Strategies of Social Science Research

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Being homeless implies a lack of secure, safe, and appropriate housing and the means and capacity to have it. International agencies, governments, scholars, and civil society organizations have all adopted varying definitions of homelessness based on the language used, socioeconomic situations, cultural norms observed, the people impacted, and the reason for which homelessness is designated. Even in states with enough means to address it, homelessness has evolved as a worldwide human rights violation. It has, nevertheless, been largely shielded from human rights responsibility and rarely addressed as a violation of human rights needing affirmative action by states to avoid and abolish it. Being homeless significantly impacts the health of people affected, compromising their right to the best possible health. Each year, homelessness results in several thousands of premature and avoidable deaths, showing a failure of governments to defend the right to life effectively. Homeless individuals face difficult circumstances, such as physical and psychiatric problems or drug abuse, which resolves homelessness as an intricate policy issue.

Selection of the target article for this study by Smith and Anderson (2018), involved searching from different online databases such as America History & Life, Applied Social Science Index & Abstracts, Social Science Citation Index, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, Historical Abstracts, and Social Science Abstracts. The search also entailed selection from journals such as American Sociological Review, Contemporary Ethnography, Social Science Quarterly, American Journal of Sociology, and Canadian Journal of Sociology. In the choice of the target article, I used various terms in search of credible periodicals from the databases. Examples of the search terms applied include housing, poverty and homelessness, homelessness, and homeless people. I used my judgment to limit the list of sources to the three most reliable peer-reviewed journals from a pool of over 200 sources.

Social service professionals frequently begin their professions with a desire to improve the lives of disadvantaged persons and communities. Social service employees in outreach programs who serve homeless people embody the idea of Michael Lipsky regarding street-level regulators who have significant voluntary authority in the execution of their duties. Outreach workers develop ‘fitting tales’ about their homeless clients in order to qualify them for housing within the social welfare settings that provide housing assistance. The researchers examine outreach workers’ efforts to create and negotiate appropriate narratives with two distinct audiences: institutional intermediaries and homeless clients. While the proclamation of fitting tales undoubtedly assists some homeless persons to the detriment of rigorous bureaucratic purity, it ultimately benefits homeless care providers. Homeless care providers typically receive funding through programs requiring documentation of services provided to homeless people and families. Therefore, agencies must recruit and process an adequate number of homeless clients to vindicate ongoing or expanded financing (Smith & Anderson, 2018). If the number of reported cases satisfying funding criteria becomes insufficient, financing is likely to be jeopardized.

For some reason, it might be difficult to convince clients to fit into pre-defined service-worthy categories. Occasionally, homeless clients place a higher premium on other requirements (such as the ability to spend evenings with a loved partner) than on the services offered by outreach workers. Additionally, they may be hesitant to portray themselves as victimized or weak, particularly if a mental disorder diagnosis or other stigmatized identification is involved. Outreach professionals overcome hurdles to housing eligibility by creatively manipulating clients’ biographical accounts and supporting evidence in approaches that match clients to organizational requirements for housing assistance. In practice, outreach personnel may err on the side of dispatching the existing laws to satisfy the constitution’s resilience in service of their customers and organization provision standards (Smith & Anderson, 2018). Without the power to alter formal social policies, they continue to work vigorously inside the system to expand service eligibility outside official boundaries while avoiding overtly opposing those policies.

The current primary research strategy is ongoing ethnographic fieldwork with outreach workers supporting the homeless in a major metropolitan area in the western US, where homelessness is viewed as a serious social problem by local government and the public. Ethnography examines cultural developments from the subject’s perspective. Additionally, it entails studying the respondents’ conduct in a specific social scenario and comprehending the teammate’s interpretations of such behavior (Herring, 2019). As a method of investigation, ethnography is deeply reliant on subject observation, with the researcher being present in the context or with the study respondents, albeit in a trivial role, and making efforts to document practices of social dealings and participant perspectives exhaustively, as well as to contextualize these in their confined backgrounds. This research involves observing outreach workers at three levels: directly with clients, with colleagues and superiors at their organizations (and other departments with which they interact), and with ‘extracurricular activities’ such as support and help for the homeless and advocacy outside of their work roles.

The ethnographic study can assist a group of people in illuminating lesser-known parts of their existence for members of the general public. This ethnographic research entails interacting with the group being investigated to educate the outside world about their culture (Smith & Anderson, 2018). Field notes from direct observation of outreach workers’ communications with the homeless and organization coworkers were used to compile the data for this study, as were interviews with outreach workers and directors of agencies offering assistance to the city’s homeless population. The first author spent 173 hours in the field collecting observational and interview data from 45 social service workers as they interacted with 69 homeless clients and 11 other agency staff (not including participation at large personnel conferences) and engaged in a variety of activities aimed at evaluating individuals and facilitating what they perceive to be a successful outcome. Twenty-six females and nineteen males, aged 22 to 68, were observed and contacted in this study.

