BLOG 3

1. According to the structural functionalism perspective, what was the definition of the "instrumental leader" and what was the definition of an "expressive leader." What family roles were connected to each of these leader definitions?
1. According to the structural functionalism perspective the definition of an instrumental leader is a person in the group who takes charge and leads the group. The expressive leader is the person within the group that keeps peoples spirits up.  In more traditional family roles the father is connected to the instrumental leader. He is the breadwinner and is “in charge” of the family. The mother is the expressive leader in a traditional family role she is keeps the families spirits up and is more of a caretaker.  

2. What is the main criticism of the functionalist perspective?
2. The main criticism of the functionalist perspective is how sexist it is.  Women started to go into the work force and stopped fitting the role of the traditional mother figure or the expressive leader in the family. 
3. In contrast to functionalist theorists, in your own words, what is the main theme of conflict theory?
3. The main theory of conflict theory is the inequality, conflict, and social change.  Conflict theory talks about how men dominate women using their economic powers. Similarly in the work force employers dominate over their employees. Similar to Karl Max idea of the bourgeois and the proletariat.
4. According to conflict theorists, where do family problems come from?
4. According to conflict theorist family problems come from men using their economic strength o dominate women. This is the root of family problems.
5. Gender/Feminist theory is based on what main idea? Describe one way that feminist theory has led to more diverse understanding of families.
5. Gender/feminist theory is based on the equality of men and women.  Feminist theory has taught us to look at men and women as prisms. Letting it be okay for the women to take on the breadwinner role as well as men. 
6. Social exchange theorists is based on ideas from economics. What is the main argument of social exchange perspective? Give two examples of "resources" people bring to a relationship?

6. The main argument of the social exchange perspective is based around economics. It focuses on what people can do in exchange for benefits.  An example of resources people bring to a relationship are how much things cost, the benefits they gain, and the benefits of taking another course of action.   

7a) From the lecture on methods: List two methods of how family researchers collect data and define/describe each.

7a. Two methods of how family researchers collect date are the survey study and the observational study.  The survey study targets families or households at random and sends them a list of questions.  Doing this gives the researcher broader data and makes biases less prevalent.  The observational study is when the researcher spends time with participants.  Participants are usually picked specifically to fit the study.

7b) What are two strengths of each and what are two limits of each type of data collection methods. 

7b. The survey study strengths are this study allows the researcher to access more people. It also limits the biases and is much quicker of a study because it is a set questionnaire. Limits of the survey study are its hard for researchers to tell if the participants are answering questions accurately. It is also hard because the data is limited because there is a set questions and limited follow up questions.  The observational study strengths are  this study gives the researcher a lot of information about the families and also allows them to generalize their results to other families that are similar.  The limit of the observational study is there are limited families that can be studied because of how much detail each study goes to.  Also, it is limited because specific families are targeted giving more of a biased study.

8) Choose one method and describe a study you might conduct.

8. I would choose the survey study. I would study how many kids each family has in a specific wealthy town and a specific poorer town.

8a) What is the topic of the survey? In other words, what do you want to know about a family issue?

8a. I want to know if families in a wealthy town have more kids then families in a poorer town.

8b) Who and how many respondents would be in your sample?

8b. I would survey 50 families in a wealthy town and 50 families in a poorer town.

8c) What are three questions you would ask in a survey or interview or what would be three observations you might record?

8c. I would ask

-How many kids does your family have?

-What is your average family income?

-How many kids were in your family when you were growing up?