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Sociology- Education > Methodology > Flashcards

Methodology Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What is interpretivism?

A

The sociological research method that gathers research about the subjective lives of people. Don’t use statistics, produce qualitative data (rich quality of research)

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2
Q

What is verstehen?

A

Having an empathetic understanding- getting into the mindset of others

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3
Q

What is a rapport?

A

Building a trusting relationship with the people you are researching

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4
Q

What is grounded theory?

A

Uncovering something you weren’t expecting to find because you have researched without a hypothesis

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5
Q

What is ethnographic research?

A

Going into the real world to research- working with real people in their natural environment therefore examining real behaviour

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6
Q

What is a variable? Give an example

A

A varying social trend e.g unemployment

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7
Q

What is an independent variable?

A

The variable that is changed and causes and effects the dependent variable

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8
Q

What is the dependent variable?

A

The changes in the variable are caused by the independent variable

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9
Q

Practical issues? (3)

A

Sampling
Response rates
Processing

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10
Q

Ethical issues? (4)

A

Anonymity
Secondary victimisation
Trauma
Confidence

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11
Q

Theoretical issues? (7)

A 
Positivism
Interpretivism
Reliability
Validity
Representativeness 
Operationalisation 
Objectivity
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12
Q

What is covert observation?

A

Watching and studying people without them knowing

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13
Q

What is Participant observation?

A

Interact with and befriend the people you are researching in order to closely observe without them being aware

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14
Q

What is operationalising?

A

To turn something into something measurable

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15
Q

What is a pilot study?

A

A trial study in order to see if it works

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16
Q

What is a sample?

A

A small number of people whom you carry out your research on

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17
Q

What is a sample frame? Give an example

A

The comets list of people you want to study e.g a school register

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18
Q

What is Representative sampling?

A

From a sample frame and should proportionally reflect the wider society you in question

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19
Q

What is opportunity sampling?

A

No sample frame- you use random volunteers to participate

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20
Q

What is random sampling?

A

A computer randomly selects people from the sample frame which should result in a representative sample

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21
Q

What is systematic sampling?

A

Select every nth person from the sample frame

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22
Q

What is stratified sampling?

A

You take the right proportion of people from the sample frame in order to proportionally represent the makeup of society
E.g: to show the ethnic makeup of society. If there are 860 white, 100 Asian and 40 Caribbean, 86% of your sample would be white, 10% would be Asian and 4% Caribbean.

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23
Q

What is quota sampling?

A

Identify what you need to find then use opportunity sampling (no sample frame)

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24
Q

What is snowball sampling?

A

Identify key individuals who suggest others and so on

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25
Q

What is cluster sampling? Give examples

A

Done geographically e.g by postcode or village

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26
Q

What is reliability?

A

A source is reliable if the results are the same/similar when repeated

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27
Q

What is representativeness?

A

The sample proportionally reflects the cross section of society

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28
Q

What is fully informed consent?

A

The participant is fully aware of the research being undertaken and agrees to take part

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29
Q

What is post hoc consent?

A

Getting consent from participants after the research has been carried out

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30
Q

What is deception?

A

Deceiving your participants in order to achieve valid results

31
Q

What is the Hawthorne effect?

A

The participants behave differently because they know they’re being observed

32
Q

What is right answerism?

A

Participants answer in the way they think that they should as they are in the presence of an authoritative figure

33
Q

What is positivism?

A

Sociological research method- the scientific approach that tries to develop stats, correlations and causation. The process begins with a hypothesis and produces quantitative data

34
Q

What are leading questions? Give an example

A

Questions that lead the respondent to toward a particular answer. E.g how much do you dislike your school?

35
Q

What are closed questions?

A

Questions that result in one word answers like yes or no

36
Q

What are open questions? Give an example

A

Questions that allow respondents to go into detail e.g describe your experience at school so far?

37
Q

What is a questionnaire?

A

A series of questions sent via the post, en email or over the phone.

38
Q

What are three advantages of questionnaires?

