Research Methods

Question 1

Ideas of what can I talk about

Answer 1

Ethics, cost, sample size, validity, reliability

Question 2

Research Methods

Answer 2

Qualitative, Quantative, Questionaire, Unstructured and structured interview, Focus/Discussion groups, workshops, participant observation LOOK AT, visual techniques, Quantitative survey, Cross-sectional survey , Lomgitudal surveys, postal (questionarie like what Mum got from Lib Dems), Telephone, secondary data collection and analysis, opinion polls, sampling, official statistics.

Question 3

Valid and Reliable and Trustworthy

Answer 3

Trustworthy -Honest/Truthful
Reliability-using the knowledge (process) that has been used is of a consistent high standard
Validity-Are facts/evidence useful to the aim

Question 4

Trustworthy, valid and reliable

Answer 4

Trustworthy -Honest/Truthful
Reliability-using the knowledge (process) that has been used is of a consistent high standard
Validity-Are facts/evidence useful and relevant to the aim

Question 5

Quantitative and Qualitative

Answer 5

Remember PE GOS AND A PPW

Quantitative Statstical About Date and Stats e.g Offical Statsticis
Pros: Non bias info and easy to understand Cons: Lacks depth, no reasoning could be not useful for certain research such as working out the reasons for something

Qualitative Non stastcial All about understanding, why, opinions e.g Case Study
Pros: Finds detailed results and can learn more about the issue.
Cons: Could be bias or inaccurate and person may not know enough about issue or misinterpret question leading to less reliable results.

Question 6

Structured and Unstructured and semi structured Interviews

Answer 6

All have low sample sizes

Structured
Pros: People asked same questions so can compare responses and you can make sure your questions are the best possible to get the best responses as you plan these questions
Cons: Inflexibly makes it harder to explore questions further with follow up questions and less personal results

Unstructured
Pros: Flexibility allows follow up questions to explore interesting results further and flexibility also allows more personal results leading to you finding out more reasons to a research question (However could make drawing an overall conclusion more challenging)
Cons: Flexibility makes it easier for interview to go off topic leading to less valid results, unpredictable how long it will take for the interview so can’t plan other research as don’t know when the interview will be done, harder to compare results since questions are inconsistent

Semi structured :

As pros of structured interview as some questions are structured and has both the pros and cons of unstructured interviews just to a lesser extent

Question 7

Questionaire

Answer 7

Pros: Fairly inexpensive so anyone can do it without worrying about funding it, possibility to be anonymous so people give more honest answers as less worried about consequences of the responses.

Cons: People may lie to make themselves look better if not abnomijous (e.g not admitting they believed Farage lies which made them Brexit and said immigration was why they voted instead), offline hard to get large sample sizes- also handwriting could be hard to read so get less results as can’t read them.
DIFFERENT INTEPRETATIONS OF THE QUESTION LEADS TO LESS RELIABLE RESPONSES.

CONTINUE

Question 8

Participant observation

Answer 8

Meaning: Join a group of people going about daily activities

Pros: Can gain better understanding of a specific issue/subject, can ask specifically what are participants doing
Cons: Time consuming, very small sample size, Interviewer could be bias so deliberately (or unconsciously) ask questions which back up their opinion.

Question 9

Focus Groups/Workshops

Answer 9

Pros: See physical body reactions in a workshop, can get opinions on specifics quicker and just opinions quicker too.
Cons: People lie to make themselves look better in front of others, paying staff and participants could be expensive, people’s responses could be influenced by other participants

BBC: Focus Groups and Panels can provide qualitative but not, generally, quantitative data. They should not usually be treated as representative.

Focus groups and panels can provide programme-makers with qualitative research, examining opinion in more depth and often with more colour, flavour and spontaneity than conventional opinion polling or surveys. However, because they are not generally quantitative, they should not usually be regarded as representative.

Question 10

Quantitative Survey

Online

Answer 10

Pros: Simple results which you can draw valid conclusions easier overall as well as making valid connections between results.
Cons: Can’t find out links between cause and effect for example, different interpretations of questions leading to less reliable results, small sample sizes can be less diverse leading to invalid results

Online: poor internet but no bad handwriting and easier to get a big sample size leading to higher representation

Question 11

Cross Sectional Survey

Answer 11

Meaning: Specific variables of population at one time

Pros: Large sample surveys, can identify trends like how young people vote
Cons: no cause and effect link, hard to repeat surveys with specific samples as population changes making comparisons less reliable, may not reflect whole population and could cost extra money to select the certain people they want to survey

Question 12

Longitudinal Survey

Fix wording of q later

Answer 12

Repeated observations of the same people over a short or long period of time

Pros: , can identify trends, can compare results from specific groups

Cons: takes timeand to find people, sample size may not represent whole group making results less reliable.

