The social scientific question analyzed in this paper is the influence of the family size on the process of socialization. Socialization is the process of integrating into a particular group and imitating the patterns, behavior, and worldview established in this group. It is influenced by the family, day care, educational institutions, peers, community, and mass media (Persell, 1990). The family plays a significant role in making a child involved in the community. From the first days of his or her life, the child is surrounded by the family members. The relations inside the family, traditions, upbringing methods, moral principles inside the family have an impact on the social development of the child. The answer to the scientific question stated in this paper may contribute to the development of a number of social sciences including psychology, sociology, pedagogy, and anthropology. Knowing the interrelations between the family size and the process of socialization may be used to predict the behavior of a child and pay more attention to this child if needed, to develop new techniques of integrating the child who lacks or has poor social skills in the community. It may also contribute to forensic psychology, especially to preparing risk assessments. The results of this research may also be applied in pedagogy while developing individual approaches to teaching. They may also be beneficial to determining the social policy of the state, e. g. by supporting large families or single-parent families depending on the findings of the research.
The social scientific analysis of the topic question of this paper requires the application of specific research methods. To begin with, the sample survey research may be used. It includes collecting data with the help of questionnaires as well as personal interviews with the families. The potential questions may include the information about the number of children in the family, relations in the family, time spent together with the children, age difference of the children, upbringing methods, or the occupation of the parents. However, this research method has its disadvantages. It is not always absolutely accurate. The questions should be formulated clearly and the population should be chosen carefully (Perry & Perry, 2009). Moreover, it is difficult to determine the variables in this case and decide where the family or the school affected the child more.
Another research method that may be suitable for this research question is the case study. It is used to investigate a family or a group of families in depth. With the help of this method, various hypotheses may be suggested that can be later tested by other methods (Perry and Perry, 2009). Collective case studies encompass the detailed study of several cases, e. g. a number of families may be studied depending on the size of the family and the findings may be compared later. Exploratory case studies may serve as the basis of the research, explanatory case studies may contribute to the profound investigation of the question while due to descriptive case studies a description theory may be established (Berg, 2001). Nevertheless, the weaknesses of this research method should be taken into account. It is quite expensive and time-consuming. Moreover, it is recommended to utilize this method for rare cases while the objective of the research is to investigate a large number of families and make a general conclusion.
What concerns the participant observation method, it also has its pros and cons. Among its strengths, the possibility to participate in the lives of the group and to explore the selected group of people from the inside out is to be mentioned. But it is questioned if this particular method is the best option for this research as it is also quite expensive and requires much time and a great number of people. The way out in this case may be analyzing the statistics, school records, or student characteristics. Let's now take a closer look on the steps of the scientific method. The first one is selecting and defining the topic. The topic of the research suggested in this paper is how the family size can influence the process of socialization. In other words, the objective of the research is to define if a causal relationship between the number of people in the family and the process of realizing by the child himself or herself a member of the society. The next step is to review the literature on the topic. After this is done a researcher should form a hypothesis, i.e. the connection between the variables. For this research, the hypothesis may sound as children from large families undertake the process of socialization more successfully than the children from small-sized families. Having formed the hypothesis a researcher should develop a research design. The population and the research methods should be carefully selected. The population for this research may include the families with a single child, the families with more than one child, and the families with more than three children. However, the size of the family depends not only on the number of children but on the number of parents as well. Definitely, families with one parent and two children differ from families with two parents and the only child although the size of these families is the same. A researcher should also decide on the number of the families under observation. To obtain accurate results a profound analysis of many various families is needed. What concerns the research methods, it is stated above that analyzing the statistics, documents, conducting sample surveys, and having interviews can bring more benefits than case studies or participation observation as the latter require much time, many researchers involved and are very expensive. The next step is the research itself as well as the classification and analysis of the data. It is followed by the evaluation of the results and making conclusions (Perry & Perry, 2009).
Although the scientific method mentioned above is widely used in the social sciences some challenges may occur when applying it to this scientific question. Sometimes it is difficult to adapt the research methods to the needs of a specific group of people. The behavior of a human being is influenced by many factors including the family, social status, education, genetics, self-discipline, environment, etc. It is difficult to predict the deeds of a person as people have flexible set of beliefs and traits of character. The results of this research may be suitable for one group of people and be unacceptable for another. In addition, people are also influenced by the culture and the conditions they live in. The findings of the research conducted in the United States of America may differ from the outcomes obtained after the investigation of the European countries. Thus, the findings of the research in the social sciences may never be 100 % accurate.
Comparing with the research methods applied in the physical and natural sciences the research methods in the social sciences involve more interaction with the participants. Interviews, questionnaires, participant observations may not always be reliable sources of the information. However, mathematical approaches and accurate calculations are good for the physical sciences but are not quite appropriate when dealing with people. What concerns the experiment as one of the research methods it is more difficult to use it in the social sciences. The results of the experiment on people may have unpredictable negative consequences that will be difficult to overcome. At the same time, this method of scientific research is widely used in the physical and natural sciences being one of the most popular and reliable methods in these sciences.
References
Berg, B. (2001). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences [PDF document]. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Retrieved from https://mthoyibi.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/qualitative-research-methods-for-the-social-sciences__bruce-l-berg-2001.pdf
Perry, J. & Perry, E. (2009). Contemporary society: An introduction to social science [PDF document]. Boston: Pearson Allyn and Bacon.
Persell, C. (1990). Becoming a Member of Society Through Socialization. Retrieved from http://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/introtosociology/Documents/PersellSocializationReading37.htm
