Quantitative Research Methods

Question 1

Positivism and quantitative methods

Answer 1

• argue that society is an objective social reality that shapes our behaviour
• use research methods that produce quantitative data (information in numerical and statistical form) e.g. experiments, questionnaires, structured interviews, official stats
• structured nature of these methods mean that the data produced is reliable and representative

Question 2

Experiments

Answer 2

laboratory experiments, field experiments and comparative method or ‘thought experiment’

Question 3

Laboratory experiments

Answer 3

artificial environment where the researcher controls variables to discover their effect, aim of discovering a casual law
two groups:
experimental group and control group

Question 4

The experimental group

Answer 4

are exposed to a variable (independent variable) to test its effect

Question 5

The control group

Answer 5

not exposed to the independent variable

Question 6

Lab experiments have man PET limitations

Answer 6

Practical
Ethical
Theoretical

Question 7

Practical issues - lab experiments

Answer 7

closed systems - lab experiments are only suitable for studying closed systems where all relevant variables can be controlled
Individuals are unique - can’t ‘match’ members of the control and experimental groups exactly
Studying the past - can’t control variables that were acting in the past
Small samples - can only use small samples
Hawthorne effect - subjects’ behaviour may change because they know they are being studied

Question 8

Ethical issues - lab experiments

Answer 8

Informed consent - gaining subjects’ agreement to take part, explained the nature, purpose and risk of experiment to them
Harm to subjects - research shouldn’t harm subjects w/o compelling justification
Treating subjects fairly - experimental group are seen to be benefiting e.g. pupils gaining from a trial teaching method, unfair to the control group

Question 9

Theoretical issues - lab experiments

Answer 9

positivists favour lab experiments for their reliability
However, even positivists recognise problems. Interpretivists criticise lab experiments as lacking reliability

Question 10

Reliability and hypnosis testing - lap exp

Answer 10

reliability is imp. because replication enables us to check researcher’s results. Positivists regard the lab experiment as highly reliable cus:
> original researcher can specify steps in the experiment, others can re-run it
> produces quantitative data, results can be compared
> detached and objective - researcher just manipulates variables and records results

Question 11

Representativeness - lab experiments

Answer 11

imp. to positivists because they aim to make generalisations about behaviour, findings may lack representativeness or external validity
> small samples may mean findings can’t be generalised
> lack of external validity: the more control, the more unlike the real world the experiment becomes
internal validity may be lacking because of the artificiality of the lab environment

Question 12

Interpretivism and freewill - lab exp

Answer 12

clim humans are diff from natural phenomena, we have free will and choice
> actions are based on meanings, not ‘caused’ by external forces, means they can’t be explained through the cause and effect relationships experiments seek

Question 13

Field experiments

Answer 13

may be used to overcome the lack of validity of lab experiments
> they differ from lab experiments in two ways, take place in the subjects’ natural surroundings, and the subject don’t know they are in an experiment
> manipulates variables to see what effect they have e.g. Rosenthal and Jacobson manipulated teachers’ expectations by misleading them about pupils’ abilities

Question 14

Actor tests and correspondence tests

Answer 14

are field experiments, to test for discrimination in employment. Brown & Gay sent a white and black actor for interviews for the same posts. they were both matched for age, qualifications etc, so any diffs in job offers could have been due to discrimination

Question 15

The comparative method

Answer 15

another alternative to lab experiments
carried out only in the mind of the sociologist - ‘thought experiment’, it identifies two groups that are alike in all major respects except for the one variable we are interested in
It them compares them to see if this one diff has any effect e.g. Durkheim’s study of suicide

Question 16

Questionnaires

Answer 16

written/self completion questionnaires are the most widely used form of social survey e.g. Census
respondent must provide answers to pre set qs, usually closed ended w/ a limited range of pre set answers, but can be open ended, where respondents are free to answer in their own words

Question 17

Practical issues - questionnaires

Answer 17

• cheap to gather large amounts of data
• no need to recruit interviewers (do themselves)
• data easily quantified and can be computer processed to reveal relationship between variables
• data is often limited and superficial, need to be fairly brief so ppl take them
• low response rates are a major problem, can be caused due to faulty questionnaire design e.g. complex lang
• inflexible and can’t explore any new areas of interest, only snapshots

Question 18

Theoretical issues: positivism - questionnaires

Answer 18

positivists prefer questionnaires, seen as representative, reliable, objective and detached method for producing quantitative data, testing hypotheses and developing casual laws.