The ethnographers in this article examine human societies and cultures by residing among homeless people, a practice known as participant observation. The ethnographers take an active role in the research process by observing, taking thorough notes, continuously analyzing the data, and organizing the findings. Ethnographies are particularly adapted to studying complicated cultural and societal connections, unpredictable events, and associations that are too complicated and difficult to investigate quantitatively, such as through surveys and quantitative analysis of data (Smith & Anderson, 2018). Ethnographers are willing to delve into the diversity of group experiences while remaining sensitive to the target group’s individuality. Due to the ethnographer’s meticulously structured and thorough notes during interviews, participant observation, and other information collecting techniques, ethnography is a highly effective method for revealing the numerous facets of group interactions in context.

Survey research is an alternative method of investigation that might have been employed to explore a similar subject of homelessness that is addressed in the chosen article. Survey research is an integral part of measuring and applying social science research. It is a vast field involving various processes that entail asking questions to specific respondents. Surveys are a convenient approach to acquiring information on a certain subject. One can target them to specific demography or manage them in a variety of ways (Herring, 2019). It is entirely up to the researcher to select which questions are asked and how they are posed. The researcher can collect data in real-time circumstances using multiple-choice questions, polls, quizzes, questionnaires, and open-ended questions.

Compared to other types of study, such as ethnography, surveys have fewer time constraints. However, survey research has a slew of drawbacks. Numerous factors might impair the dependability of survey results. For instance, respondents may not feel compelled to submit accurate, truthful responses. This is because they may be uncomfortable offering responses that present themselves negatively. Some respondents may be unaware of their motives for responding to a particular question due to a lack of recollection of the issue or simply boredom (Rosen et al., 2021). In other circumstances, data inaccuracies may occur as a result of question non-responses. The proportion of respondents who reply to a survey question may differ from those who do not respond, resulting in bias. The response alternatives to survey questions may result in ambiguous results, as respondents may perceive some reaction options differently. For instance, the response option ‘somewhat agree’ may signify something different to diverse subjects and have a unique meaning for each reply. Additionally, the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response alternatives can be troublesome. If the option ‘just once’ is not presented, respondents may respond ‘no.’

Ethnography might be preferable to survey research when examining the topic of homelessness. In contrast to survey research, ethnography can aid in the investigation of extremely complex or important design difficulties. A good researcher is critical when seeing or interacting with the intended audience in their natural surroundings. Another advantage of ethnographic research over survey research is that ethnography can assist in identifying and analyzing previously unidentified difficulties. When doing surveys and other sorts of research that are not based on in-person observation or contact, it is all too easy to overlook unanticipated concerns (Smith & Anderson, 2018). This can occur when no questions are asked or when respondents omit to mention something. The in-situ presence of an ethnographic researcher helps limit this danger because the researcher will (ideally) become aware of the concerns. The other primary advantage of ethnography is widely thought to be its capacity to provide a detailed and accurate portrayal of people’s behaviors and attitudes. Due to the subjective nature of ethnographic research can be extremely beneficial for eliciting and assessing significant user attitudes and feelings.

Not only does homelessness demonstrate a state’s inability to ensure universal access to secure, cheap, and appropriate housing, but it also breaches a variety of other fundamental rights. Providers of homeless care are funded through programs that demand proof of services delivered to homeless individuals and families. As a result, services must recruit and process an acceptable number of homeless clients to justify continued or increased funding. Financing is likely to be compromised if the number of reported instances meeting funding criteria becomes insufficient. When addressing the issue of homelessness, ethnography may be preferable to survey research. Ethnography can assist in resolving exceedingly complicated or significant design issues. Additionally, ethnographic research has a benefit over survey research in that it can aid in detecting and evaluating previously unidentified challenges.

References

Herring, C. (2019). Complaint-oriented policing: Regulating homelessness in public space.American Sociological Review, 84(5), 769-800. Web.

Rosen, E., Garboden, P. M., & Cossyleon, J. E. (2021). Racial Discrimination in Housing: How Landlords Use Algorithms and Home Visits to Screen Tenants.American Sociological Review, 1(1), 1-12. Web.

Smith, C., & Anderson, L. (2018). Fitting stories: Outreach worker strategies for housing homeless clients.Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 47(5), 535-550. Web.

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