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sociology > Reasearch methods > Flashcards

Reasearch methods Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What influences the choice of topic?

A

Funding
Issues of the day-social, political and economic climate
Access- time, geography, transport
Theoretical position
Values and interests of the researcher

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2
Q

What are practical issues?

A

money
time
people being studied
safety of researcher
characteristics of researcher (age, gender)

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3
Q

what are ethical issues?

A

informed consent
deception
privacy
confidentiality
protection from harm

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4
Q

what are theoretical issues?

A

reliability
validity
representativeness
methodological perspective (positivist, interpretivist)

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5
Q

what do positivists focus on?

A

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

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6
Q

what do interpretivists focus on?

A

behaviours are influenced by meanings given
want verstehen- total understanding by putting yourself in their position
qualitative methods

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7
Q

What is the research process?

A

aims and hypothesis
pilot study
selecting a sample
collecting the data
analysing the data

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8
Q

Examples of lab experiments?

A

mayo- hawthorne effect
Milgram- obedience
Zimbardo- Stanford prison

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9
Q

Examples of field experiments?

A

Elliott- blue eyes, brown eyes
Rosenhon- sane in insane places

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10
Q

What is the comparitive method?

A

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

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11
Q

What are the types of questionnaires?

A

close questions
open questions
self completion
postal
interviewer present

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12
Q

what are the types of interviews?

A

structured
unstructured
semi structured
group

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13
Q

what are the advantages of group interviews?

A

rapport comfortable with other participants
observe group dynamic
rich qualitative data

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14
Q

disadvantage of group interviews?

A

dominating participants
peer pressure
unreliable and subjective

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15
Q

What are the characteristics of the interviewer that could affect interviewer bias?

A

social- age, gender, ethnicity, social class, accent
personal- body language, tone of voice, dress style, appearance
status differences
leading questions

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16
Q

what are the issues that may be faced when carrying out a participant observation?

A

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

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17
Q

How did Polsky (1971) gain access to his sample?

A

Hustlers, Beats & Others
he was a good pool player

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18
Q

how did Patrick (1973) gain access to his sample?

A

A Glasgow gang observer
taught one of the gang members

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19
Q

what role did Whyte (1955) play?

A

secretarial role distant enough from group, but can take notes

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20
Q

what difficulty did Thornton (1995) face in her study Rave culture?

A

too old

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21
Q

what difficulty did Griffin (1962) face in his study, black like me?

A

Race
Took medication and used sun lamps to turn his skin black

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22
Q

how did punch have trouble with his objectivity in his study, policing the inner city (1979) ?

A

over identified with police aid arrests held suspects, searched houses, shouted at people for abusing his ‘colleagues’

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23
Q

how did whyte describe the trouble of going native? 

A

you go from being a non-participant observer to a non-observing participator

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24
Q

what difficulties did Patrick in his study at Glasgow gang observed (1973) face when trying to get out?

A

He ended the research early as he couldn’t face the violence

25
Q

advantages of an overt participant observation

A

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

26
Q

disadvantages of overt participant observations

A

Refusal/rejection by the group
Hawthorn effect

27
Q

advantages of covert, participant, observation

A

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

28
Q

Disadvantages of covert, participant observation with an example

A

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 

29
Q

What is ethnography?

A

study of a culture, group or human behaviour
people’s every day behaviour
associated with (participant) observations
verstehen

30
Q

What are the advantages of official statistics?

A

larger sample
free
accessible
practical

31
Q

what are the disadvantage of official statistics?

A

no control over collection of data
can be manipulated for political advantage

32
Q

Why do positivists prefer using official statistics?

A

measurable
scientific
quantitative- cause and effect
large scale can be collected by reliable methods

33
Q

How useful are official statistics?

A

interpretivists - socially constructed and lack validity
hard statistics more accurate

34
Q

What are examples of official statistics?

A

Gender, relationships and identity: the 2019 British Attitudes survey
- shows changing attitudes on employment and gender and relationships (premarital sex)

35
Q

What does Douglas say the meaning of suicide is?

A

Interactionist
distrusts official statistics as socially constructed
death labelled as suicide is dependent on negotiations between social actors
should use qualitative methods instead of

36
Q

What does Atkinson say in his study coroners common sense knowledge?

A

impossible to know what meanings the dead give to their deaths
certain modes of death, location, life history and circumstances seen as suicides

37
Q

What does Lamerts study Paranoia as a self fulfilling prophecy say?

A

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

38
Q

Why do interpretivists use documents?

A
  • produce valid, qualitative data
  • allow researcher to explore meanings people attach to events
  • valid as they are freely expressed
39
Q

Why do positivists reject documents?

A
  • lack reliability and representativeness
  • may make use of statistical data or use content analysis
40
Q

what are examples of public documents?

A

ofsted reports
published company accounts
record of parliament debates
minutes of council meetings
reports of public enquiries ( Black report 1980)

41
Q

How useful are public documents?

A

available to use
cheap
east to access
may be bias or selective

42
Q

What are examples of personal documents?

A

letters
diaries
photo albums
autobiographies
William Thomas and florian - the polish peasant in europe and america

43
Q

How useful are personal documents?

A
  • tell us personal feelings
  • valid
  • insight into attitudes
  • access may be an issue
  • unethical
44
Q

what are examples of historical documents?

A

Parish records (used by Laslett studying family structure)
Parliament reports (used by Anderson studying child labour)
census
Manuals and paintings (Aries)

45
Q

How useful are historical documents?

A

-only source of information from the past
- subjective to interpretation (distorts validity)
- can be lost or destroyed
- literacy issues in classes (unrepresentative)

46
Q

who developed the idea of social facts and what are they?

A

durkheim
things that exist externally and can’t be controlled by the individual
positivist methods should be used to study these (suicide)

47
Q

who developed the idea of verstehen?

A

Weber

48
Q

who used triangulation?

A

dobash and dobash
structured and unstructured interviews

49
Q

what is a good form of evaluation when discussing an ethical issue?

A

discuss a solution

50
Q

what is simple random sampling?

A

names out of a hat
everyone has an equal chande

51
Q

what is systematic random sampling?

A

picking every nth number from a sampling frame
unlikely to be representative

52
Q

what did shere hite study?

A

women’s sexual health
questionnaires - sensitive questions had a low response rate (4.5%)
sample unrepresentative

53
Q

what is the imposition problem ?

A

forcing a certain answer
closed questions

54
Q

who used questionnaires?

A

Shere Hite
Bowles and Gintis- info on character traits rewarded by schools and employers

55
Q

Who used structured interviews?

A

young and willmott- family life in london
Peter Townsend- household income and poverty

56
Q

who used unstructured interviews?

A

Dobash and Dobash- victims of domestic violence
Ann Oakley- during and after oregnancy

57
Q

which studies used covert participant observation?

A

patrick - glasgow gang
Humphries- gay sexual activities in public toilets

58
Q

Which studies used overt participant observation?

A

Punch- police
barker- moonies religious cult- 6 years

59
Q

what studies used lab experiments?

A

Milgram
Bandura

sociology (4 decks)

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