prm 2 Flashcards
secondary data
The PRM informs us that before adopting primary methods, Holden used secondary evidence and conducted a content analysis in order to “build up a detailed background knowledge” of various policies and opinions regarding the use of integrative play. Holden conducted this research for 3 months. The longitudinal nature of this research indicates that Holden may have been able to gain a large amount of data on this subject. Unfortunately the drawback of using secondary data is that it quickly goes out of data and the results gained may therefore lack validity. As Holden’s research was conducted in 2011- the same year as the most recent Census- it seems that Holden has taken steps to gather the most recent data available. The method used here is also highly reliable as another researcher would be able to repeat his research in the future, perhaps in 2021 following the next census.
observation
The other primary methods Holden used were overt non-participant observations and self-completion questionnaires.
In the case of the observations, we are told that Holden conducted a series of 21 observations in public parks and school playgrounds. During these observations, Holden used a “structured schedule” and counted, perhaps by the use of a tally chart, the number of instances of integrative play he observed. The high number of observations he conducted would have addressed issues of reliability as this would have compensated for days when the number of instances of integrative play were particularly high or low. At the end of the process, we would expect Holden to be able to give a mean value to the number of instances of integrative play observed per day. This would be a valid result and would therefore provide a result which accurately reflects the regularity or rarity of this activity. Although observations are usually very low in reliability as there are so many variables that can change from one observation to the next, Holden has attempted to cut down on the number of confounding variables that might affect the reliability of this method by conducting his research across the same settings and at the same time of day- in the same city parks and at lunch times in the schools.
Holden has also avoided the ethical concerns which would have arisen through conducting a covert observation, as the British Sociological Association has deemed that all covert research is unethical. However, we are not told how Holden has managed to gain access to his samples of children either in the parks or at the schools he has used in his research. Although we can deduce that Holden would have had to have obtained consent for his observations carried out in the schools from the respective gatekeepers (probably the Headteacher of each school), we are not informed about how Holden managed to gain consent for observing the children in the parks, or even if he did! This raises questions regarding the ethical soundness of this study which are not addressed.
We are told in line 16 that Holden conducted his observations in three parks and across six schools- three of which were primary and three secondary. Although the PRM acknowledges that there may be issues of representativeness with the samples gathered from the parks as two of the three parks were mostly used by Asian and not white children, the samples gained from the schools were more representative as Holden used schools where the population was mixed in terms of ethnic group. This means that the results gained from the observations may retain some generalisability and could be applied to other towns and cities across the UK. On the other hand though, Holden has concentrated his research in one atypical (in that it is described as racially segregated) town in one area of northwest England (Blackburn) which is detrimental to the generalisability of his results.
self completion survery
Presumably in order to hypothesize if integrative play has any long-term benefits on shaping the attitudes of one ethnic group to another, Holden gathers the opinions of the parents by using a self-completion questionnaire. Holden gave out a total of 516 questionnaires and 303, or nearly 60% of these, were returned. This is quite a high response rate and might therefore mean that Holden’s results are representative. However, in line 30 we are told that Holden gained his sample through using the “opportunity” method. This is a random method of sampling and therefore tends to provide a less representative sample as only those individuals available at any given time would be asked to take part. Holden might have attempted to acquire a more representative sample by using the local electoral roll as a sampling frame and then conducting a stratified sample in order to make sure the questionnaire was sent to equal numbers of different ethnic groups.
One advantage of using a self-completion questionnaire to gain data is that those people who filled the questionnaire out probably did so because they wanted to and because they believed the subject Holden is researching to have some value. We can therefore expect that this group of people would have taken care to answer the questions truthfully and fully and the results would therefore be effective in providing Holden with a true picture of their opinions on the value of integrative play. The results would therefore be high in validity. However, in line 33 we are told that, “Computer software was used to analyse the data.” For example, they say standardised questions This leads us to deduce that Holden has used closed questions as a computer could not analyse the answers to open-ended questions. Holden has therefore perhaps missed an opportunity to gather qualitative data which would have contributed to the validity of the results he eventually attains. Although, positives would favour this and say it is reliable re-coded responses generate quantitative data, identify and measure behaviour patterns and establish cause and effect relationships, so it is very relevant and generable. Nevertheless, we are informed that “over 85% of white and 97% of Asian parents” believed that integrative play was “either very or fairly important for children”. This result may be valid, in which case Holden has succeeded in meeting his aim in establishing that many individuals see the value of integrative play between different ethnicities. On the other hand, the parents may have been supplying “socially desirable” answers by saying what they think they should say on this subject- the fact that the PRM doesn’t tell us whether the parents were told that their responses would not be looked at by a human but by a computer (which would not make a judgement about them based on their response) means that we must once again question the validity of Holden’s findings.
Also, interpretivists may be against the whole idea of Holden’s research because firstly, they reject the use of questionnaires because it imposes the researcher’s perspectives on the respondents. This means that Holden has an opportunity to control questions he asks on the questionnaire that is conducted and could base his questions on what he wants. This is also known as research imposition. This is a reason why interpretivists say they prefer more valid methods, rather than methods that are manipulated by the conductor so that results come out how they want it to come out. They also argue that due to the fact that Holden’s questionnaires are “tick box” questions it shows how the information he receives is not rich and not elaborate so it is not valid at all and is not representative for his study because of lack of information.
