Researching Deviance
(Goode, Deviant
Behavior, 7-8th editions, 2005/2008, chapter 5. See
the disclaimer)
- Issues: trust and validity, "courtesy
stigma," risk.
- Qualitative and quantitative methods
Use of Official Data
Sex Surveys
Assessment of Survey Research
- Limited number of broad, randomized
samples
- Relevance of surveys/polls on
attitudes toward deviance
- Decent comparative data, and charting
of long-term trends
- Surveys, however don't tap into
all behaviors, and provide limited depth
Participant Observation
Assessment of Participatant
Observation
- Works for certain purposes
- Validity versus reliability
Narratives and
Personal Accounts
- Long history (Thomas and Zanieki:
The Polish Peasant in America, 1918-1920)
- Accounts rendered by informants:
democratic
- Factual accuracy versus interpretation
- Subjects "construction
of reality" ("verisimilitude")
- Negotiation
- Vocabularies of motive:
stigma neutralization
- The professional fence
- Convicted rapists
- Male street hustlers
- College student cheating
- Accounts and vocabularies of motive
are not "causes" of deviance, nor explanations: Simply (complexly)
a view of how people maintain a sense of self.
Laud Humphreys, "Tearoom
Trade" (1970)
Economic
Crime
URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/200/research_deviance.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel: rok@umsl.edu
Last Updated:
Thursday, January 31, 2008 10:10 AM