Quantitative research methods Flashcards
Survey features
Mostly quantitative data but can sometimes be qualitative
A primary source of data
Can be composed in the form of a questionnaire or a structured interview
Can be conducted without the knowledge of the research subjects
Useful for attitude gathering e.g. political views or religious beliefs
Survey strengths
Efficient and practical way of collecting data
Higher reliability due to ease of replication
Survey weaknesses
Not appropriate for studying complex social behaviours
Results may be superficial leading to a low validity
Answers may lack depth and may not adequately reflect qualitative aspects
Structured interview features
Produces quantitative data because of the structured nature of the answers gathered
Questions are often closed to ensure a limited response: i.e. Yes/No/Don’t know answers
Carried out face-to-face by a researcher asking a list of pre-set questions in the same order
All respondents will be asked identical questions - improving reliability
Structured interviews strengths
Ensures good response rate as questions answered there and then with a researcher present
Pre-set questions are easier to quantify as same topics/questions are asked to all respondents
Respondents able to ask for clarification if they didn’t understand something - increasing validity of info collected
Structured interviews weaknesses
Costly due to high research involvement
Time-consuming for both researcher and respondent
Questionnairs features
Quantitative
Primary source of data - collected by researcher
Can use open-ended or closed questions depending on the detail required, but more likely to be closed questions
Answers limited to such responses as yes/no/sometimes /unsure or may take the form of factual info e.g. how many rooms in your house?
Types - postal, telephone, group, email
Questionnaire strengths
Reach a large number of varied potential participants
Inexpensive method for gathering data as low-cost options for designing and distributing the questionnaire
Good for identifying patterns and trend in the data
Questionnaire weaknesses
Leading questions can influence participants responses
If participants are unclear about what is being asked there Is no way for them to gain clarification
Official statistics features
produce quantitative data on a large scale that researchers could not collect
Secondary source as data collected and produced by government departments, agencies e.g. NHS, Police
Shown and used to analyse trends and patterns in key areas such as unemployment rates, crime rates, divorce rates, etc.
Offer a benchmark for individual research
Official statistics strengths
Good for quantitative studies e.g how many crimes were committed in one year
Can save researcher time and money as data has already been collected and is easily found
Can be a trigger for future research
Official statistics weaknesses
May be biased due to the way in which data was collected - researcher has no control over this
Lacks level of detail to give the researcher explanations for patterns identified
Comparisons over time may be difficult as criteria of measurement may change, for example, statistics on social class status
