In Chapter 2: Studying the Family, the author explores why theories and research are important in our every day lives, theoretical perspectives on families, family research methods and the ethics and politics of family research. This chapter encapsulates the data that our lives are surrounded by and evaluates it positive and negative output it has on society.
The chapter begins by justifying why theories and research are important in our every day lives. To the author, the three very justifiable reasons as to why research is important are as follows: 1) What we don't know can hurt us, 2) theories and research help us understand ourselves and our families and 3) they improve our ability to think more critically and make informed decisions in our own families. These reasons are then backed up with facts and statistics that help prove his point and allow the reader to develop their own opinion, usually in favor with the author.
As the chapter progresses, the author begins his theoretical perspectives on families. Unfortunately there is not one simple theory about family. The theoretical perspectives are separated and broken down as follows. Structural-functional theory, which examines the family and their part in society and how they impact it as well as become a part of it. The conflict theory examines the competitive instinct, the disagreeing factors, and the competition for resources such as, education, health care, wealth and status. The feminist theory examines the gender roles and the belief of equality within politics, education and the economy. The ecological theory examines the family and its adaptation to the environment and its surroundings. The family development theory examines the stepping stones and the "permanent" life cycle our families lives seem to follow. The symbolic interaction theory examines each individual family member and their behavior in regards to their roles and how they affect others around them. The social exchanges theory examines the individuals interactions with others in order to gain in life with little or no cost at all to that individual. The family systems perspective examines in depth the family as a unit and breaks down the bond between them to find an insight on how the family does things or achieves things as a unit.
The author then continually progresses into family research methods. He evaluates the methods of data collection, surveys, clinical research, field research, secondary analysis, experiments, and evaluative research, and then puts into perspective their strengths and limitations which allows the reader to choose the method to be ethical or unethical to the family.
Last but not least the author briefs us on the ethics and politics of family research. In this section he looks at the research methods as a whole as well as the researchers, and explains the ethical codes, exploits the misconduct and talks about the pressures they endure from the community, religious beliefs and political stand points.
2) What was interesting/What did I learn:
As reading this chapter I found the section about ethical codes and scientific misconduct to be the most interesting. I was aware that scientists and researches had rules to follow but was unaware of how many of those rules are broken and how greatly it affects our families and society as a whole. The unethical actions of these scientists and researchers is unsettling and appalling. I do believe most people in life cheat to get ahead but when faced with the facts and statistics of the truth of it all that belief becomes a disbelief and not a disbelief that people cheat but a disbelief that they morally cheat that often and are ok with it. The affect this has on our families is greatly undermined in the world. Large companies, especially companies in relation to health issues, see the problems individuals have not only as problems but something that has to be treated right away and only in a certain way, even small problems such as depression. Our world has created a competition and a war between what is ethical and unethical and unfortunately the unethical will always overcome the ethical and will eventually win and take over.
3) Discussion Point/Question:
When I read about the ethical codes and the common scientific misconduct I couldn't help but wonder why someone just doesn't put a stop to it, but then I realized that this wouldn't be humanely possible, or is it? How do you get scientists and researchers to stop violating the code of ethics? Is there a solution for the problem as a whole or does this problem come from within each individual?
I thought what you brought up about ethics being a part of each individual was a good point. I think that a lot of times it really is just up to the person whether ethical codes are violated. Often, people may unknowingly do something that may be considered ethically wrong. Other times, however, people may just look past the ethics in order to gain whatever knowledge they are searching for by doing studies or any form of research.
ReplyDeleteI, too, was interested in the ethics aspect of this chapter. If I had to guess, I'd say that we could view ethics code violations as an individual issue, at least in part. People hold their own priorities and have different ideas on moral behavior; depending on a person's personal convictions, his/her 'infraction' could be someone else's 'non-issue.' One way to lessen the occurrence of ethics violations might be to prohibit (partisan) third party groups from sponsoring research; if we reduce bias, then scientists are more likely to report results as they actually are.
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