Evidence

For example, researchers have long used the occupation of a person’s father as evidence of the family’s social class, but studies have shown this to be a flawed measure—for one thing, a lot of people answer that question too vaguely to make the reasoning plausible. Howard S. Becker is a master of his discipline. He argues strongly that because no data-gathering method produces totally reliable information, a big part of the research job consists of getting rid of error. His reputation as a teacher, as well as a sociologist, is supported by his best-selling quartet of sociological guidebooks: Writing for Social Scientists, Tricks of the Trade, Telling About Society, and What About Mozart? What About Murder? It turns out that the master sociologist has yet one more trick up his sleeve—a fifth guidebook, Evidence. The book is filled with examples like this, and Becker uses them to expose a series of errors, suggestin

This is perhaps the most important piece of advice offered by the book, and one at the core of Becker’s own work: by remaining mindful of how data is produced, it is possible to ‘turn “technical problems” into researchable questions.’”. “Becker urges researchers to steer directly into sources of error: matters that first present themselves as data limitations—ambiguous survey questions, subjects’ unreliable recollections of their behavior, self-serving practices of bureaucratic recordkeeping—are, for the creative researcher, likely to be unusually interesting and fruitful topics for study