choosing a research method Flashcards
factors influencing choice of methods - practical issues (5)
time and money
requirements of funding bodies
personal skills
subject mater
research opportunity
factors influencing choice of methods - practical issues - requirements o ffunding bodies
Research institutes, etc, that provide the funding for research may require the results to be in a particular form - sociologists will have to choose a method capable of producing such data
factors influencing choice of methods - ethical issues (5)
informed consent
confidentiality and privacy
harm to research participants
vulnerable groups
covert research
factors influencing choice of methods - ethical issues - vulnerbale groups
special care should be taken when certain groups are vulnerable because of age, disability or physical/mental helath
factors influencing choice of methods - theoretical issues (4)
validity
reliability
representativeness
methodological perspective
factors influencing choice of methods - theoretical issues - methodological perspective
their methodologicla perspective = view of what society is like
positivists - prefer quantitative data and seek to discover patterns of behaviour
interpretivists - qualitative data, seek to understand social actors’ meanings
Func and Marx take a positivist approach - see society as a large-scale structure that shapes our behaviour
factors influencing choice of topic (4)
sociologists perspective
society’s values
practical factors
funding bodies
factors influencing choice of topic - societys values
Sociologists themselves are part of the society they study, and so are influenced by its values
factors influencing choice of topic - funding bodies
research requires funding from external bodies
The funding body will determine the topic to be investigated
process of research - hypothesis
is a possible explanation that can be tested by collecting evidence to prove it true or false
if false = must discard
advantage = gives direction and focus to questions
positivists favour - because they seek to discover cause and effect relationships
process of research - aim
more open-ended than a hypothesis
not tied to trying to prove something
can gather data on anything that appears interesting
- useful at the start of reserach when we know very little
interpretivists favour - they are interested in understanding actors’ meanings and what they find important, rather than imposing the researcher’s own possible explanations in
process of research - operationalising
The process of converting a sociological concept into something we can measure
problem: when sociologists operationalise the same concept differently
positivists like because - they place importance on creating and testing hypotheses
interpretivism don’t like because - they are more interested in the actors own definitions than imposing their own definitions on concepts
process of research - pilot study
try out a draft version of the study on a small sample of
aim = to iron out any problems , ive interviewers practise, clarify questions
process of research - sampling
to make generalisations study has to be representative
have to choose a sample of participants to use - a sub group drawn from the wider group we’re interested in
positivists like because they seek to make general statements
to make a sample need a sampling frame - list of all the members of the population we’re interested in studying
- must be up to date
process of research - sampling techniques
random
quasi-random/ systematic = every nth person is selected
Stratified sampling = breaking down the population into categories. smaple is made in the same proportions
quota = population is stratified and each interviewer is given a quota which they have to fill with people with those characteristics e.g 20 females
process of research - practical reasons why its not possible for a sample to be representative
social characteristics of reserach population may not be known
impossible to create a sampling frame for that population e.g not all criminals are caught
Potential people may refuse to participate
process of research - samples used when its not possible to get a representative sample
snowball sampling
collecting a sample by contacting a number of key people who are asked to suggest others who might be interviewed, and so on
opportunity sampling
