A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF FEDERALLY FUNDED FAMILY RESEARCH

This work is aimed at assessing the state of the field of family research. Federally-funded family research active in Fiscal Year 1976 is identified and analyzed for the first time; further, it is compared with assessments of the field made in three previous studies. A Marxist and feminist theoretical framework is offered as a critique of government-supported family research. A qualitative and quantitative content analysis was performed on research project summaries (abstracts) which were acquired through three computer search services. A preliminary analysis permitted the population to be operationally defined as research enabling knowledge on the family or a subsystem of the family in the United States. Several content categories of both a theoretical and methodological nature were crosstabulated for the analysis of data. As well, the findings were compared to those category results of surveys conducted in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Therefore, this study not only updates the state of the art efforts, but it presents for the first time a body of data revealing the federal emphasis on family research. The results of the analysis of federally-supported research reveal a traditional focus on issues and methods of researching family. Sociology, psychology, and medicine were the disciplines leading the effort. The interactional and structural-functional frameworks dominate the theoretical approaches. There was a strong focus on mental illness in the topics and variables chosen. Survey research methods were most used, while direct observation of families was used minimally. And, most research projects were awarded to institutions in the Northeastern and Western regions of the country, predominantly by mental health-related government offices. When these findings were compared with survey results of several decades ago, very little change was found. The conclusions are offered in light of a Marxist and feminist critique. Federally-funded family research in 1976 represented the status quo, reflecting no change in consciousness and no effects of the dialogue of the 1960s. Specifically, androcentric and bourgeois characteristics were found, with no reflection of feminist or Marxist theory. The overall implication of such a traditional approach to families as social problems is one of "blaming the victim.".