Reseach methods Flashcards
What is PET?
Practical
Ethical
Theoretical
What does ‘P’ in PET mean?
Practical :
How cheap is it?
How easy is it to get the research using the method?
Is it time consuming?
Can you get the data you want from the population? Eg there is no point for a questionnaire with people who can’t read
What does ‘E’ in PET mean?
Ethical reasons :
Can you get consent?
Do they know they are being researched?
Is there any danger to the participant or researcher?
Can the participant have the right to withdraw?
Can the participant be certain their identity will be anonymous?
Can the participant be sure their data is confidential
What does ‘T’ mean in PET?
Theoretical :
Reliability- Can you easily replicate the method? Is the method consistent? Will everyone has the same experience so the it’s genuine
Validity- Are you getting the true picture?
Representativeness- Do you have a large enough sample to represent that characteristics o that group
What is the pilot study?
Before a research is carried out a pilot study must be done. This is a small scale trail run of research completed before the actual research.
What are the different types of sampling?
Random sampling = chosen at random so everyone has an equal chance of being chose
Systematic sampling = chose every nth person eg every 5th person
Stratified sampling = you chose in advance after research.
Volunteer sample
Opportunity sample=using anyone available to take part
Snowball samples= find one person in target group so they can tell others in that group
Limitations of random sampling?
it may be unrepresentative e.g. you might pick more females and males because you have no control over the selection
Limitation of systematic sampling?
Likely that researcher will target the people who look most approachable therefore it’s not going to be fully representative.
Limitation of snowball sample?
Really unrepresentative because you’re using known networks of people but can be the only way of assessing top population e.g. sex offenders
limitation of opportunity sample?
Unrepresentative because the people available have reasons that make them available for example people who are able available to answer an interview during the day might be on unemployed so not representative of working population
Limitation of volunteer sample?
not representative because they are not typical of all people
Positive and negative‘s of primary data?
Positive=because the researcher has control over how this is collected and can fit the method to their exact aims
Limitation=it is expensive to do and takes a lot of time as you have to access participants yourself
Positives and negative‘s of the secondary data?
Positive- it is cheaper than some sources and really easy to access for example governments openly publish their statistics for others to use
-It might be the only way to get the data you want on the scale you want sociologists don’t have enough money to question samples that run into thousands of people
Negative -
Data may not fit exactly how you want
Data on my not exist on the subject you want to study
you don’t know the song circumstances under which it was collected so they may have been biases which affects the validity of your own research
