Issues in Practical Sociology - Essay Example

Religion is clearly a cultural universal; religious practices are evident in all societies. At present, an estimated 4 billion people belong to the world's many religious beliefs. In contemporary industrial societies, scientific and technological aspects of life including the social institution of religion. The term secularization refers to the process through which religion's influence on other social institutions diminishes. When this process occurs, religion will survive in the private sphere of individual and family life; indeed, it may thrive on a personal level. At the same time other social institutions - such as the economy, politics and education - maintain their own sets of norms independent of religious guidance. Like religion, education is a cultural universal. In a sense, education is an important aspect of socialization - the lifelong process of learning the attitudes, values and behavior appropriate to individuals as members of a particular culture. However, socialization may also take place through interactions with parents, friends, and even strangers. Socialization result as well from exposure to books, films, television and other forms of communications. When such learning is explicit and formalized- when people consciously teach others to adopt the social role of the learner - this process is called education. The research focuses on religion and education as they have emerged in modern industrial society. The approaches that Emile Durkheim first introduced are being used by later sociologists in studying religion. The basic function of religion as a source of societal integration and social control and as means of providing social support has also been explored through other researches. In the past, particular attention was given to the insights of Karl Marx and Max Weber regarding the relationship between religion and social change. Functionalists stress the importance of education in transmitting culture, promoting social and political integration, maintaining social control and promoting social change. To conflict theorists, however, education preserves distinctions based on social class, race, ethnicity and gender, instead of promoting equality. Interactionists generally focus on micro-level classroom dynamics such as how teachers' expectations about students affect the students' actual achievements. Since religion like Protestantism and Catholicism is considered a cultural universal, it not surprising that it fulfills several basic functions within human societies. In sociological terms, these include both manifest and latent functions. Among the manifest functions of religion are defining the spiritual world and giving meaning to the divine. Because of its beliefs concerning people's relationship to a beyond, religion provides an explanation for events that seemed difficult to understand. By contrast, latent functions of religion are unintended, covert, or hidden. Church services provide a manifest function by offering a forum for religious worship; at the same time, they fulfill a latent function as a meeting ground for unattached members. In viewing religion as a social institution, functionalists evaluate its impact on human societies. The first two functions of religion that were previously discussed in researches are integration and social control which are oriented toward the larger society. Thus they are best understood from a macro level viewpoint in terms of the relationship between religion and society as a whole. The third function - providing social support - is more oriented toward the individual can be more understood more effectively from a micro level viewpoint. The fourth function, promoting social change, is illustrated using Max Weber's macro level concept of the Protestant ethic. Summary The research article is entitled "Attitude toward Christianity among secondary school pupils in Northern Ireland: shifts in denominational differences" written by Leslie Francis, Mandy Robbins, Christopher Lewis and Philip Barnes. The research can be considered as a continuation of a series of studies conducted for the past several decades in connection to the attitude toward Christianity among males and females educated in Protestant and Catholic schools. The research methodology involved the use of questionnaires involving the use of Francis scale of attitude toward Christianity. Random sampling was utilized to collect sample data. A sample is the smaller group, or subset of the group, of interest that is studied in the research study. Describing the sample is important for understanding the results of quantitative study such as the research article being critiqued. This is a focused summary of what has already been published regarding the question or problem for which there is a gap in knowledge. The literature of the research article gives the readers' a picture of what is already known or has already been studied in relation to the problem and identifies where the gaps in knowledge may be. (Pineault, 2007) The literature review should reflect the current state of knowledge relevant to the study and identify any gaps or conflicts. It should include key or classic studies on the topic as well as up to date literature. There should be a balance of primary and secondary sources Related studies, on the other hand, are studies, inquiries, or investigations already conducted to which the present proposed study is related or has some bearing or similarity. They are usually unpublished materials such as manuscripts, theses, and dissertations. The research design of the article is both exploratory and descriptive. (Pineault, 2007)The research made use of quantitative methods which focus on the understanding and breaking down on the different parts of a phenomenon to see how they do or do not connect. Therefore, quantitative methods involve collecting information that is specific and limited to a particular parts or events of the research subject being studied. Methods sections of research reports usually include information about three aspects of the research method: sample, data collection procedure and the data analysis methods. Knowledge gaps that involve a concrete response or action lend themselves to a quantitative approach, in which each factor that might contribute to a problem is identified, defined, and measured. The sampling subsection in the methods section of the research report describes how people were chosen for the study, what was done to find them, and what, if any, limits or restrictions were placed on who could participate in the study. Understanding samples and sampling is important part of making intelligent decisions about the use of research in practices therefore, samples and samplings should be discussed properly. Almost any research report, even those that are mostly reporting results of interviews in the form of words, includes descriptive results. Descriptive results summarize information without comparing it to other information. The authors do not compare these findings to any other group; they simply describe what they found using language that summarizes the information such as percentages or averages. Statistical significance is important because of the need to be sure what was found in the small group of patients studied is not something that happened by chance rather than because of some factor that the research is studying. The Four-Cornered Relationship Model can be used to discuss the article further. We can express the relationship between various practical and theoretical research considerations in the following, diagrammatic form. Choice of Topic Theoretical Preference Research Methods Practical Preference The above model suggests that whenever we approach the study of social phenomena, the particular method (or methods) we choose to adopt will be will be conditioned by various practical and theoretical considerations. Additionally, since most sociological research is commissioned by interested groups such as Government agencies, the people who provide the funds for our research may demand a considerable say in how we spend those funds (a condition of doing the research, for example, might be that we must produce statistical, rather than qualitative, data). However, while practical considerations are clearly important in the "real world" of sociological research, it's important that we recognise there is a further dimension to the question of why different sociologists choose to use different methods of data collection - one that comes under the general heading of "Methodology". In basic terms, questions of methodology are concerned with the reliability and validity of the data we collect: For example, the question of whether or not interviews are a valid method of data collection, (given the argument of various Interactionists that they involve inherent problems of bias - the "interview effect"). The argument here is that each method of data collection available to us can only do certain things well and, therefore, we must recognise that certain methods can only discover certain things. Again, this looks like simple commonsense - we have something we want to study, certain methods do certain things well and other things badly, therefore, we need to select the method that does the job we require in the best possible way. However, theoretical considerations are just as significant in this respect as they are in the other respect noted above. In this instance, the assumption is made that the choice of research method is simply and exclusively a practical problem, divorced from wider considerations such as: - The reliability and validity of different methods. - The beliefs that researchers, hold about what constitutes "knowledge", "evidence" and so forth. - The way the relationship between the researcher and the researched may affect the data we collect. To relate this model to the research article, the research methods aspect of the article made use of questionnaires which have advantages and disadvantages. Questionnaires have the advantage of being cheaper especially when large samples are being used similar to the number of participants in this research. Ader H, Mellenbergh G, eds. (1999) Research Methodology in the Social, Behavioural and Life Sciences. London: Sage Publications. Babbie, E. (2004). Survey Research Methods. 2nd Edition CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co Brman A. (2003) Quantity and Quality in Social Research. London, New York: Routledge. Fawcett J, Downs FS. (2004) The Relationship of Theory and Research, 3rd ed. Philadelphia, F.A. Davis. Fowler F. (2004) Survey Research Methods, 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications. Kerlinger FN. (2004) Foundations of Behavioral Research, 4th ed. New York, NY, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Seligman, M.E.P. (1990). Learned Optimism. New York: Knopf. (Reissue edition, 1998, Free Press. Read More