choosing a research method and topic Flashcards
briefly explain Harding (87) ideas on how the purpose of feminist research should be to improve the position of women
- (ways to achieve this)
she believed one way to do this is to bridge the gap between female researchers and female subjects of research which has been achieved by qualitative research to ensure there is greater equality between the researcher and subject
briefly explain the 2 reasons why feminist researchers favour the focus group technique
it’s less artificial as it emphasises group interaction as a normal part of social life and women feel safer to be more truthful on their experiences
minimises differences in power and status in research as social researcher doesn’t dominate conversation as women in a group have the chance to take control over the discussion
refer to study by Skeggs (2001) and explain why feminists use the ethnographic approach
allows full documentation of womens lives, especially aspects regarded by males as unimportant
she was seeking to emphasise the words, voices and lives of the women which fits well with the argument of feminist researchers for standpoint feminism
refer to Oakley, and explain the usefulness of unstructured/in-depth interviewing for feminists
emphasises 2 women involved are engaged in a discussion based on equality as interviewer and participant have equal power
she rejected structured interviews as they are exploitative and power imbalance between researcher and participant
briefly explain the 4 factors which influence which topic is chosen to research
theoretical perspective:
- e.g. marxists look at topics around social class inequality and feminists look at gender inequality
funding bodies
- government agencies, charities and businesses may choose a certain topic for research to be done on as they are funding it
practical factors
- topics chosen which are easily accessible (e.g. schools are easily accessible)
society’s values
- topics are chosen based on what society thinks is important (e.g. in 2024 climate change and trans inequality is widely present)
briefly explain the 5 practical factors influencing choice of methods
personal skills and characteristics:
- method dependent on which you feel best suits your skill set and characteristics need to suit group being studied so you can make other comfortable or fit in
subject matter:
- certain methods suit particular topics better (e.g. dangerous topic should avoid participant observation)
research opportunity:
- method chose to fit topic occurring so unplanned
requirement of funding bodies:
- they may require you to use a certain method
time and money:
- official stats if you have less time and money
- longitudinal study if you have lots of time and money
briefly explain the 5 theoretical factors influencing choice of methods
reliability:
- high levels of reliability use questionnaires don’t choose group interviews
interpretivism:
- choose qualitative methods such as unstructured interviews and participant observation
positivism:
- avoid indepth and subjective qualitative data
- use quantitative methods such as lab experiments
representativeness:
- for high levels use questionnaires
- for low levels use case studies or personal documents
validity
- for high levels use unstructured interviews or participant observation
- for low levels use questionnaires
briefly explain the 5 ethical factors influencing choice of methods
informed consent:
- avoid covert observation and field experiments
harm to participants:
- avoid unstructured interviews and experiments
vulnerable groups:
- e.g. victims of crime, addicts, children
- use unstructured interviews as makes them feel they have more freedom and control over how they answer = more honest answers
confidentiality and privacy
- avoid personal documents and covert participant observation
- use questionnaires and official stats
deception
- avoid covert participant observation
