L8-L10

Question 1

social policy

Answer 1

action (+inaction) of govt. and its agencies (in relation to the population’s lives)
- laws & decisions - eg housing, taxation, employment etc

Question 2

direct & indirect social policy

Answer 2

direct : laws on …
- child benefits
- marriage
- behaviour within the family (eg hitting kids)

indirect : laws on …
- housing
- health
- education
(laws aimed at other areas but influences the family)

Question 3

gatekeeper - sampling

Answer 3

someone who controls the access that a sociologist has to a sample
- knows the sample directly
- eg school gatekeeper = headteacher

Question 4

population definition (sampling)

Answer 4

everybody in the group that you wish to study
- eg all teens aged 16-19 in the UK

Question 5

sample definition

Answer 5

a selection of people from the population
- eg 100 people aged 16-19
- necessary bcs researchers don’t have the time or money to study everyone in the population

Question 6

representative

Answer 6

the sample should have the same characteristics as the population as a whole
- should represent the pop.
- sample should be representative of the population it was drawn from
— so, generalisations can be made (applied to whole pop.)

Question 7

sampling unit

Answer 7

members of the pop. that you wish to study
- in terms of number and characteristics
- eg 40 male dentists

Question 8

sampling frame

Answer 8

consists of a list of members from the population that you wish to study
- source for this could be the electoral roll, telephone directories etc

Question 9

problems of using electoral roll or phone directories to obtain sample (3)

Answer 9

electoral roll has some people left off - eg ppl from diff. countries

time consuming

people can be contacted but unwilling to take part

Question 10

random sampling

Answer 10

gives every member of the sampling frame an equal chance of being selected
- every name given a number, then lists of random numbers are used to select the sample
- or pull names out of a hat

Question 11

systematic sampling

Answer 11

systematically selects people from the sampling frame by choosing every 2nd, 5th, 10th person of the list
- these people become the sampling unit

Question 12

stratified sampling

Answer 12

can ensure the sample = representative
- population divided into strata in terms of characteristics
- eg age, gender etc
- sample is then selected that reflects these characteristics
- eg 51% female and 49% male

Question 13

snowball sampling

Answer 13

researcher finds someone who is willing to take part in their research
- participant is then asked if they could find another person to also take part
- network is built up and the sample grows

Question 14

volunteer sampling

Answer 14

researchers can try to attract volunteers who want to take part
- advertise using leaflets, posters, radio or TV broadcasts
- ppl read the info and decide if they want to take part

Question 15

opportunity sampling

Answer 15

involves selecting pps simply bcs it’s convenient to do so
- researcher may have easy access to a group of people they know well / have regular contact with
- (sometimes known as convenience sampling)

Question 16

purposive sampling

Answer 16

used by researchers who know what type of sample they’re looking for
- can go and find that specific sample
- eg wanting to study doctors aged 25-50, go to hospitals directly to obtain sample

Question 17

quota sampling

Answer 17

researcher may conduct research in the street and look for people who could take part
- eg they need to find 20 females aged 30-45 who work full time
- researcher fills quota by asking the first 20 ppl who fit the criteria (and willing to answer the questions)

Question 18

evaluation of random sample

Answer 18

ADV.
- limits bias from researcher - pps selected by chance
- relatively quick compared to stratified sampling, which takes a long time to conduct

DISAV.
- sample may end up being non representative of the population
- sample that are randomly chosen might not wish to take part - means sampling process might need to be conducted again to gain more pps

Question 19

ethical issues

Answer 19

matters of moral principles
- can effect the research process
- Bulmer = sociologist - overall view of ethics

Question 20

pilot studies

Answer 20

small scale preliminary study
- sociologists might conduct before they do their main research
- like a test run
- small sample
- to see if research will actually work

Question 21

positives of pilot studies (2)

Answer 21

identify weaknesses of method

ensures validity

Question 22

negatives of pilot studies (2)

Answer 22

inaccurate - small scale

time consuming (&resources)
- takes away from main study

Question 23

principles of ethical research by Bulmer (7)

Answer 23

informed consent
respect for privacy
protection from harm
safeguarding & confidentiality of data
avoid deception
awareness of the consequences of publication
right to withdraw

Question 24

before research begins, the pps need to be informed about the …

Answer 24

nature and purpose of the study
how their data will be used
how anonymity will be respected
confidentiality of their answers