Question 13

Phone and Email

Answer 13

Phone:

Pros: Hear voice (hear emotions) , cheep
Cons: low sample size as one call at a time, requires decent people skills which not everyone has
Email/Internet
Pros: Quick, large sample size and cheep
Cons: need internet connection, can’t interpret emotion, emails can be accessible to others (e.g forwarding emails). Emails could go into junk and older more organised and more likely to have Conservative views more likely to check junk.

Question 14

Opinion Polls

Answer 14

Pros: don’t need to question whole population to get a better understanding of the issue, if diverse sample size mixture of age, sex etc it can be relatively representative of whole population allowing you to draw valid conclusions, easy to carry out.
Cons: can be inaccurate as can never be shor without asking whole population, qs don’t always have specific response the respondent needs to answer the question.

BBC says: A large sample does not make up for inadequate methodology

Example of opinion polls: General Election Exit Polls

Question 15

Sampling

Answer 15

the action or process of taking samples of something for analysis.

Pros: Simple
Cons: can be underprenstative, takes a while, changing sample can less represent population.

Question 16

Official Stats

Answer 16

Pro: Qucik to get, easy to draw valid conclusions, easy to find reliable stats from trustworthy sources
Cons: not all sources are trustworthy so will have less reliable stats, sometimes hard to find for certain issues e.g in less democratic countires views on leaders which are completely reliable, no reasons behind results.

Question 17

Covert and Overt Observation

Answer 17

Covert observation is a particular type of participant observation in which the identity of the researcher, the nature of the research project, and the fact that participants are being observed are concealed from those who are being studied

Pros:

High in validity as people observed in natural surroundings
Gives you access to research you wouldn’t have got access to with other methods as don’t ask permission with this method

Cons:

Unethical as participants don’t know they are being observed, invading privacy and will act like they are alone.

More risk of getting into trouble

Search Results
Featured snippet from the web
Overt observation is where those being observed are aware of the fact. … This is the most ethical form of observation, as it requires no deception and participants are able to give their informed consent. However, this form of observation is the method most at risk of the Hawthorne Effect.

Pros

Structured observation

Less risk

Ethical

Cons

Hawthorne effect of participants acting differently due to the fact they are being observed

Question 18

Case Studies (probably shouldn’t talk about asking questions)

Answer 18

 case studies are in-depth investigations of a single person, group, event or community. Typically, data is gathered from a variety of sources and by using several different methods (for example, observations and interviews)

. … A case study research design usually involves qualitative methods, but quantitative methods are sometimes also used.

Case Study can observe person’s daily routine, unstructured interviews with the participant (and with people who them know them), diaries, personal notes, official documents. Most information is QUALITATIVE

Pros:

Case Studies is applicable to every day life and is accessible to reader’s who can understand this.
Can help understand complex issues
Can learn a lot of information about the subject allowing you to draw valid conclusions, delateiled qualitative research,

Cons:

Not representative so would need to be longitudditve,Case Studies can be too complex with so much data and potientially cases within a case
If researcher been intensively studying case can lead to researcher bias in reaction to the findings,Too subjective (personal),
Difficult to draw link between cause and effect or work out what the cause is

Sample size small so bias could be involved

Long time

Not representative

Ethics bad as overivestigating people potientially. Invading private life

Focus Groups are a good alternative

Question 19

Key topics for exam

Answer 19

Online Surveys and Focus Groups

Question 20

SQA course spec for RM methods

Answer 20

officialstatistics
— *surveys—postal,telephoneand*online
— interviews — structured, semi-structured and unstructured
— *focusgroups
— observation — covert and overt
— casestudies
— longitudinalstudies

Question 21

Online Survey

Answer 21

BBC: Its credibility will depend on having spoken to a significant and agreed proportion of the whole measurable group with an approved methodology

If you pick members from a defined group BBC says “ give us a “self-selecting” outcome which has no representative validity”

Question 22

If research done by someone with partial interest in subject

Answer 22

“ If the research has been commissioned by an organisation which has a partial interest in the subject matter, we should show extra caution, even when the methodology and the company carrying it out are familiar.”