Research Methods 1

Question 0

(Types of data)

Methods for gathering Primary Data.

Answer 0

1. Social surveys (these include asking people questions via written questionnaires or interviews).
2. Participant Observation (PO).
3. Experiments.

Question 1

(Types of data)

Primary data.

Answer 1

Which is information collected by sociologists themselves for their own purposes.

Question 2

(Types of data)

Advantage of PD.

Answer 2

Sociologists may be able to gather per fixedly the information THEY need for THEIR hypothesis.

Question 3

(Types of data)

Disadvantage of PD.

Answer 3

Collecting primary data can often me time consuming and costly. E.g, if you decided to do interviews, you would then have to spend money to train the interviewers, and it would also take time to do this.

Question 4

(Types of data)

Secondary data.

Answer 4

Is information that has been collected or created by someone else for their own purposes, but which the sociologist can then use themselves.

Question 5

(Types of data)

Sources of Secondary Data.

Answer 5

1. Official statistics (produced by the government on a wide range of issues, such as crime, divorce, death as well as other statistics produced by charities, businesses, etc.)
2. Documents (such as letters, diaries, novels, photographs, etc.)

Question 6

(Types of data)

Quantitative.

Answer 6

Refers to information in numerical form. E.g, official stats.

Question 7

(Types of data)

Qualitative data.

Answer 7

It gives a ‘feel’ for what something is like for people, e.g, what it feels like to get good GCSE results.

Question 8

(Factors influencing choice of methods) (practical issues)

Time and money.

Answer 8

Different methods require different amounts of time and money and this may influence the sociologists choice of research method. E.g, large scale social surveys may employ dozens of interviewers and cost a great deal of money.

Question 9

(Factors influencing choice of methods) (practical issues)

Requirements of funding bodies.

Answer 9

Research institutes such as businesses and other organisations that provide funding for research may require the results to be in a certain form.

Question 10

(Factors influencing choice of research methods) (practical issues)

Subject matter.

Answer 10

It may be much harder to study a particular group or subject by one method than by another. E.g, PO if your male and the group your studying is all-female, and witching Questionnaires if the group your studying can’t read.

Question 11

(Factors influencing choice of research methods) (ethical issues)

Informed consent.

Answer 11

The researcher should tell them about all relevant aspects of the research so that they can make a fully informed consent, and refuse if they want to.

Question 12

(factors influencing choice of research method) (ethical issues)

Confidentiality and privacy.

Answer 12

Researchers should keep the identity of participants private so as to prevent any negative effects on them. Personal information of participants should also be kept confidential.

Question 13

(Factors influencing choice of research method) (ethical issues)

Effect on research participants.

Answer 13

Researchers need to be aware of the possible effect their study may have on participants. E.g, police interventions, harm to employment prospects.

Question 14

(Factors influencing choice of research methods) (theoretical issues - sociologists views on society may affect the method)

Reliability.

Answer 14

Consistency.

Question 15

(Theoretical issues)

Representativeness.

Answer 15

Whether or not the people we study are a typical cross-section of the group we are interested in.

Question 16

Methodological perspective.

Answer 16

Their view of what society is like and how we should study it. 2 contrasting perspectives on the choice of methods: Positivism and Interpretivism.

Question 17

Positivists:

Answer 17

1. Prefer quantitative data.
2. Seek to discover patterns of behaviour.
3. See sociology as a science.

Question 18

Interpretivists:

Answer 18

1. Prefer qualitative data.
2. Seek to understand social actors meanings.
3. Reject the view that sociology is a science.

Question 19

Functionalist so and Marxists usually…

Answer 19

…take a positivist. They see society as a large scale (macro-level) structure hat shapes our behaviour.

Question 20

Interactionists favour an…

Answer 20

…interpretivist approach. They take a micro-level view of society, focusing on small-scale, face-to-face interactions.

Question 21

(Choice of topic)

Society’s values.

Answer 21

Sociologists themselves are part of the society they study and thus are influenced bi its values. The rise of feminism in the 1960’s and 70’s led to a focus on gender inequality.

Question 22

(Choice of topic)

Funding bodies.

Answer 22

Most researchers require funding from an external body. Those bodies include government agencies, charitable organisations and businesses.
As the funding body is paying for the research it will determine the topic to be investigated.

Question 23

(Choice of topic)

Practical factors.

Answer 23

Such as inaccessibility of certain situations to the researcher, may also restrict which topic they are able to study.