CHOOSING A RESEARCH METHOD

Question 1

What method can you use to gather primary data?

Answer 1

• Social Surveys
• Participant Observation
• Experiments

Question 2

What is a social survey?

Answer 2

these involve asking people questions in a written questionnaire or an interview

Question 3

What is a participant observation?

Answer 3

the sociologist joins in with the activities of the group he or she is studying

Question 4

What is an advantage of using primary data?

Answer 4

sociologists may be able to gather precisely the information they need to test their hypothesis

Question 5

What is a disadvantage of using a primary data?

Answer 5

it can be costly and time consuming

Question 6

What is primary data?

Answer 6

information collected by sociologists themselves for their own purposes

Question 7

What is secondary data?

Answer 7

information collected or created by someone else for their own purposes but which the sociologist can then use

Question 8

What does secondary data include?

Answer 8

Documents and official statistics

Question 9

What is an advantage of using secondary data?

Answer 9

a quick and cheap way of doing research since someone else has already produced the research

Question 10

What is a disadvantage of using secondary data?

Answer 10

Those who produce the research may not be interested in the same questions as sociologists, and so secondary sources may not provide exactly the information that sociologists needs

Question 11

What is Quantative data?

Answer 11

refers to information in a numerical from