Research Methods Flashcards
Give 3 practical advantages for questionnaires?
- cheap
- gather data quickly
- easy to access the population
Give an ethical advantage for questionnaires?
-ensures consent
Give 3 theoretical advantages for questionnaires?
- reliable
- higher chance of being representative
- data can be easily quantified
Give 2 practical disadvantages for questionnaires?
- different person may of completed
- cost as you made need to provide an incentive
Give 3 theoretical disadvantages for questionnaires?
- low response rate
- questions may lack depth
- problems with validity? people may lie
Give an example of a questionnaire as a case study?
Callender and Jackson 2005
- -research attitudes towards debt and higher education
- data is measurable
- able to study large amount of people
- 55% response rate
What are 4 different types of interview?
- structured
- unstructured
- semi structured
- group
What type of questions come from a structured interview?
Closed
Give 2 practical advantages of unstructured interviews?
- gather in depth data
- build a rapport easily
Give 3 practical disadvantages of unstructured interviews?
- cost
- time consuming
- unable to collect statistical data
Give a theoretical disadvantage of unstructured interviews?
-positivists would argue that they are unable to study society
Give 3 advantages of structured interviews?
- easily quantifiable
- ability to use statistical data
- higher response rate as interviewer is present
Give 3 disadvantages of structured interviews?
- costly to train interviewers
- time consuming
- reduces validity as they only give formal answers
Give 4 advantages of group interviews?
- more open to discussion
- able to observe body language
- participants can throw around ideas that can stimulate thinking
- interview large amounts of people at one time
Give 5 disadvantages of group interviews?
- people may dominate the group
- disruption
- peer pressure reduces validity
- loss of focus
- interviewer effects
What is the interviewer effect?
The characteristics of the interviewer influences the answers
- -sex
- -class
- -ethnicity
Give an example of a structured interview as a case study?
Farkas and Beron 2001
- -verbal skills of parents and children
- produced quantative data
- bias
Give an example of an unstructured interview as a case study?
Ruth Lupton 2004
- -relationship between poor neighbourhoods and underachieving schools
- build rapport
- hard to compare responses
Give an example of a group interview as a case study?
Paul Willis 1997
- -why working class children get working class jobs
- observe body language and reactions
- time consuming
What is covert observations?
Where the researcher hides their identity
What is a overt observation?
Where the researcher reveals their identity
Give 2 practical advantages of participant observations?
- build rapport and gain trust
- no training needed
Give 3 theoretical advantages of participant observations?
- retain objectivity
- flexibility
- high in validity as can observe body language
Give 2 practical disadvantages of participant observations?
- time consuming
- requires interpersonal skills
Give an ethical disadvantage of participant observation?
-deceives the people involved
Give 3 theoretical disadvantages of participant observations?
- lack of representative as smaller groups are studied
- low reliability
- interviewer effect
What is a non-participant observation?
Where the interviewer observes behaviour without getting involved
Give 3 practical advantages of overt non-participant observations?
- researcher doesn’t need to put an act on
- can take notes openly
- won’t participate in illegal activities
Give a practical advantage of covert non-participant observations?
No risk of the Hawthorne effect
Give 3 theoretical advantages of non-participant observations?
- good to study micro-level interactions
- remain unbias
- can analyse interactions in many contexts
Give 2 practical disadvantages of overt non-participant observations?
- cost
- risk of Hawthorne effect
Give a practical disadvantage of covert non-participant observations?
-cost for travel ect
Give 3 theoretical disadvantages of non-participant observations?
- can limit the researchers understanding of the issue being outside the group
- small samples make them not representative
- lack of reliability
Give 3 advantages for lab studies?
- control the variables
- detached method as no personal feelings are involved
- reliable as it is easily repeated
Give 4 disadvantages for lab studies?
- hard to gain consent
- deception
- psychological harm
- small samples means it is unrepresentative
Give 4 advantages to documents?
- easy access
- authentic documents meaning they are in depth
- consent already given
- quantitative data
Give 3 disadvantages to documents?
- time consuming
- risk of emotional harm
- reduced validity as not everything is reported
Give 4 advantages to official statistics?
- saves time and money
- easily accessed
- highly representative as they cover a very large sample
- reliable
Give 3 disadvantages to official statistics?
- not always coherent to topic you want to study
- difficult to compare
- not everything is reported e.g. crime