A

Easily replicable
Can be done on a macro scale
Data is easy to process

39
Q

What are four disadvantages of questionnaires

A

Front stage behaviour
Right answerism
Low response rates
Hard to operationalise

40
Q

What is an advantage and a disadvantage of open questions

A

Ad: get insight
Dis: low response rates

41
Q

What is an advantage and a disadvantage of closed questions?

A

Ad: easy to gather quantitative data
Dis: don’t get insight

42
Q

What is generalisability?

A

You can make a generalised statement from your results

43
Q

Who favours lab experiments?

A

Natural scientists

44
Q

Why do lab experiments seem desirable?

A

Research environments can be fully controlled therefore cause and effect relationships can be established

45
Q

What are the difficulties of using lab experiments to study humans?

A

Everyone is different and therefore will have varying reactions to an experiment

46
Q

Why do sociologist see lab experiments as inappropriate for studying social interaction?

A

Because the environment is so artificial

47
Q

What is a structured interview?

A

The questions are pre-planned and starts with a hypothesis

48
Q

What is an unstructured interview?

A

Has a topic and is lead by the participant

49
Q

What is an advantage and a disadvantage of structured interviews?

A

Ad: easily replicable
Dis: lead the participant in a particular direction meaning less likely to uncover grounded theory

50
Q

Identify an advantage and a disadvantage of unstructured interviews

A

Ad: allows the participant to go into as much detail as they want and can uncover grounded theory
Dis: not easily replicable

51
Q

Identify an advantage and a disadvantage of group interviews?

A

Ad: participants may feel more confident if in a group
Dis: may feel like they can’t be entirely honest as others are there

52
Q

What is secondary victimisation?

A

Making the participant feel victimised and targeted when talking about an experience that made them feel this way

53
Q

What is an indicator?

A

Something said by the respondent the points to something of interest

54
Q

What is coding? Give an example

A 
Helps to operationalise- splitting a subject into various topics and themes
E.g bullying can be split into:
1 physical violence
2 threat
3 cyber
4 group intimidation
55
Q

What is overt/ non-covert observation?

A

When those you are observing know you are and why

56
Q

Name two advantages of overt observation

A
  1. Fully informed consent- ethical

2. In the real world (ethnographic) therefore should be valid

57
Q

Two disadvantages of overt observation

A
  1. Hawthorne effect: act differently because they know that they’re being observed
  2. Not participating only observing, therefore not entirely certain of what’s happening only assuming due to what you can see
58
Q

Name two advantages and two disadvantages of participant observation:

A

Ad: Achieve verstehen
Highly valid
Dis: not representative
Non replicable

59
Q

What does ‘going native’ mean?

A

Results from participant observation- you lose objectivity as you have got so involved and become one of them

60
Q

Name two advantages and three disadvantages of covert participant observation:

A 
Ad: valid as no Hawthorne effect
Achieve verstehen and a rapport 
Dis: unethical
Hard to join and leave a group
Going native
61
Q

What is a secondary source?

A

Research that has already been conducted by someone else

62
Q

What is a soft figure?

A

Figures that cannot be reliable as they are based on widely spread and vague occurrences

63
Q

What is a hard figure?

A

A figure that is certain

64
Q

What is ‘life history’

A

Using someone’s personal documents e.g photos, diary entries etc to study social history

65
Q

What is a case study

A

An in depth study

66
Q

What is a meta study?

A

In depth study repeated with different variables

67
Q

What is a longitudinal study?

A

A study repeated every x amount of years

68
Q

What is a gate keeper?

A

Those who either deny or allow access to the information needed for research

69
Q

What is an oral testimony?

A

An interview with someone to study social history in which you ask them about a particular decade

70
Q

What is content analysis?

A

Producing quantitative data from qualitative- usually the analysis of media reports

71
Q

What is a control group?

A

The group in an experiment that remains unchanged and is used to compare with the groups that are experimented on

72
Q

What is comparative method?

A

Comparing two sets of data in order to try and identify correlations

73
Q

What is subjectivity?

A

The individuals interpretations, opinions and beliefs that are unique to that person

74
Q

Personal documents?

A

Used by interpretivists to discover subjective information about a person

Sociology- Education (2 decks)

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