Question 19

Hypothesis testing - questionnaires

Answer 19

questionnaires are attractive to positivists because they yield quantitative data about variables, this enables researchers to test hypotheses and to identify correlations and cause and effect relationships between variables

Question 20

Reliability - questionnaires

Answer 20

(replicability) other researchers can easily replicate the original research by using the same questionnaire

Question 21

Representativeness - questionnaires

Answer 21

> positivists favour questionnaires because they are large scale, distributed quickly and cheaply by post/email over wide geographical areas and usually use sampling techniques that give a representative sample
representativeness can be undermined by low response rates, especially if those who do return their questionnaires differ in some way from those who don’t

Question 22

Sampling - questionnaires

Answer 22

sample is drawn from a sampling frame - list of members of the research pop.
> diff sampling techniques - random sampling, quasi random sampling, stratified random sampling, quota sampling, non representative sampling

Question 23

Quasi random sampling

Answer 23

selecting every 10th name

Question 24

Stratified random sampling

Answer 24

subdivides the population into the relevant categories and randomly selects a sample of each

Question 25

Quota sampling

Answer 25

look for the right number (quota) of people required in each category

Question 26

Non representative sampling

Answer 26

may be used where there is no sampling frame for the population

Question 27

Detachment and objectivity

Answer 27

scientific research is objective (unbiased) and detached: values are kept separate from the research and not allowed to ‘contaminate’ findings. Positivists see questionnaires as a detached, scientific approach, since the sociologist’s personal involvement with respondents is detached, scientific approach, since the sociologist’s personal involvement with respondents is kept to a minimum, unlike in an interview, there is no researcher to influence the answers

Question 28

Ethical issues - questionnaires

Answer 28

> parental consent for questionnaires with children
confidentiality is assured, since most questionnaires are completed anonymously

Question 29

Interpretivism and questionnaires

Answer 29

seek to discover the meanings underlying our actions and from which we construct social reality, they tend to reject questionnaires because they can’t yield valid data about actor’s meanings
Detachment, Imposing the researcher’s meanings, Lying, forgetting and trying to impress

Question 30

Detachment

Answer 30

reject the detachment and objectivity of questionnaires because they believe this fails to produce valid data, instead we need a subjective understanding of actor’s meanings

Question 31

Imposing the researcher’s meanings

Answer 31

aim to reveal actor’s meanings, questionnaires prevent this by imposing the researcher’s framework of ideas on the respondent

Question 32

Lying, forgetting and trying to impress

Answer 32

create validity problems and the researcher is often unaware how far these issues affect responses

Question 33

Types of interviews

Answer 33

structured (SIs) - standardised questionnaires, same questions, word, tone
unstructured (UIs) - open ended, free to vary wording and tone
semi structured - same questions but interviewer can probe with additional qs
group - relatively unstructured, researchers asks in a group setting

Question 34

Practical issues - SIs

Answer 34

> quick and cheap to administer to large numbers of people
suitable for gathering factual info
closed ended qs with pre coded answers are easily quantified
r response are usually higher than for questionnaires
inflexible, no new leads can be followed up

Question 35

Ethical issues - SIs

Answer 35

> interviewees may feel under pressure, feminists regard them as potentially oppressive to women interviewees
make it clear they have a right not to answer

Question 36

Theoretical issues: positivism - SIs

Answer 36

Hypothesis testing, reliability, representativeness

Question 37

Hypothesis testing - SIs

Answer 37

> positivists model their approach on the natural sciences, seeking laws of cause and effect
structured interviews enable them to test hypotheses by revealing correlations and possible cause and effect relationships

Question 38

Reliability - SIs

Answer 38

> interviewees are asked the same qs, so the answers can easily be compared to identify similarities and diff

Question 39

Representativeness -SIs

Answer 39

relatively quick and cheap which enables larger numbers to be conducted

Question 40

Interpretivist criticisms - SIs

Answer 40

criticise SIs for lack of validity
> give interviewers little freedom to explain qs or clarify misunderstandings
> may lie or exaggerate
> researcher has decided in advance what is imp

Question 41

Feminist criticisms - SIs

Answer 41

relationship between interviewer/ee reflects the exploitative nature of patriarchal gender relationships
Oakley argues that this positivistic ‘masculine’ approach to research values objectivity and regards ‘science’ as more imp than the interests of the people it researches
Graham claims SIs distort women’s experiences because they impose the researcher’s categories on women

Question 42

Interviews as social interactions

Answer 42

status diffs - between interviewer/ee may affect honesty and willingness to cooperate
cultural diffs - may lead to misunderstandings
social desirability - may give false answers to make themselves seem more interesting
interviewer bias - may ask ‘leading’ qs, influence answers by tone of voice or identify too close w/ interviewee

Question 43

Official statistics

Answer 43

created by the gov or other official bodies
various non state organisations e.g. churches and charities also produce non official stats

Question 44

Practical issues - offstats

Answer 44

A-> only the state has the resources to conduct expensive large scale surveys and sociologists can access these for free to use in their research
- only the state has the power to compel individuals to supply certain data e.g. parents are required by law to register births, this reduces the problem of non response
- official statistics are collected at regular intervals showing trends and patterns
D-> there may be no statistics available on the topic the sociologist is interested in
- the definitions the state uses may be different from the sociologist’s.
- the state may change the definitions it uses, making comparisons over time difficult

Question 45

Theoretical issues: positivism - offstats

Answer 45

Positivists assume official statistics are reliable, objective social facts - a major source of representative, quantitative data that allows them to identify and measure behaviour patter
and trends.
* Statistics can be used to develop and test hypotheses, identify correlations and discold causal laws

Question 46

Representativeness - offstats

Answer 46

> they are very large-scale, some official statistics are extremely representative
stats from off surveys may be less representative because they are often only based on a sample of the relevant pop. However these surveys are still much bigger than most sociologists could afford to carry out
great care is taken with sampling procedures to ensure representativeness when conducting official surveys