Choosing Research Methods & Topics Flashcards
What does PERVERT stand for?
Practical
Ethical
Reliability
Validity
Examples/evidence
Representativeness
Theoretical
What are the practical considerations of research methods (LFACTS)?
Location
Funding
Access & opportunity
Cost
Time
Skills & characteristics
What are the ethical considerations of research methods (VRICHDAD)?
Vulnerable groups
Risk (to researcher/participant)
Informed consent (Hawthorne effect)
Confidentiality
Harm (to researcher/participant)
Deception
Anonymity
Debrief & right to withdraw
What does reliability mean?
Whether similar results could be produced if repeated
- quantitative easiest to repeat & reliability less attainable using qualitative methods
- positivists prefer quantitative as you can identify patterns & trends over time & between places helping to form generalisations and social policy
What does validity mean?
Whether research has measured what the researcher intended to measure
- does it reflect true reality/experience?
- is the research conducted in an artificial/natural environment?
- interpretivists argue this can only be achieved using qualitative methods to do this which are difficult to repeat (unlikely to be valid & reliable)
What does examples/evidence mean?
Reference to actual sociological studies
At least 2 studies per research method
e.g Willis & Oakley
What does representativeness mean?
Whether sample is typical of the rest of the target population (research can be generalised)
- must create a sample of people to study which should represent the rest of the population or you cannot apply it (Positivists value this)
What does theoretical mean?
Positivism vs Interpretivism/Interactionism
P: favour scientific approach that look at objective, quantitative data
I: favour qualitative data (meanings & motives)
What is primary and secondary data?
+ examples of each
- examples of both
P: data collected first hand by the researcher
S: data which already exists but can be used by a sociologist
+ P: observations, interviews, questionnaires, lab experiments & field experiments
+ S: historical documents, official statistics, birth and death register, government report & novel
- love island episode, newspaper article, photographs, diaries & letters
What are the strengths & limitations of
1) primary and 2) secondary data?
1) + more specific
+ more valid
+ control of process
- costly & requires more resources
- time consuming
- requires interpersonal skills
- more potential for risk & harm
- less representative
- design problems
2) + quicker
+ cheaper
+ public access
+ characteristics less important
+ census is compulsory so trends can be identified
- less specific
- no idea of problems of research process
- information may be incomplete
What is qualitative & quantitative data?
+ what are some examples of each?
Quantitative: numerical data
- allows spotting of trends & patterns
- objective
- preferred by positivists
+ e.g experiments, statistics & questionnaires
Qualitative: non-numerical data
- allows insight into nature of subjective experiences
- meanings & motives
- preferred by interpretivists
+ e.g interviews, observations & content analysis
What 4 factors affect a sociologist’s choice of research method?
Practical
Ethical
Nature of research
Theoretical
What are some examples of how Practical Issues may affect choosing a research method?
- some research topics & respondents are harder to gain access to e.g school pupils & those who have engaged in criminal activity
- time (primary research takes longer)
- money (primary research is more expensive)
- personal situation & characteristics (family & commitments may prevent long term field work)
- funding (government more likely to fund quantitative)
- not everyone has emotional intelligence or resilience required
What are some examples of how Ethical Issues may affect choosing a research method?
+ confidentiality is important as harm may come to respondent if not
+ process involves interfering w people’s lives & could cause them harm despite ethics
+ Keith Tunnel criminal example
+ British Sociological Association lay down ethical criteria (won’t publish research if broken)
+ researchers often have to guarantee anonymity
+ researchers must think of impact before researching
+ research must involve legality
+ informed consent is difficult with vulnerable groups & may influence results
What are the 5 factors of the nature of research which affect choosing a research method?
Longitudinal
Historical
Sensitive issues
Deviant
Nationwide
What are some examples of how the Nature of research may affect choosing a research method?
- sensitive topics may bring up bad memories and result in trauma or further victimisation
- Gang Leader for a Day example
- some research topics may be better suited to researchers w certain personal characteristics
- legality is an issue when researching criminal or deviant behaviour
- some topics lend themselves naturally to survey based research
- closed questionnaire may be ‘cold’ when studying emotive issues such as DV
- topic being studied will vary the methods which are appropriate e.g gangs will be unlikely to fill in a survey
What are some examples of how Theoretical Issues may affect choosing a research method?
+ validity is often greater in deeper studies
+ anonymity often compromises reliability
+ representativeness
+ some experiments may mean misleading respondents to ensure valid results
+ more in depth & longer methods with a small group are not very reliable as it is impossible to replicate
+ social surveys may lack validity as they decide what the questions should be
+ self-completion questionnaires have high reliability
What was the method used in Durkheim’s ‘Le Suicide’ study?
+ why was it used?
What was the method used in Oakley’s ‘The Sociology of Housework’ study?
+ why was it used?
Systematic study if official suicide statistics of a number of European countries
+ wanted to be scientific
+ wanted to establish patterns & trends
+ wasn’t interested in individual motives
A series of in depth interviews with a number of women
+ wanted to understand how women felt
+ wanted to allow them to answer at length
+ could only study a small group (time & money)
What was the method used in Patrick’s ‘A Glasgow Gang Observed’ study?
+ why was it used?
What was the method used in Barker’s ‘The Making of a Moonie’ study?
+ why was it used?
An in depth participant observation study
+ wanted to find out how gang members saw their lives & situation
+ unlikely they would take part in interviews or questionnaires
+ had to conceal identity & purpose
Methodological pluralism
+ wanted statistical data & in depth understanding
+ could compare what people said in interviews to observations
+ wanted to compare media representations to observations of them
What are the 4 factors which influence a researcher’s choice of topic?
Funding
Practical
Values
Perspective
