Key Vocabulary Flashcards
What is the difference between overt and covert?
Overt = obvious (in terms of recording info)
Covert = hidden
What makes research reliable?
It can be repeated to get similar results
What makes research valid?
If it reflects a true picture of society
What makes research representative?
Conclusions drawn from it apply to whole target population
What does PET stand for?
Practical
Ethical
Theoretical
What are practical issues?
Time
Money
How to access the sample group
What makes research ethical?
If it is open and honest
Private and confidential
Legal
Does not cause physical/psychological harm
What is a positivist?
Sociologist who prefers quantitative, reliable data
Sees sociology as a science
Want to discover patterns
What is an interpretivist?
Sociologist who prefers qualitative, valid data
Doesn’t see sociology as a science
Want to understand meanings behind actions
What is a case study?
Detailed investigation of one thing
e.g. Willis 1977, Venkatesh 2008
What is a focus group?
A small sample who are asked a set of questions
Like a natural conversation
What is a longitudinal study?
Large scale, quantitative surveys done at regular intervals
What is an ethnography?
A study of a group’s way of life to understand their culture firsthand
What are the issues with longitudinal studies?
Hard to keep the team together
Hard to find and keep the sample
Rely on interviews and questionnaires
May result in poor validity
