1.5 practical (social)

Question 1

what is quantitative data?

Answer 1

• countable or measurable data, relating to numbers
• e.g is closed or rank scale questions

Question 2

what is qualitative data?

Answer 2

• descriptive, relating to words and language
• dynamic and subjective which is open to interpretation
• gathered through observations and interviews
• e.g open questions

Question 3

what are strengths of qualitative data analysis?

Answer 3

• does not limit the student’s responses
• more holistic approach
• data is more valid

Question 4

what are the weaknesses of qualitative data analysis?

Answer 4

• very subjective as it relies on the researchers interpretation of the data of students responses
• different researchers may interpret the same data in a different way leading to inconsistencies

Question 5

what’s the strength of your social practical?

Answer 5

• utilised various question types
• open questions allowed my participants to explain their rationale behind their obedience or lack thereof, allowing me to get rich detailed data about their thought processes.
• While closed and ranked scaled questions allowed me to collect objective, quantitative data about levels of obedience
• therefore I was able to compare statistically the differences between teenagers and adults in terms of obedience but also the reasoning behind their thought process

Question 6

what’s the weakness of your social practical?

Answer 6

• I analysed the open questions myself through thematic analysis
• identified the themes of embarrassment myself
• The issue with this is that I could have misconstrued or misunderstood the meaning of the phrases my participants wrote down about obedience.
• As such the themes such as
  anxiety I found in the open questions may have been subjective and inaccurate