Choosing a method

Question 1

Practical Issues

Answer 1

Time: Some methods take more time than others because of, for example, more detailed data being recorded. Research methods that take more time may lead to a smaller research sample size.

Money: The money available to conduct the research affects the number of researchers, respondents and amount of research time. Equipment, travel and people’s time are often not cheap.

Access: Some groups of respondents and location are easier to access than others. For example, to enter a school to do research, permission is required.

Question 2

Ethical Issues

Answer 2

Informed consent: Researchers should have the informed consent of their research subjects, because of the effects that the research may have on them.

Confidentiality: Research subjects have a right to anonymity, so they should not be identifiable when the research is published.

Psychological Harm: Some research groups are more vulnerable to psychological harm than others (eg. children).

Question 3

Theoretical Issues (Reliability)

Answer 3

For a research method to be reliable, it must be able to be repeated and obtain similar results. Positivists favour reliable research and therefore use methods such as questionnaires and structured interviews, that can be repeated by any researcher due to the structured conditions.

Question 4

Theoretical Issues (Representativeness)

Answer 4

For a research method to be representative, the sample group must have similar characteristics to those of the wider population. Positivists value representativeness because they wish to discover general patterns and make cause and effect statements about social behaviour.

Question 5

Theoretical Issues (Validity)

Answer 5

Validity refers to how true the data is. Interpretivists emphasise the need to use research methods rich in validity, such as unstructured interviews and participant observations because they reveal the real meanings in which people hold.