Sociology

Argument of the study
The study under review, Can Men Mother Life as a Single Father by Barbara J. Risman, takes  issue of the effectiveness of single fathers as it announces in the very first line that the present study addresses the question of focus on single fathers (Risman, 1986, p.95). It argues that mothering is not an exclusively female task (Risman, 1986, p.95) and states the  argument for conducting the study because more children than ever before are living- at least part of the time- with divorced fathers (Risman, 1986, p.95).
   
Previous Research
The study includes previous research to help support the importance of the study as the research on the roles of single fathers had started in 1960s and, as Risman states, in Canada, Australia, England and the United States researches were conducted but the limitation of the previous studies was that they were descriptive owing to the reason that the methods, samples and therefore results differ dramatically by geographical region (Risman, 1986, p.96).

Researcher Bias
The study contains researcher bias as it becomes evident when the participants selected for the study are mainly white while the population of the U.S or even in the states, where the study was mainly conducted, is comprised of people from diverse community. The sample does not represent the population to whom the study may have some importance. The reason for researcher bias is neither reflected in the discussion in the study nor does the researcher herself state the reason as what makes her to select white majority as participants to study the single fathers population.

Important Concepts
The study revisits the important concepts of individualist and structuralist theories which are important to identify whether single fathers can be viable primary caretakers for young children (Risman, 1986, p.95). The individualist theory is defined as a predictor of a single fathers lack of motivation and expressive skills in the provision of intense intimacy necessary for young children (Risman, 1986, p.96). While the researcher defines structuralist theory as it suggests that social context mainly determines the role of a single father.

Staement of Purpose
The study does not include a clearly written statement of purpose where the researcher would have ushered the purpose of the study. In addition the researcher does not identify the type of study but it becomes evident when the result section is analyzed that the research is quantitative in its very nature. As the mean response of the fathers rating of childs self disclosure evinces that the results of the survey were quantified that makes the study a quantitative one (Risman, 1986, p.99). In the study the population that is being studied is discussed in detail in methodology section (Risman, 1986, p.97-98).

Technical Terms
It does not use any technical terms as the only key terms are child custody, gender roles, single fathers and single parents (Risman, 1986, p.95).

Argument
The research is based on the argument that is developed in the literature review but she goes on to discuss theories in such a diverse way that the reader is detached from the main argument. She admits that she would commence her study with the discussion of previously held theories regarding the research objective as she sides with the conclusion that if the previous literature is analyzed, it comes to light that structuralist theory provides a better explanation than individualist theory for the experiences of single fathers (Risman, 1986, p.95).

Methods
Sampling and issues involved in sampling
The sample used for the study is large and diverse so that to disentangle the independent effects of economic status from reasons for father custody on fathers perception of their role in life as single parents (Risman, 1986, p.97). One hundred and forteen single fathers were selected as a sample. The researcher announces in the discussion of methodology that she has avoided sampling and therefore only the respondents who were identifiable via social serice agencies or parenting associations were included as the target to whom the questionnaire were distributed (Risman, 1986, p.97). The questionnaire was distributed among two hundred eighty one single fathers and one hundred forty one returned the survey. The criteria for sample selection is not stated by the researcher but she reports that ninty per cent of the single fathers in the study were white (Risman, 1986, p.98).

The researcher first discusses the data collection techniques and then the resultant sample characteristics (Risman, 1986, p.97). The researcher announces that the sampling was avoided as only the respondents who were identifiable through social service agencies or parenting associations were used as the participants.The press releases were distributed to Washington state and national media. Among the 281only 141 returned the questionnaires of the survey.

When the researcher reports that 90 of the participants were white, the authenticity of the sampling tends to undermine. The reason for dissatisfaction over the sampling is that the black and brown community is not a minority any more and when their large population is ignored in the study the findings become vulnerable to criticism.

Results
Analysis of the Data
The analysis of the data is related to the techniques of data collection in the way that the data was collected by receiving responses in the form of questionnaire from the respondents, so it was analyzed through obtaining the mean, average, rating of the responses. For example, to gain the average rating about fathers rating of childs self disclosure, mean response on sadness, anger at father, loneliness, etc., were analyzed (Risman, 1986, p.99). In the discussion of the impact of social class the researches analyzes the data as she states that over half of the most wealthy men (57.6) hire outside help for housekeeping, in cooking dinner they are likely to hire help (tau b  .15, p .05) (Risman, 1986, p.100).

Findings
The major finding of the study is single fathers prove to be effective in mothering their children and that most men felt comfortable and competent as single parents (Risman, 1986, p.95). Moreover Rasmins study correlates with the findings of the previous researches as well suggesting that at least in their own perceptions, costudial fathers are competent as primary parents (Risman, 1986, p.101). In addition the study suggests that childhood experiences and sex roles do not create inflexible gender typed behavorial patterns (Risman, 1986, p. 101).

Limitations
The researcher does not state the limitations of the study neither she leaves any space for the critics to identify the limitations as she states the implications of her results as well (Risman, 1986, p.101-102). Rather the researcher ends the study with an optimist note that the research presented here should reassure single fathers that mothering is not an exclusively female skill (Risman, 1986, p.102).

Personal Opinion
By reviewing the article a very interesting point comes to light, which is one of the findings of the researcher as well, that the role of single fathers is as important as that of single mothers. The government of the U.S has often announced various programs to support the single mothers but single fathers are subsided in the discussion of the parenthood although single fathers can perform the dual role of a father and of a mother while nourishing the child.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Although the researcher attempts successfully to address the issues raised in the beginning of the research, the study is not complete in its entirety as the sampling criterion is ambiguous. Moreover the analysis of data does not cover all the concerns. If the completeness of the study is analyzed in terms of the research concepts, it comes to light that the few concepts discussed in the study, e.g. individualist theory and structuralist theory, are defined comprehensively. The researcher identifies a major weakness in the past research as most researches have been exploratory with small and homogenous samples (Risman, 1986, p.97). She identifies further that the previous American study lacks a large and diverse sample which she used in her study (Risman, 1986, p.97).

The researcher postpones the sampling strategies by referring to some other article as she states that a detailed discussion of sampling strategies is available elsewhere (Risman, 1986, p.97) which would have been helpful to the readers. Another important point about the review is that the journal article chosen for the review was published many years ago, in 1986, but this must not imply that the study lacks authenticity. The study focuses on the issues which were later researched by other researchers, thus it opened the road for new researches. The central limitation identified in the research is regarding the sampling criterion as the sample does not represent the population therefore it becomes difficult to trust the results and to generalize the results. But the researcher gives the theoretical and practical implications in her conclusion that is the strength of the study.