1086/210175.
England, Paula, Mónica L. Caudillo, Krystale Littlejohn, Brooke Conroy Bass, and Joanna Reed. 2016. “Why Do Young, Unmarried Women Who Do Not Want to Get Pregnant Contracept Inconsistently? Mixed-Method Evidence for the Role of Efficacy.” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World 2:237802311662946. doi: 10.1177/2378023116629464.
Garip, Filiz, and Asad L. Asad. 2016. “Network Effects in Mexico–U.S. Migration: Disentangling the Underlying Social Mechanisms.” American Behavioral Scientist 60(10):1168–93. doi: 10.1177/0002764216643131.
Giordano, Peggy C. 1995. “The Wider Circle of Friends in Adolescence.” American Journal of Sociology 101(3):661–97.
Hart-Brinson, Peter. 2016. “The Social Imagination of Homosexuality and the Rise of Same-Sex Marriage in the United States.” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World 2:237802311663055. doi: 10.1177/2378023116630555.
Jæger, Mads Meier. 2019. “Hello Beautiful? The Effect of Interviewer Physical Attractiveness on Cooperation Rates and Survey Responses.” Sociological Methods & Research 48(1):156–84. doi: 10.1177/0049124116672677.
Laubach, M. 2005. “Consent, Informal Organization and Job Rewards: A Mixed Methods Analysis.” Social Forces 83(4):1535–65. doi: 10.1353/sof.2005.0070.
Mueller, Anna S., and Seth Abrutyn. 2016. “Adolescents under Pressure: A New Durkheimian Framework for Understanding Adolescent Suicide in a Cohesive Community.” American Sociological Review 81(5):877–99. doi: 10.1177/0003122416663464.
Pagis, Michal. 2010. “Producing Intersubjectivity in Silence: An Ethnographic Study of Meditation Practice.” Ethnography 11(2):309–28. doi: 10.1177/1466138109339041.
Parcel, Toby L., Joshua A. Hendrix, and Andrew J. Taylor. 2016. “‘How Far Is Too Far?’: Gender, Emotional Capital, and Children’s Public School Assignments.” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World 2:237802311666995. doi: 10.1177/2378023116669955.
Quinlan, Elizabeth, and Andrea Quinlan. 2010. “Representations of Rape: Transcending Methodological Divides.” Journal of Mixed Methods Research 4(2):127–43. doi: 10.1177/1558689809359000.
Rivera, Lauren A. 2012. “Hiring as Cultural Matching: The Case of Elite Professional Service Firms.” American Sociological Review 77(6):999–1022. doi: 10.1177/0003122412463213.
Safi, Mirna. 2017. “Promoting Diversity in French Workplaces: Targeting and Signaling Ethnoracial Origin in a Colorblind Context.” Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World 3:237802311772883. doi: 10.1177/2378023117728834.
Schwarz, Ori. 2015. “The Sound of Stigmatization: Sonic Habitus, Sonic Styles, and Boundary Work in an Urban Slum.” American Journal of Sociology 121(1):205–42. doi: 10.1086/682023.
Sølvberg, Lisa Mb, and Vegard Jarness. 2019. “Assessing Contradictions: Methodological Challenges When Mapping Symbolic Boundaries.” Cultural Sociology 13(2):178–97. doi: 10.1177/1749975518819907.
Trinitapoli, Jenny. 2007. “‘I Know This Isn’t PC, But …’: Religious Exclusivism among U.S. Adolescents.” The Sociological Quarterly 48(3):451–83. doi: 10.1111/j.1533-8525.2007.00085.x.
Venkatesh, Sudhir Alladi. 1997. “The Social Organization of Street Gang Activity in an Urban Ghetto.” American Journal of Sociology 103(1):82–111. doi: 10.1086/231172.