A Quick Guide to Research Methods

In a hurry to understand that piece of research? Can't remember your undergraduate statistics lectures? Don't worry! Refer to this handy‐dandy quick reference for making sense of research design! Seriously. Too often when I am reading a research paper, terms are used which are either unfamiliar or ring only faint bells of recognition. I would like to have the capacity to remember everything I was taught, but apart from having a very bad memory, I am also beginning to suspect that it is actually better practice to check terms out even if I think that I remember what they mean.     

A small sociology of maternal memory

Memory is an enormously important resource for the social sciences. This paper takes the subject of maternal memory to examine a corpus of work in the sociology of childbirth concerned with how women remember the experience of childbirth. It suggests that the sociology of memory has been more concerned with collective than individual experiences, and that women's memories of childbirth have generally been treated as a special case, rather than as a route to enhanced understandings of how memory works in relation to the all‐important topics of time, identity and social change. Drawing on data from a 37‐year follow‐up to a study of childbirth conducted in the 1970s, it argues that maternal memory shares key characteristics with other kinds of memory, but can be significant in allowing women to reposition themselves as active social selves in a process that is remembered as not allowing much agency or autonomy.     

The quest for a general theory of aging and longevity

Extensive studies of phenomena related to aging have produced many diverse findings, which require a general theoretical framework to be organized into a comprehensive body of knowledge. As demonstrated by the success of evolutionary theories of aging, quite general theoretical considerations can be very useful when applied to research on aging. In this theoretical study, we attempt to gain insight into aging by applying a general theory of systems failure known as reliability theory. Considerations of this theory lead to the following conclusions: (i) Redundancy is a concept of crucial importance for understanding aging, particularly the systemic nature of aging. Systems that are redundant in numbers of irreplaceable elements deteriorate (that is, age) over time, even if they are built of elements that do not themselves age. (ii) An apparent aging rate or expression of aging is higher for systems that have higher levels of redundancy. (iii) Redundancy exhaustion over the life course explains a number of observations about mortality, including mortality convergence at later life (when death rates are becoming relatively similar at advanced ages for different populations of the same species) as well as late-life mortality deceleration, leveling off, and mortality plateaus. (iv) Living organisms apparently contain a high load of initial damage from the early stages of development, and therefore their life span and aging patterns may be sensitive to early-life conditions that determine this initial damage load. Thus, the reliability theory provides a parsimonious explanation for many important aging-related phenomena and suggests a number of interesting testable predictions. We therefore suggest adding the reliability theory to the arsenal of methodological approaches applied to research on aging.     

Enhancing the mind? Memory medicine, dementia, and the aging brain

The study explores the relationship between the neurosciences, aging, anti-aging culture, memory medicine, and the hypercognitive society. The first part traces the discourses of mind from the Enlightenment to contemporary biosocial models where the aging brain has become a social laboratory for research, experimentation, and intervention. The second part explores the Cholinergic Hypothesis, the development of the cholinesterase inhibitors and their recent implementation in cases of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Critical questions are posed about how the mission to optimize aging has affected projects to enhance the mind.     

Age and subcultural differences on personal and general beliefs about memory

This study examined age and cultural differences on both personal and general beliefs about memory by comparing three age groups within two subcultures belonging to the same country: Milanese and Sardinian. Two innovative instruments on general and personal beliefs with graphic-rating-scale format (General Beliefs about Memory Instrument and Personal Beliefs about Memory Instrument) and a memory task (recall of 40 words) were administrated to participants. Sardinians held more positive attitudes about the effects of aging on memory reporting a later onset of declining memory ability and control over memory across the life span. They were also more optimistic in rating their global memory efficacy, control, and retrospective change. The two subcultural groups differed in terms of memory performance, with Sardinian individuals outperforming the Milanese. Findings are discussed in relation to the view of aging in different subcultural contexts.     

