Faking sociology?: A content analysis of an introductory sociology student photography assignment

Abstract

I analyzed student submissions from a photography-based assignment in introductory sociology. In this exploratory study, I discuss the patterns found in student submissions to uncover what sociological concepts students observed in their everyday lives. My primary research question, therefore, was what do introductory sociology students see when they are given few guidelines as to what they "should" see? The intent of this research was to focus on what concepts students identified, not my interpretation of students' meaning or to gauge the effectiveness of the assignment on learning outcomes. The goal of this research was to describe what students are actually identifying as sociological and how this does or does not reflect the goals of the assignment or the course. In turn, the results of systematically analyzing student submissions can inform future iterations of the assignment and my overall teaching strategies in introductory sociology. Results indicate that students used a range of concepts, yet tended to focus on broad (e.g., norms) rather than specific (e.g., folkways) or abstract (e.g., sociological imagination) concepts. By analyzing student submissions across semesters, I can illuminate how successful students were at applying sociological knowledge to their everyday lives. Moreover, this analysis demonstrates that students were superficially meeting the standards of the assignment, but it remains unclear whether students were demonstrating a grasp of sociological knowledge or simply relying on preexisting commonsense knowledge to complete the assignment.

Recurring Vagueness: A Longitudinal Study of What Students Think about Sociology before, Right after, and Years after Taking the Introductory Course

“…On the other hand, in T3, students relapse into mentioning the Domain of psychology (references to psychology, to emotions and behavior) more frequently than anything else beyond the two staple themes, and Vague terms also recur. The recurrence of Vague terms in T3 is comparable to Medley-Rath’s (2019) finding that students used “unclear” captions in their visual sociology exercises.…”

“…The fact that an overwhelming majority of students associated the themes It’s about humans and Scientific/empirical endeavor with sociology is probably welcome, as is the fact that “the centrality of inequality” (Ferguson 2016:6) is reflected on average mind maps in all three waves because these findings show that students have a sound basic idea of our field. The fact that respondents typically did not associate a wide variety of topics with sociology in T3 echoes the findings of Medley-Rath (2019) about students relying on a limited range of broad sociological topics in their work. In the case of students not majoring in sociology, probably not much more can even be expected knowing that they did not receive further education in the field.…”

“…Knowing the country, the theme of Ethnicity and minorities can be considered controversial, but it only played a comet role. While it has to be noted that several of the aforementioned topics were more salient for sociology students when investigated separately, the results suggest that such topics either did not excite students after all or that students were possibly afraid of mentioning them or were simply reluctant to adopt new ideas beyond the ones they had already had, again echoing the findings of Medley-Rath (2019).…”

“…Medley-Rath (2019) conducted a content analysis of captions written by students to photos in a visual sociology exercise in an introductory course. The study concluded that students used a limited range of broad sociological concepts in their work, that they often provided “unclear” captions, and most of them seemed either unable or unwilling to adopt more nuanced concepts.…”

How Do Sociologists Know What They Know? An Examination of Sociology Textbooks for Evidence of Sociological and Scientific Thinking

“…Furthermore, the American Sociological Association and regional associations need to revisit developing resources and guidance for successfully and sustainably incorporating research methods throughout the curriculum (see Howery and Rodriguez 2006). The Teaching Resources and Innovation Library for Sociology (TRAILS) is a start, but individuals submit a resource they have used successfully (and fills a gap) rather than resources that reflect significant gaps in the body of work on TRAILS (see Medley-Rath 2023 for a compilation of TRAILS resources on the research methods course). In other words, sociologists should collectively address the challenge of incorporating research methods instruction rather than relying on individual instructors, courses, or textbooks.…”