Gang Leader for the Day

He doesn't speak Spanish, but he probably speaks Mexican!

1) What's the Thesis?

2) What Proof?

3) What does the author set out to study?

4) How does he attempt to study at first?

5) How does it change?

6) What does h do at the end after he returns to his apartment the next day?

Questions from the Gang Leader reading:
4.  How was Venkatesh's survey flawed?  What are the limitations
 of using it?
5.  How does Venkatesh decide to study his subject in the end?
 What might that research reveal that he would not have known from the survey?


Sudhir Venkatesh explores so much in his book Gang Leader for a Day.
 You can read an excerpt from the book and download Venkatesh reading and talking 
about his book from NPR.
  I want to use the excerpt to show you that sociology is scientifically based using research.
There are different ways that sociologists do research and each way has its benefits and drawbacks.
 In this case, Venkatesh sets out to do a quantitative survey, but then he changes to aqualitative ethnography observation.  Can you identify some of the ways sociologists
 might do research and the advantages and disadvantages of each?  (See your textbook for more info on this.)
If you could design a study to examine something from our school, what would you study and how would you research it?  Can you think of both quantitative and qualitative ways to study it?   
Can you see how sociologists need both quantatative data and qualitative data to 
study their subjects? Which do you feel is better for measuring how much you learn in class, 
quantitative tests like multiple choice or qualitative testing like essays?
Here is Venkatesh speaking on the Colbert Report and he explains that there are
important ways of doing research correctly:

The Colbert Report
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