An ‘unholy alliance’ of existential proportions: Negotiating discourses with men's experiences of cancer and aging

Little is understood about how experiencing cancer and aging together can disrupt people's socio-personal worlds and lead to existential questions about identity, life ambiguity, and death. Toward this end, we interpreted the metaphors that three aging men with cancer used in a focus group to describe their existential concerns. We also considered how two dominant cultural discourses around cancer and aging, generally referred to as discourses of “progress” and “decline”, figured into the participants' meanings. Finally, we compared the men's attitudes toward cancer and aging to dominant ideas about how men respond to these life events. Through interpretative phenomenological analysis, informed by critical phenomenology, we came to three conclusions. First, the men's interpretations of cancer and aging shared similar existential themes of tragedy and transcendence. Second, these existential concerns were informed by dominant discourses of cancer and aging, in that they followed the culturally constructed trajectories of decline and progress, respectively. The men's metaphors point to a negotiation of these two discourses. A third and related point is that the men predominantly contradicted gendered assumptions about dealing with life adversity but in some ways repeated them. This research indicates that people interpret cancer and aging in somewhat shared ways, via dominant cultural discourses, but also in individual ways depending on personal life histories. As discourses and life histories seem to influence how people make sense of aging life with cancer, it may be useful to be aware of these contexts when providing psycho-social care to aging cancer patients.     

The effect of the interview on the interviewee

This paper is concerned with the effects of participating in semistructured interviews on the interviewees. It is based on evidence supplied by young adult women who were interviewed a number of times and asked about their previous interviews. While most claimed to have little recall of these earlier events, they did remember them as interesting and/or enjoyable. This was because the interview focused on them with the guaranteed but detached interest of the interviewer. Informants' reflections on previous interviews showed that there was a range of impact on women's views from (a)recording information; (b)clarification of views; (c)review of position; and (d)discovery of something new. Beyond interviews interacting with the informant's views there is also evidence that some interviewees' actions outside the interview were influenced by their participation. The fact that interviews involve the interaction of participants is now recognized in a number of intellectual approaches but the variability of this has not been documented.     

Bathroom Lines,Ky-Ky Girls,and Struggles

Abstract

In both Audre Lorde's biomythography Zami: A New Spelling of My Name and Joan Nestle's A Restricted Country, the authors explore, exploit and ignore the boundaries of autobiographical writing in order to tell their personal stories in the voices they choose. I find their accounts particularly useful when we consider them together because Lorde and Nestle were born, grew up and came of age within less than a decade of each other, in the same city, and cite many of the same landmarks as sites of recognition and worth. Yet because the authors remember, recite, and reclaim their personal histories from within their specific positions, we must examine the factors that shape their narratives insofar as they relate to the particular stories they choose to articulate; what they neglect to disclose may reveal as much as what they impart. The works of Lorde and Nestle suggest the possibility for a collective memory and for coalition building as supported and maintained by contributing identity politics.     

Discrimination,Feminist Narratives,and Policy Arguments

Gender-based discrimination or harms represent an important set of problems for policy communities. Because policy communities respond to rhetorical arguments about policy ideas, feminist scholars need to be concerned about the persuasion value of their policy-relevant arguments. This paper examines the persuasion value of arguments based on feminist narratives. Narratives look to women's experiences as key resources for social investigation, but they involve rhetorical tradeoffs. Some of the important rhetorical advantages of narratives are partially offset by features characteristic of this research approach.     

A Case Study Perspective: The Experiences of Young Persons Testifying to Child Sexual Exploitation in British Criminal Court

Three young persons who gave evidence about child sexual exploitation in criminal court using various testimonial supports were interviewed about their testimony experiences. The witnesses reported that they felt extreme pressure to remember events accurately and cared greatly about being believed. None reported their own coping strategies to alleviate stress and took comfort breaks only after they cried on the stand. Defense attorney questions were reportedly repetitive, rapid, confusing, and focused on secondary content rather than the central criminal acts. The witnesses mentioned dissatisfaction in having supportive social workers whom they trusted leave the case and be replaced.     

