The sociological study of suicide: methodological issues.
This paper is a critical review of selected methodological issues in the sociological study of suicide. It first distinguishes between two broad research orientations: the micro and macro approaches to the subject. The paper than focuses on a critical assessment of the dominant macro-level methodology. Three recurrent problems are identified: measurement issues on four key variables (suicide and parasuicide, economic conditions, religion, and political conditions such as war); problems in studying the effect of mass media stories on suicide; and reasons why we need to adopt a cross-national method in order to test sociological theories for contextual effects. Partial remedies to many of these problems are discussed.
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D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media; D011057:Politics; D012067:Religion; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D012963:Sociometric Techniques; D013405:Suicide / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*