Reasearch methods Flashcards
What influences the choice of topic?
Funding
Issues of the day-social, political and economic climate
Access- time, geography, transport
Theoretical position
Values and interests of the researcher
What are practical issues?
money
time
people being studied
safety of researcher
characteristics of researcher (age, gender)
what are ethical issues?
informed consent
deception
privacy
confidentiality
protection from harm
what are theoretical issues?
reliability
validity
representativeness
methodological perspective (positivist, interpretivist)
what do positivists focus on?
causes for events
social facts- institutions shape society and cause us to behave in a certain way through social control
quantitative methods
macro- functionalist, marxist
what do interpretivists focus on?
behaviours are influenced by meanings given
want verstehen- total understanding by putting yourself in their position
qualitative methods
What is the research process?
aims and hypothesis
pilot study
selecting a sample
collecting the data
analysing the data
Examples of lab experiments?
mayo- hawthorne effect
Milgram- obedience
Zimbardo- Stanford prison
Examples of field experiments?
Elliott- blue eyes, brown eyes
Rosenhon- sane in insane places
What is the comparitive method?
In the mind of the sociologist
Explores cause and effect relationships
Step 1- identify two groups of people alike in every way except one variable
Step 2- compare to see if the variable has any effect
Durkheim study of suicide
What are the types of questionnaires?
close questions
open questions
self completion
postal
interviewer present
what are the types of interviews?
structured
unstructured
semi structured
group
what are the advantages of group interviews?
rapport comfortable with other participants
observe group dynamic
rich qualitative data
disadvantage of group interviews?
dominating participants
peer pressure
unreliable and subjective
What are the characteristics of the interviewer that could affect interviewer bias?
social- age, gender, ethnicity, social class, accent
personal- body language, tone of voice, dress style, appearance
status differences
leading questions
what are the issues that may be faced when carrying out a participant observation?
Getting in:
making contact
Observers role
Acceptance by the group
Staying in:
Going native
Getting out:
Loyalty to the group publishing, the research re-entering reality
How did Polsky (1971) gain access to his sample?
Hustlers, Beats & Others
he was a good pool player
how did Patrick (1973) gain access to his sample?
A Glasgow gang observer
taught one of the gang members
what role did Whyte (1955) play?
secretarial role distant enough from group, but can take notes
what difficulty did Thornton (1995) face in her study Rave culture?
too old
what difficulty did Griffin (1962) face in his study, black like me?
Race
Took medication and used sun lamps to turn his skin black
how did punch have trouble with his objectivity in his study, policing the inner city (1979) ?
over identified with police aid arrests held suspects, searched houses, shouted at people for abusing his ‘colleagues’
how did whyte describe the trouble of going native? 
you go from being a non-participant observer to a non-observing participator
what difficulties did Patrick in his study at Glasgow gang observed (1973) face when trying to get out?
He ended the research early as he couldn’t face the violence
advantages of an overt participant observation
avoids ethical problems
Notes can be taken openly
Researcher can ask questions without fear of being sussed out
Research you can check interpretations with the group
disadvantages of overt participant observations
Refusal/rejection by the group
Hawthorn effect
advantages of covert, participant, observation
Easier to access certain groups
Reduced risk of Hawthorne effect
Humphreys, 1970 tea room trade:
acted as a gatekeeper to gain access to homosexuality in public places
Disadvantages of covert, participant observation with an example
Have to keep up the act
Patrick Glasgow gang:
paid with cash, not card when buying his suit and fastened his buttons incorrectly
Polsky 1971:
asked to use an axe and couldn’t
Hawthorn effect
Can’t openly take notes.
Festinger 1956:
went to the toilet to take notes
Ethical issues
morally want to report illegal behaviour 
What is ethnography?
study of a culture, group or human behaviour
people’s every day behaviour
associated with (participant) observations
verstehen
What are the advantages of official statistics?
larger sample
free
accessible
practical
what are the disadvantage of official statistics?
no control over collection of data
can be manipulated for political advantage
Why do positivists prefer using official statistics?
measurable
scientific
quantitative- cause and effect
large scale can be collected by reliable methods
How useful are official statistics?
interpretivists - socially constructed and lack validity
hard statistics more accurate
What are examples of official statistics?
Gender, relationships and identity: the 2019 British Attitudes survey
- shows changing attitudes on employment and gender and relationships (premarital sex)
What does Douglas say the meaning of suicide is?
Interactionist
distrusts official statistics as socially constructed
death labelled as suicide is dependent on negotiations between social actors
should use qualitative methods instead of
What does Atkinson say in his study coroners common sense knowledge?
impossible to know what meanings the dead give to their deaths
certain modes of death, location, life history and circumstances seen as suicides
What does Lamerts study Paranoia as a self fulfilling prophecy say?
Primary deviance- not fitting into certain groups so labelled as odd
Secondary deviance- negative response, people discus best way of dealing with this and thus leading to the belief people are conspiring against him
leads to psychiatric intervention- officially labelled
Why do interpretivists use documents?
- produce valid, qualitative data
- allow researcher to explore meanings people attach to events
- valid as they are freely expressed
Why do positivists reject documents?
- lack reliability and representativeness
- may make use of statistical data or use content analysis
what are examples of public documents?
ofsted reports
published company accounts
record of parliament debates
minutes of council meetings
reports of public enquiries ( Black report 1980)
How useful are public documents?
available to use
cheap
east to access
may be bias or selective
What are examples of personal documents?
letters
diaries
photo albums
autobiographies
William Thomas and florian - the polish peasant in europe and america
How useful are personal documents?
- tell us personal feelings
- valid
- insight into attitudes
- access may be an issue
- unethical
what are examples of historical documents?
Parish records (used by Laslett studying family structure)
Parliament reports (used by Anderson studying child labour)
census
Manuals and paintings (Aries)
How useful are historical documents?
-only source of information from the past
- subjective to interpretation (distorts validity)
- can be lost or destroyed
- literacy issues in classes (unrepresentative)
who developed the idea of social facts and what are they?
durkheim
things that exist externally and can’t be controlled by the individual
positivist methods should be used to study these (suicide)
who developed the idea of verstehen?
Weber
who used triangulation?
dobash and dobash
structured and unstructured interviews
what is a good form of evaluation when discussing an ethical issue?
discuss a solution
what is simple random sampling?
names out of a hat
everyone has an equal chande
what is systematic random sampling?
picking every nth number from a sampling frame
unlikely to be representative
what did shere hite study?
women’s sexual health
questionnaires - sensitive questions had a low response rate (4.5%)
sample unrepresentative
what is the imposition problem ?
forcing a certain answer
closed questions
who used questionnaires?
Shere Hite
Bowles and Gintis- info on character traits rewarded by schools and employers
Who used structured interviews?
young and willmott- family life in london
Peter Townsend- household income and poverty
who used unstructured interviews?
Dobash and Dobash- victims of domestic violence
Ann Oakley- during and after oregnancy
which studies used covert participant observation?
patrick - glasgow gang
Humphries- gay sexual activities in public toilets
Which studies used overt participant observation?
Punch- police
barker- moonies religious cult- 6 years
what studies used lab experiments?
Milgram
Bandura
what are research issues for method in context questions?
-participants
-context and setting
-access and gatekeepers
-personal characteristics
-ethics
-language
-peer group pressure
-time
-authority structures
-vulnerability
-detachment and objectivity
what are research issues for method in context questions?
-participants
-context and setting
-access and gatekeepers
-personal characteristics
-ethics
-language
-peer group pressure
-time
-authority structures
-vulnerability
-detachment and objectivity
