Methods Flashcards
quantitative
numerical form, graphs and statistics
qualitative
words, attitudes feelings values and motives
representativeness
sample size typical cross section of society
practical issue - time
unstructured interviews take more time than postal questionnaires
practical - cost
postal qustionnaires cheaper
ethical issue - consent
informed consent openly agree to take part and have the right to refuse
ethical - confidentiality
anonymity
ethical - harm
particpants must not be manipulated, mislead or psychologically harmed
ethical - vulnerability
young children, ill, disabled and those who have experienced sensitive subject
theoretical issue - reliability
produces the same results when repeated several times using same method
theoretical - validity
truthful picture of what something is really like
theoretical - objectivity
absence of bias opinions don’t get in the way - neutral
theoretical - subjectivity
individuals viewpoint influences perception or judgement
positivists
quantitative, experiments and official stats, natural sciences
interpretivists
qualitative, participant observations, unstructured interviews, find deeper true meanings
primary data - strengths
control of method, questions, type of data qual/quant
primary - weaknesses
time consuming, expensive, difficult to create sample, hard to set up
secondary - strengths
already exists, expensive, easy access, allows comparative analysis, large representative sample
secondary - weaknesses
out of control of researcher, patchy coverage, mistakes may have been made sociologists have to trust it
