Chapter 2: Studying the Family

1) Summary:

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?

Studying the Family

Summary:

The beginning of chapter 2 discusses why theories and research are important in our everyday lives.

Here are three main reasons why theories and research are important to us:

1. What we are unaware of can hurt us.

Ex: You have to be careful where you get your self-help information because not everyone who writes that information is not always a professional, and you could be lead astray from the actual truth.

2. Theories and research help us understand who we are, and help us understand our families.

Ex: You have to weed out the myths from actual facts.

3. Research and theories enhance skillful judgment, and give us the ability to understand information that we can communicate with our family.

Ex: With different types of media available for us, facts are stated and they also state what people want to hear at times but they can be inaccurate. Through research they can depict what is fact and fiction.

Chapter 2 also goes into detail on what types of theories are being used to study family behavior and how families develop over time. Details include what roles the husband and wife are suppose to have and how those roles make them a functional or a dysfunctional family, and how families handle different stages and events in their life time.

To put conflict into perspective, there has always been a tension between the wealthy and the not so wealthy because there is not equality from resources to opportunities. A bad economy = cutting back on a multitude of things. Racial discrimination can cause problems by not getting the proper resources such as health care, employment, and type of education.

In chapter 2, on page 40 under Family Research Methods it discusses how questions about family are answered. Some of the family questions that were used on page 40 were:

Why are young adults postponing marriage?

Why have divorce rates recently declined?

In order to answer these questions, social scientists typically use 6 major research methods:

1. Surveys
2. Clinical research
3. Field research
4. Secondary analysis
5. Experiments
6. Evaluation research

(Table 2.2 on page 40 provides a brief description of pros and cons of these 6 data collecting methods)

Interests/ Unusual Items Learned:

I found that the three practical reasons why theories and research are important to be interesting because I was naive in a sense. I never knew certain information such as self-help books could be untrustworthy.

I also learned from the six major research methods. I never knew you could actually get that much information out those 6 different methods of research. In a sense, its kind of dishearting to know in some cases that all of the time and money that is put into these research studies one can still end up with inaccurate information.

Discussion:

I would like to bring up a subject that I find problematic on page 50 of chapter 2. The book briefly goes into detail on how abstinence-only programs don’t work. They also state how teens are uneducated about sex, STD’s, and different forms of birth control. Counselors at some pregnancy resource centers are telling false information to females that have unintentional pregnancies. They are saying abortions raise their chances of getting illnesses such as:

• Breast cancer
• Infertility
• Long-lasting psychological trauma

Most of these pregnancy resource centers are associated with religious anti-abortion groups. In 2002 and 2008 the Bush administration funded 2,000 of these resource centers. With this being said, isn’t their something else that could be done besides lying? Misleading people under circumstances like these only causes more problems in my point of view.


Natalie Sebula