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Sociology Research Methods

During the research process the qualitative research method was used. The topic chosen to research was to choose three of my favorite television shows and analyze how a person in another country would see the show, and to analyze what values the shows reflect. The television shows selected were Sportscenter, Extreme Home Makeover, and The O.C. During the research process I watched the shows every time they were on television. Sportscenter comes on three times a day and is repeated throughout the day. Extreme Home Makeover is on Sunday nights at 8:00 p.m. for one hour. I watched the show for a period of 3 weeks for this project and countless times before then. The O.C. is on Thursday nights at 9:00 p.m. for one hour. The new season of The O.C. has not started but re-runs have been shown and I have seen most of the episodes from the previous seasons. I plan on showing what cultural values are reflected in these shows and also to show how someone in another country would view our culture through these shows.
Sportscenter airs on ESPN three times a day and is repeated several more times throughout the course of the day. ESPN stands for the Entire Sports Network. The network is completely dedicated to sports and people who love sports. Sportscenter is a show where they show highlights of the day's sports events. During the research process there were four main sports going on that were mainly talked about during the show. Those sports were football, golf, baseball, and racing. The shows host adds in colorful commentary to make the highlights more interesting. The show also has interviews with sports players. According to the textbook the definition of culture is "Culture consists of the values the members of a given group hold, the languages they speak, the symbols they revere, and the norms they follow" (Giddens, 2003, p.55). In the case of Sportscenter the group is sports fans who will watch the show three or four times a day. Amongst friends they will talk about...