Moving beyond familism: Potential contributions of gerontological theory to studies of Chicano/Latino aging

Research on Chicano and Latino elders assumes that most Chicano/Latino elderly are primarily active within a family context. Familism is the most common feature of Chicano/Latino families that is used to explain the status of the elderly, how they cope with aging, and how gender dynamics among the elderly are constructed. Predictions about the future of the supportive nature of family for the elderly vary depending on how familism is conceptualized. This focus on familism is shown to be a limiting approach to Chicano/Latino aging. We illustrate how an explicit grounding in different gerontological theories directs the study of Chicano/Latino aging to include broader sociological issues. We also suggest reconceptualizing familism so that the existence of familism has theoretical as well as empirical importance. Placing research on Chicano/Latino aging into a broader sociological framework would move research away from a sociology in aging to a sociology of aging.     

From bedside to bench: research in comorbidity and aging

As their patients age, clinicians are increasingly confronted with diseases, impairments, or conditions that complicate the diagnosis and treatment of index diseases and with the management challenge of the overall burden of morbidity in their patients. Nevertheless, there has been little applicable conceptual work and empirical research on the nature, impact, and management of comorbid and multiple morbid conditions. Advancing research in this area has been the goal of a recent National Institute on Aging Task Force on Comorbidity Research Issues, as well as a working conference of the American Geriatrics Society. Both efforts highlighted current knowledge and thinking about comorbidity in the context of caring for an aging population, in preparation for research ultimately leading to better understanding of comorbidity and improvement in clinical practice. This Perspective provides a brief overview of these developments.     

Ephemeral and Ludic Strategies of Remembering in the Streets: A Springboard for Public Memory in Chile

This article examines a profound turn in the commemoration and representations of the dictatorial past in Chile (1973–1990), where young people who did not experience firsthand the authoritarian order are publicly creating fleeting images, practices, and objects to remember the military dictatorship. These are urban ephemeral and ludic mnemonic assemblages (Freeman, Nienass, and Daniell 2015) that connect past and present events and demand new ways of talking, acting, and thinking about the past, thereby appropriating the public space. The participants in these actions stress the original, carnivalesque, and public dimensions of their practices, challenging the official politics of memory that has focused on the recognition of victims within the walls of museums or memorials. The following question guides this article: How do new public, ludic, and ephemeral strategies interact with and potentially change official ways of narrating the past? How do they create the space for political participation in postconflict societies? Drawing upon a qualitative and multimethod study that combines 60 in‐depth interviews, participant observations, and archival work, I maintain that, although this blossoming of the Chilean public memory has opened up new territories for activating memory, it has a transient temporality and, consequently, may have transitory political potential.     

Narrating Genocide: Time,Memory, and Blame

More than 20 years have passed since the Rwandan genocide, yet we know little about how Rwandans remember the violence. This article draws upon more than 100 interviews with genocide survivors to assess collective memories of the atrocity. We find that survivors organize their narratives by conceptualizing the genocide as a watershed event that divides time into two distinct eras. When discussing the pregenocide period, survivors focus on macrolevel events and structures, locating blame for the genocide in institutions rather than on Rwandan citizens. By contrast, narratives of life after the genocide focus on perceived progress since 1994. We interpret these findings in light of the state's memory projects, the potential functionality of the memories, and the time needed for collective memories to resonate.     

Collective Memory and Collective Fear: How South Africans Use the Past to Explain Crime

The past is a resource that individuals can draw upon as they try to make sense of the world around them, and scholars have long assumed that individuals internalize and utilize collective memories in their daily lives. Yet capturing and analyzing the deployment of collective memory has proven elusive. This paper offers a novel approach for tapping whether, and how, individuals selectively draw on their collective pasts to explain the present. Analyzing interviews with young South African managers and professionals, this paper demonstrates racial variation in how respondents organically introduce the country’s apartheid past as an explanans for current crime, and suggests how these differences are related to divergent levels of commitment by blacks and whites to the South African nation-building project. In so doing, the paper offers a method for examining how individuals selectively use the past to construct, justify, and explain their present-day attitudes and behaviors. The study further highlights the importance of attending not only to what people remember, but also to how they think through and with collective representations of the past.     

