choosing a research method Flashcards
outline types of primary sources of data
social surveys, participant observation and experiments
what is primary data?
Primary data is the information collected by sociologists to obtain a first hand picture to test a hypothesis
ABLE TO GATHER PRECISE INFORMATION TO TEST A HYPOTHESIS, IT IS COSTLY AND TIME CONSUMING.
what is secondary data?
secondary data is data that has been collected by someone else ,, sociologists can use them too.
IT IS QUICK AND CHEAP, SECONDARY SOURCES MIGHT NOT PROVIDE THE EXACT INFO NEEDED.
outline sources of secondary data
official statistics- often produced by the government such as education, crime, divorce and unemployment
Documents- letters, emails, diaries, novels, newspapers, the internet and television broadcasts.
what is qualitative data?
Is evidence gathered by using participant observation, gives us a feel of what it is like to be apart of a particular group
what is quantitative data?
information in a numerical form, it includes statistics
describe the practical issue factors that influence choice of methods.
- time and money
- subject matter
- research opportunity
- requirements of funding bodies
- personal skills and characteristics
- informed consent
- confidentiality and privacy
- harm to research participants
- vulnerable groups
- covert research
practical issue - time and money
( influences choice of methods)
different methods require different amounts of time and money
eg: a small scale project involving one researcher may be cheaper to carry out but can take years
practical issue - requirements of funding bodies
influences choice of methods
a sociologist might use the government to help them research into educational achievement. This means that the researcher would have to use questionnaires and structured interviews
personal skills and characteristics
influences choice of methods
eg : participant observation may mean that the researcher has good recall, some researchers may find this difficult as they have to pay attention to detail
subject matter
influences choice of methods
male researchers would find it difficult to use participant observation for all female groups
Ethical issues
informed consent
research participants might not want to be involved in research.The researcher should not hide parts of the research, so that the participant can make a biased opinion
harm to research participants
ethical issue
researchers should be aware that participants can become unemployed, become socially excluded and may suffer from psychological damage
RESEARCHERS SHOULD PREVENT THIS HARM
Vunerable groups
ethical issue
some groups may be vunerable because of their age , disability, physical or mental health. For example, researchers researching in schools should consider child protection, have consent of the child or parent
covert research
covert research consists of the researchers identity being hidden, along with the purpose of the research
This betrays the trust of participants included in the research
positivists interpretivists
Positivists use quantitative data while interpretivists use qualitative.
Positivists use structured observation to measure patterns of behaviour, they take a scientific approach making it easier to turn it into data
they use questionnaires, structured interviews and official statistics
three concepts ( to judge the usefulness of a research method)
Reliability - to see if the data can be copied, making sure it will have the same results regardless of who carries out the data
Validity - how ‘true and authentic’ the data is
Representativeness-
what is a control group
in this group, the quantity of nutrients is constant , it measures and quantifies the size of the plants
what are the advantages of questionnaires
gathers large amounbts of data, there is no need to gather representatives as respondents return the questionnairews themselves
the data is easy to quantify , computers can be used to reveal the relationship between different variables
how do questionnaires show reliability
a questionnaire is identical with the questions used
Postal questionnaires are reliable as there is no interviewer to influence the respondent’s answers
how do questionnaires test a hypothesis?
analysis of the respondents answers could show the correlation between achievement and family size
detatchment and objectivity
positivists favour questionnaires as they use a detatched method and involve little to no contact with respondents , this maintains the detatchment and objectivity
how is representativeness a factor of questionnaires
researchers who use questionnaires pay more attention to maintain a representative example
what are the ethical issues in questionnaires
they may ask sensitive questions, researchers should guarantee anonymity
what are the disadvantages of questionnaires
questionnaires are cheap but you may have to offer incentives to get more people to complete the form
what can be said about the low response rates of questionnaires
this happens because some people comp-lete questionnaires but don’t complete it, you can complete this by sending follow up questionnaires
outline what inflexibility does to questionnaires
once the questionnaire is finalised, nothing can be changed for example, the questions cant be changed
this contrasts with unstructured interviews as anything can be asked
outline two other disadvantages of using questionnaires
one disadvantage is how respondents may lie about their answers , thyis may make the data unreliable, affecting the whole range of data.This may be because of the insensitive topics asked , causing the respondents to feel uncomfortable
outline the types of interview and its differences
structured interviews- are like a conversation, anything can be asked
unstructured interviews- are like a guided conversation , the interviewer sticks to the questions asked , they may ask follow up questions
semi structured interviews have a set of questions but can ask extra questions to gain understanding
what are the advantages of structured interviews
the interview is straight forward, not time consuming, structured interviews can cover a lot of people with not many resources , it has a high response rate but may increase the cost of the survey
interviewers can control the results and weigh out the similarities and differences
what are the advantages of using questionnaires
they are quick and cheap
there is no need to recruit data
the data is easy to quantify
what is the reliability factor in questionnaires
when the questionnaire is repeated, the same questions are asked to different respondents
with postal or online questionnaires, the researcher cannot influence answers
repeating questionnaires allow comparisons
what are the representative factors of using questionnaires
they can collect data on large scales , researchers that use questionnaires pay attention to the representative samples
outline disadvantages of using questionnaires
the data used can be limited , this makes
