Intro to research methods

Question 1

What is primary data?

Answer 1

info collected by sociologists for their own purposes

Question 2

What is secondary data?

Answer 2

info created by other people that sociologists can use

Question 3

Examples of primary data:

Answer 3

written questionaires
interviews
participant observations

Question 4

Examples of secondary data:

Answer 4

official statistics
documents

Question 5

Advantage of primary data:

Answer 5

can gather precise info need to test theory/ hypothesis

Question 6

Advantage of secondary data:

Answer 6

quick and cheap to do research

Question 7

Disadvantage of primary data:

Answer 7

time consuming and costly

Question 8

Disadvantage of secondary data:

Answer 8

those who produce it may not be interested in the same question as other sociologists so not precise

Question 9

What is quantitative data?
plus example

Answer 9

info in numerical form
e.g official statistics of pass rates at GCSE

Question 10

What is qualitative data?
plus example

Answer 10

spoken/ written info that gives insight on what something is like in depth
e.g what is it like to get divorced

Question 11

What are the 3 factors influencing choice of methods?

Answer 11

practical
ethical
theoretical

Question 12

What are the 5 sections under practical?

Answer 12

time and money
requirements of funding bodies
personal skills and characteristics
subject matter
research opportunity

Question 13

How does time and money affect choice if method?

Answer 13

large scale studies need more researchers/ staff which is costly
access to money can be a barrier

Question 14

How does requirements of funding bodies affect choice of method?

Answer 14

organisations may need findings in a particular form
e.g data in quantitative form

Question 15

How does personal skills and characteristics affect choice of method?

Answer 15

researchers have characteristics which may be favourable for different methods
e.g interviews need to be with researchers with good communication

Question 16

How does subject matter affect choice of method?

Answer 16

can be difficult to use certain methods in certain situations
e.g a male interviewer in a group of all girls

Question 17

How does research opportunity affect choice of method?

Answer 17

may not be able to have a structured method as they may be carried out unexpectedly

Question 18

What are the 5 sections under ethical?

Answer 18

informed consent
confidentiality and privacy
harm to participants
vulnerable groups
covert researcg

Question 19

Explain informed consent:

Answer 19

participants should be offered right to withdraw and told about all elements of the research

Question 20

Explain confidentiality and privacy:

Answer 20

participants identity should be kept secret to stop negative effects

Question 21

Explain harm to participants:

Answer 21

researchers need to be aware if possible side effects e.g physical/mental harm to participants
needs to be anticipated and prevented

Question 22

Explain vulnerable groups:

Answer 22

special care to groups like children, disabled, physical/mental health etc
consent from both parents and children etc

Question 23

Explain covert research:

Answer 23

researchers identity is hidden from people being studied
can cause ethical issues but some argue it is necessary to gain more info on dangerous groups etc

Question 24

What are the 3 sections under theoretical?

Answer 24

validity
reliability
representativeness

Question 25

Explain validity: what data does it usually use?

Answer 25

produce genuine and true picture of what something is like qualitative

Question 26

Explain reliability: what data does it usually use?

Answer 26

replicability/ always get same results quantitative

Question 27

Explain representativeness:

Answer 27

samples need to include all types of people so it can be generalised to population

Question 28

What are the methodological perspectives? (2 perspectives)

Answer 28

positivist interpretivist

Question 29

What do positivists say about methods?

Answer 29

prefer quantitative data macro/ structural functionalists and marxists

Question 30

What do interpretivists say about methods?

Answer 30

qualitative data reject idea sociology can be studied as a science interactionists micro/ small scale value validity

Question 31

Tuckett 2001

Answer 31

describes how a post graduate sociology student was admitted to hospital so he used this opportunity to conduct a participant observation study.

Question 32

What are the 4 factors influencing choice of topic?

Answer 32

sociologists perspective societys values practical factors funding bodies

Question 33

Explain sociologist perspective:

Answer 33

decides what they choose to study e.g feminists study patriarchy

Question 34

Explain society’s values:

Answer 34

as values change so do studies sociologists are influenced by society e.g rise in feminism means more studies on feminism

Question 35

Explain practical factors:

Answer 35

no access to certain things so restrict what topics to study e.g want to study something globally but can’t go to every country

Question 36

Explain funding bodies:

Answer 36

most require funding from external body e.g gov. so they have a say in what is studied