research methods Flashcards
1
Q
field experiments adv
A
- popular with interpretivists, interested in meaning
- Easy to determine + manipulate cases and events
- repeatable for other researchers
- Enables comparison with similar research
2
Q
field exp weaknesses
A
- Participants mislead researches
- if overt, Hawthorne effect
- small scale settings used large scale issues
3
Q
open questionnaire - adv
A
- responds own words which improves validity
- imposition problem found in closed questionnaires is less of an issue
- more detailed and deeper answers, includes feelings and attitudes
- Open ended questions do not allow respondents to speed read or avoid reading the questionnaire
4
Q
open questionnaire - weakness
A
- broad range of answers, hard to classify and qualify the data into graphs and charts
- difficult to compare results with similar research methods
- response rate can be lower
- time consuming.
5
Q
closed questionnaire - adv
A
- cheap
- easy to compare with other researchers
- closed questions are customer friendly and easily quantified
6
Q
closed questionnaire, weaknesses
A
- may get lower response rate
- inflexible, set questions
- question design isn’t easy
- interpretivists don’t like as questions and fixed responses reflect what sociologists
- closed questions don’t allow people to speak for themselves
7
Q
structured interviews - Advantages
A
- high response rate
- people are more likely to give honest responses
- compared with semi-structured or unstructured interviews, they can be more reliable as the same interview can be repeated
8
Q
structured interview, disadv
A
- less valid
- the interviewer has to persist with a particular line of questioning even if the interviewee has other interesting things to say
9
Q
unstructured interviews - adv
A
- produce qualitative data that is thought to offer verstehen and be high in validity
- interviewers are able to offer their subjects support and exercise sensitivity
- method favoured by feminists conducting research on sensitive subjects, such as Dobash and Dobash’s work on domestic violence
10
Q
disadvantages of unstructured interviews
A
- time consuming and require a skilled interviewer
- produce large amounts of feels which is difficult to analyse
- positivist sociologists would be concerned that the method lacks reliability and is unscientific and subjective
11
Q
Participant observation
A
- covert, hides identity
- overt, reveals identity to the group
- covert participant observation doesn’t deal with Hawthorne effect, where as overt does.
12
Q
Participant Observation adv.
A
- insight, bias
- validity, produces qualitative data which shows picture of how people really live, researcher can see for themselves
- flexibility - more flexible and allows an open mind
- practical advantages, access to more suspicious groups as can gain trust - helpful when studying gangs
- Avoid Hawthorne effect
13
Q
Non participant observation - adv.
A
- allows researcher to see what happens with an open eye
- more open minded
- more ethical if done overtly
14
Q
non participant observation - disadv.
A
- Hawthorne effect
- impression management
- harder to get accurate results
- time consuming
15
Q
Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968)
A
- elementary school in California supports self fulfilling prophecy
- selected random students - 209 labelled as exceptional
- tested all students at the beginning of experiment for IQ and again after a year, found out that the randomly selected “spurter” group gained more IQ than the other 809, who were labelled as ‘average’
- Rosenthal and Jacobson speculated that teachers had passed on their higher expectations to students which had produced a self fulfilling prophecy.