What Is the Meaning of Meaningful Purpose in Children's Remembering? Istomina Revisited

In a classic study, Istomina (1977) found that preschool children remembered more items when remembering served a meaningful purpose then when it was for the purpose of reporting recall to an adult. Istomina's findings have not been replicated in several recent attempts; however, we argue that these attempts have not focused sufficiently on the purpose of remembering. We report a study in which we asked parents to present a set of pictures of 10 grocery items to their 4-year-old children (with the same order of items and number of presentations) in one of two conditions: Either, the remembering fit into a clear functional goal (making a sack lunch), or remembering was itself the goal (in a memory test). In the lunch condition, children were told that they were to remember the items so that they could get them from the "grocer" on the other side of the room in order to make a sack lunch. In the test condition, children were told to remember the items so that they could tell an adult what they were. Children remembered more items when the remembering served the goal of making lunch than when the purpose was simply remembering the items to tell someone else. We discuss the findings in the context of the other replications, some of which created fun activities to contrast with a test condition but often did not embed the remembering as a necessary way of reaching a meaningful goal. We also discuss the likelihood that across differing historical periods and cultural settings, the activities that are meaningful for young children are likely to vary.     

House-building tradition of the shtetl in memorials and memories (based on materials of field studies in Podolia)

This study examines house-building traditions in the Podolian shtetl, as evidenced by surviving buildings and by the folk memory of building practices. Using oral sources, taken from extensive field research in Ukraine, the study considers the extent to which members of remaining Jewish communities in the former Pale of Settlement function as “carriers” of this folk memory, and what they can tell us about the manner in which Jewish houses in the shtetl were constructed and their meaning as socio-cultural spaces.     

A Qualitative Exploration of Self-Regulation Behaviors Among Older Drivers

While much of the research on aging and driving has focused on sensory and motor changes, little is known about older drivers and the actual self-regulation adjustments they employ to continue driving safely. This research looks at how older drivers have made changes to driving patterns and behaviors that have allowed them to continue to drive without compromising their perceived safety, independence, and quality of life. Nine focus groups were held with older men and women aged 58 to 89 years. Some of the major themes that emerged were the following: older adults are very aware of age-related changes to driving; they perceive that self-regulation behaviors change with age; and they view transportation alternatives as limited or nonexistent. Policy implications include developing functional transit programs for older adults and car manufacturer training workshops to educate older adults on the safety features of newly purchased automobiles.     

DO SURVEYS OVERSTATE PUBLIC CONCERNS?

Because the item, "How concerned are you about...?" asks respondentsto indicate their level of concern about an issue, some respondentsmay sense it assumes they are concerned or should be concernedabout the issue. Using a filter question to first determineif people are concerned about the issue before asking for theirdegree of concern may help solve this problem. To test thishypothesis, a split-ballot experiment was embedded in a nationalrandom digit dialing telephone survey on food-related issues.For the four items included in the experiment, the group receivingthe filter versions of the questions gave roughly double thepercentages of "not concerned" responses as the group receivingstandard items, and the filter group also gave fewer responsesat the upper end of the response scale.     

Losses disguised as wins in multiline slots: using an educational animation to reduce erroneous win overestimates

Slot machines are available in several countries, with multiline games growing in popularity. Interestingly, many audiovisually reinforced small ‘wins’ in multiline games are in fact monetary losses – outcomes referred to as losses disguised as wins (LDWs). Research suggests that LDWs cause players to overestimate how many times they remember actually winning during a playing session. The study sought to replicate this finding and see if a short educational animation about LDWs could significantly reduce this LDW-triggered win overestimation effect. It employed a mixed design, with animation viewed (LDW, control) as the between-subjects factor, and game played (200 spins on a few LDW or many LDW game; game order counterbalanced) as the within-subjects factor. Fifty-four novice participants estimated how many times they won more than they wagered in each game. In the control animation group, the study replicated the LDW-triggered win overestimation effect for participants playing the many LDW game. Crucially, win overestimates were significantly reduced in this many LDW game for players exposed to the LDW animation. The study concludes that LDWs can lead novice gamblers to remember winning more often than they actually do during a playing session, but educating participants about LDWs can reduce these erroneous win overestimates.