can you help me write my discussion about chapter three like this student post that I shared on here

Chapter 3: Researching Deviance

Methods, Survey and Field Research, Content Analysis, Secondary Sources, Ethics

The promise and pitfalls of doing into the field. (Adler & Adler)

Misogyny in rap music: A content analysis of prevalence and meanings. (Weitzer & Kubrin)

Inderbitzin, M., Bates, K, and Gainey, R. (2020). Deviance and social control: A sociological perspective. 3rd Edition. SAGE publication.

Student discussion post

Question 1: The main difference between a quasi-experimental design and a normal experimental design is that a quasi-experimental design does not use random assignment while a normal experimental design does. What random assignment does is it ensures that participants of the experiment are equally likely to be placed into a group. Random assignment is very important in making sure an experiment is credible with no bias. It allows researchers to reach a real conclusion since the participants in the experiment are making choices based on what the researchers manipulate instead of making choices based on any other factor that would occur without random assignment. There are some similarities between the two, however, such as both types of experimental designs utilize the researcher manipulating variables in the experiment, both use the same research process (hypothesis testing, data collection, analysis), and both also involve more than one group being tested. A quasi experimental design would be useful if there are already people in pre existing groups. This is because a quasi experiment does not need a random group. An example of this would be an experiment to assess the impact a school counseling program has in a specific high school since those students are already involved with the specific high school and counseling program. An example of an experiment using the regular experimental design would be something like the Milgram experiment where they randomly selected participants to engage in a manipulated experiment.

Question 2: Sampling in survey research is very important because if you decide to sample a specific group of people, but their behaviors are related to another subset group, then in reality you are using information from another population than you intended. The reading brings up an great example and it explains it far better than I just did, "Typically, when people survey students in courses, we refer to the outcome as a convenience sample; this indicates, perhaps, that the class is composed of many different kinds of students since most students take "intro soc" and "may reflect" the population of undergraduates" (Inderbitzin, 2020, pp. 86). So sampling from a population that is taking an intro to sociology course may lead you to actually getting a sample from a population of undergraduates since they fall in the same category. So, this could lead someone to blame your experiments results on the fact that they are undergraduate students and not blaming the results on the population solely being intro to sociology students if that makes sense. Another important part of survey research is response rates. This is because response rates can dictate the quality and reliability of your experiment. This is because if not many people respond to your survey, your results may end up more biased than if many more people responded. Simply put; the more people who respond, the more data you have to work with.

Question 3: Being a pure observer in a social event means observing people without them knowing they are being observed as well as them not knowing the observer is even there. This allows for the observer to get a completely candid view of the social event and allows them to see everyone in their natural behavior. On the contrary, engaging in participant observation means the observer is actively participating in the social event. This allows the observer to feel what it is like to be the people they are observing; feel what they feel, speak how they speak, live like they live. Anthropologists mainly use participant observation in their ethnographies which is essentially an experiment where an anthropologist will live amongst their target population for a period of time.

Question 4: Official data is data that is provided to us by government organizations or other reliable organizations. This data is simply cut and dry and usually has a huge sample size such as an entire country or state. The sample size can also include massive sub populations of people such as drug users, alcoholics, or people who suffer from mental health problems. These data sets are great because they are very reliable and free to use for the public allowing for easy access. The problem with these data sets however is the lack of detail. Most of these data sets don't account for most variables needed in most research studies, it's usually just a graph or number. Some of the data sets may also be outdated and there could be potential underreporting since some of the populations have a lot of stigma attached to them. An example would be a drug user being ashamed of reporting that they use drugs in fear of being judged or prosecuted for doing so.

Question 5: One of the main ethical concerns in my opinion when it comes to studying deviance is maintaining confidentiality. I say this because some forms of deviance are illegal. For example a study done by Patricia Adler in 1993 involved her doing an experiment that involved participant observation with a population of drug dealers. Adler had to maintain the subject's confidentiality and anonymity through the whole experiment and after despite the subject doing very illegal things that would end up with them in prison. This is an ethical concern because Adler is protecting a criminal from facing the repercussions of their actions. This lets a drug dealer remain free on the streets which I consider a threat to public safety. To be completely honest I am not too sure how to balance these concerns. I believe that the experiment must go on despite the public safety risk. Of course it gets to a certain point where I feel even the observer must "snitch". Let's say that drug dealer began killing people or lacing their product, then I would say the experiment should end and the police should be involved.

Summary: This chapter discusses many ways we can study deviance using different types of experiments or research techniques. There were plenty of examples for each experiment type and examples of different types of research used to study deviance. This allowed me as a reader to see what the author of the textbook was explaining and also apply it to an experiment of study that actually happened. The chapter also dived into the ethics of researching deviance which I had not even considered before reading. It made me realize how complex studying and researching deviance can be along with the consequences if it's not studied or researched correctly.

Article Summary: The first article written by Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler discuss ethnography as a whole. Ethnography is a type of research that involves the conductor of the study to actively participate in their subjects' lives. In the article Adler explains, "Ethnographers may combine direct observation, participation, interviewing, and casual conversation to triangulate their findings" (Adler as cited in Inderbitzin, 2020, pg 113). Meaning an ethnography can include many different types of research techniques, not just active participation. The article provided many examples of popular ethnographies that were done successfully as well as providing examples of ethnographies that were failures. Some of the failed ethnographies failed because of the researcher being too biased or the researcher violating an ethical rule. The article also discussed how ethnographers study their data after the experiment is complete and also publish their findings. For me, I found the examples to be very helpful as well as very interesting. Some of the examples included ethnographers being a part of drug deals and putting themselves in dangerous situations.

The second article written by Ronald Weitzer and Charis E. Kubrin is about an analysis done on rap music and its portrayal on women. The article focuses heavily on the fact that a good portion of rap songs use derogatory terms and shame women. These derogatory terms are usually sexual ones. The article then discussed how these themes in rap music influence the people who listen to it to mimic what they hear. I was shocked at how many rap songs included derogatory comments on women.