| ............. |
.
| Dimensions
in Family Research |
/
/
|
How
Can We Use the Six Dimensions In Designing Family Research?
|
..
| This
question requires you to take some of the material about the
six dimensions and about doing research,
and go beyond, putting in your own analysis and reasoning (not mere opinions).
The best description of the six dimensions are in the paper: What
is Community? |
.
-
Foremost, the six dimensions as a set provide
a way of organising research data. Since cultural data belong to one or
another of the six dimensions, you can examine what you are collecting,
or plan (intend) to collect, and ask if they are balanced between the dimension.
-
The six dimensions can be used as a checklist
to ensure that all the social and cultural features of each studied family
are recognised.
-
To the degree that families have elements
in common, the six dimensions can be used to make information comparable
(not necessarily the same) between them.
-
As Baker (2005) points out, there is a microstructural
bias in most family literature. Using the six dimensions allows for
a means of counteracting that bias.
-
The six dimensions can be used as a base
for identifying more specific features of your research. Those may vary.
-
Referring to the six dimensions, and what
each includes, the researcher can be directed to specific questions.
-
In the sense that a family is like a community
and is like a society in itself, it must (by definition) have all six dimensions.
All six are therefore valid for doing research.
|
.
| Be
careful not to say that the researcher
must include all six dimensions.
While it is logically true that removing one dimension by definition will
remove all dimensions, that applies to the family (culture) but not to
research. It is not an argument for including all dimensions in the research. |
.
| It
would be OK to list all six dimensions, but you were not asked to define
or describe the cultural dimensions as such. You were asked how they would
be applied in research design. The following looks at how each dimension
might be used in that research design. |
.
|
Technology:
How does the material environment (house, furniture, utensils) contribute
to family dynamics? How is it affected by family dynamics? How has the
broader (societal) technology and its changes affect the structure and
organisation of the family? |
|
. |
|
Economic
Dimension: How is wealth (anything scarce and useful) allocated within
the family? How does the wider economy affect the family? What is the overall
family income? Does it come from only one member? Two? If so, is it distributed
equally ? or by what principles? |
|
. |
|
Political
Dimension: How is power and influence allocated and exercised within the
family? What effect does the political dimension in the wider society have
on the internal structure and dynamics of the family? Is there any evidence
of recent changes? If so, how did they come about and what are the implications? |
|
. |
|
Interactional
dimension: With the microstructural bias in family literature, this is
the dimension that is most affected. As well as the roles and relationships
within the family, however, you can also ask what class is the family within
the wider society, and does that affect the family? What other roles does
the family play in society, and what are its relationships with the rest
of society outside it, and with individuals outside the family? |
|
. |
|
The
Values
and Aesthetics Dimension: The research can ask if all members of the family
share the same values. (Does dad like hip hop or rap?) What is the level
of prestige of the family as a whole, and how is that affected by individuals
within it? Do family members share political ideology? Are values and aesthetics
discussed or taken for granted? How do community standards and social values
affect those within the family? Are they aligned? |
|
. |
|
Worldview:
Do all family members attend the same religious services? Are they members
of the same religious organisation? Do they share the same beliefs about
cosmology. Does the family pray together (and stay together)? |
.
| The
document on using the six dimensions for community
research can provide a few guidelines for using them for family research,
especially since the differences between family and community are becoming
more blurred. |
.
| The
kinds of questions asked here are wide and varied. They are generated
by taking each dimension
-- and asking what might be sociologically important in it. What
is it in that dimension which affects the structure and organisation of
a family? |
.
| This
is how the six dimensions can be used in family research design. |
...
.
.
.
.
.
Reference
Cited:
Baker, Maureen, editor
2005
Families:
Changing Trends in Canada, Fifth Edition.
Toronto: McGraw-Hill
Ryerson |
––»«––
|
