Guidelines for Advancing Japanese Family Sociology from Methodological Points of View:A Quantitative Researcher's Propositions

概要

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In this paper, I explored guidelines for advancing methodologies in Japanese family sociology by reviewing research over the past twenty years. I analyzed 234 articles in the Japanese Journal of Family Sociology and showed changes over three distinct periods from 1989 to 2010. The results were as followings: (1) The proportion of empirical studies increased steadily. (2) The amount of qualitative research conducted increased for investigations concerning families with serious problems; in contrast, quantitative research came to concentrate on studies involving nonproblematic families. (3) Quantitative research methods advanced in certain respects: the proportion of research based on nation wide samples reached one third of quantitative research in the second period, and about eighty percent of quantitative research came to use multivariate analyses in the third period. (4) On the other hand, the number of face-to-face interviews decreased, and highly advanced statistical analytical methods were hardly used. Lastly, I discussed how quantitative and qualitative research should be related to each other, and how we should relate to other academic societies involved in family studies. I, then proposed ways to activate NFRJ for more collaborative studies.