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Sociology- Education > Methodology > Flashcards

Methodology Flashcards

(74 cards)

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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
What is cluster sampling? Give examples
Done geographically e.g by postcode or village
26
What is reliability?
A source is reliable if the results are the same/similar when repeated
27
What is representativeness?
The sample proportionally reflects the cross section of society
28
What is fully informed consent?
The participant is fully aware of the research being undertaken and agrees to take part
29
What is post hoc consent?
Getting consent from participants after the research has been carried out
30
What is deception?
Deceiving your participants in order to achieve valid results
31
What is the Hawthorne effect?
The participants behave differently because they know they're being observed
32
What is right answerism?
Participants answer in the way they think that they should as they are in the presence of an authoritative figure
33
What is positivism?
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
What are leading questions? Give an example
Questions that lead the respondent to toward a particular answer. E.g how much do you dislike your school?
35
What are closed questions?
Questions that result in one word answers like yes or no
36
What are open questions? Give an example
Questions that allow respondents to go into detail e.g describe your experience at school so far?
37
What is a questionnaire?
A series of questions sent via the post, en email or over the phone.
38
What are three advantages of questionnaires?
Easily replicable Can be done on a macro scale Data is easy to process
39
What are four disadvantages of questionnaires
Front stage behaviour Right answerism Low response rates Hard to operationalise
40
What is an advantage and a disadvantage of open questions
Ad: get insight Dis: low response rates
41
What is an advantage and a disadvantage of closed questions?
Ad: easy to gather quantitative data Dis: don't get insight
42
What is generalisability?
You can make a generalised statement from your results
43
Who favours lab experiments?
Natural scientists
44
Why do lab experiments seem desirable?
Research environments can be fully controlled therefore cause and effect relationships can be established
45
What are the difficulties of using lab experiments to study humans?
Everyone is different and therefore will have varying reactions to an experiment
46
Why do sociologist see lab experiments as inappropriate for studying social interaction?
Because the environment is so artificial
47
What is a structured interview?
The questions are pre-planned and starts with a hypothesis
48
What is an unstructured interview?
Has a topic and is lead by the participant
49
What is an advantage and a disadvantage of structured interviews?
Ad: easily replicable Dis: lead the participant in a particular direction meaning less likely to uncover grounded theory
50
Identify an advantage and a disadvantage of unstructured interviews
Ad: allows the participant to go into as much detail as they want and can uncover grounded theory Dis: not easily replicable
51
Identify an advantage and a disadvantage of group interviews?
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
What is secondary victimisation?
Making the participant feel victimised and targeted when talking about an experience that made them feel this way
53
What is an indicator?
Something said by the respondent the points to something of interest
54
What is coding? Give an example
``` 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
What is overt/ non-covert observation?
When those you are observing know you are and why
56
Name two advantages of overt observation
1. Fully informed consent- ethical | 2. In the real world (ethnographic) therefore should be valid
57
Two disadvantages of overt observation
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
Name two advantages and two disadvantages of participant observation:
Ad: Achieve verstehen Highly valid Dis: not representative Non replicable
59
What does 'going native' mean?
Results from participant observation- you lose objectivity as you have got so involved and become one of them
60
Name two advantages and three disadvantages of covert participant observation:
``` Ad: valid as no Hawthorne effect Achieve verstehen and a rapport Dis: unethical Hard to join and leave a group Going native ```
61
What is a secondary source?
Research that has already been conducted by someone else
62
What is a soft figure?
Figures that cannot be reliable as they are based on widely spread and vague occurrences
63
What is a hard figure?
A figure that is certain
64
What is 'life history'
Using someone's personal documents e.g photos, diary entries etc to study social history
65
What is a case study
An in depth study
66
What is a meta study?
In depth study repeated with different variables
67
What is a longitudinal study?
A study repeated every x amount of years
68
What is a gate keeper?
Those who either deny or allow access to the information needed for research
69
What is an oral testimony?
An interview with someone to study social history in which you ask them about a particular decade
70
What is content analysis?
Producing quantitative data from qualitative- usually the analysis of media reports
71
What is a control group?
The group in an experiment that remains unchanged and is used to compare with the groups that are experimented on
72
What is comparative method?
Comparing two sets of data in order to try and identify correlations
73
What is subjectivity?
The individuals interpretations, opinions and beliefs that are unique to that person
74
Personal documents?
Used by interpretivists to discover subjective information about a person

Sociology- Education (2 decks)

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