RESEARCH METHODS

Question 1

What is primary data?

Advantage and disadvantage

Answer 1

Information collected by the researcher themselves for their own purposes.
PRIMARY METHODS:
*observations
*questionnaires
*interviews 
*experiments

ADVANTAGE - can gather precisely the information that they need.
DISADVANTAGE - conducting own research is time consuming and expensive.

Question 2

Difference between QUALITATIVE and QUANTITATIVE

Answer 2

QUALITATIVE - INTERPRETIVISTS data in word form, provides rich, in depth descriptions of feelings and experiences. Gives an insight into someone’s life. HIGH IN VALIDITY

QUANTITATIVE - POSITIVISTS date in numerical form (official statistics) can be repeated and analysed. HIGH IN RELIABILITY AND REPRESENTATIVENESS.

Question 3

What is positivism?

Answer 3

They see sociology as a science and seek to discover patterns of behaviour.
Believe society shapes individuals.
Reliable and representative data is produced
QUANTITATIVE DATA IS PREFERRED.

Question 4

What is INTERPRETIVISM?

Answer 4

Disagree that sociology is a natural science
Seek to understand social actors’ / individual meaning.
Behaviour is based on the meaning given and not because society has shaped them.
Hugh in validity
QUALITATIVE DATA PREFERRED.

Question 5

PRACTICAL factors and issues

Answer 5

TIME - researchers may nit have time to conduct lengthy research.
FINANCE - some methods may be cheaper than others to conduct.
SOURCE OF FUNDING - normally sponsored by government, businesses and voluntary services.
PERSONAL FACTORS - researchers age, social class, gender and ethnicity meaning some methods won’t work.
RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES - research may not have time to prepare a length questionnaire or interview schedule if the research opportunity appears suddenly.

Question 6

ETHICS refer to morally right or wrong

Answer 6

INFORMED CONSENT - researcher should make the participants aware of all aspects of the research.
CONFIDENTIALITY - participants have the right to stay anonymous.
HARM - researchers need to be aware of possible harm of effects of the people studied.
VULNERABLE GROUPS - special care taken when researching people such as young children, and people with disabilities.
COVERT RESEARCH - researcher identity and purpose are hidden from the group or person being studied. Can cause ethical dilemma.

Question 7

RELIABILITY

Answer 7

To be reliable it must be replicable (if repeated the same results are found each time)
Positivists - emphasis need for reliability as they favour quantitative methods such as experiments as they can be repeated several time and still generate the same results.

Question 8

REPRESENTATIVENESS

Answer 8

Cannot usually study every member of a group because there is generally too many of them. Choose to study a smaller sample from a larger group.
The characteristics of the sample need to be the same as those of the whole group as this allows any findings generated are a true representation of the whole group.
This allows for generalisations to be made.

Question 9

VALIDITY

Answer 9

Needs to produce true or genuine picture of what’s something is really like.
Interpretivists emphasise methods such as unstructured interviews.
Favour methods such as questionnaires as they give accurate account of what it is like to be a member of a group.

Question 10

THEORETICAL

Answer 10

Positivism assumes that society has an objective factual reality and see behaviour as a result of social forces shaping what we do.

Interpretivists claim their is no objective reality and that we create our own interactions with others.

Question 11

Steps in preparing to conduct research

CHOPSR

Answer 11

• Choosing a topic/method
• formulating hypothesis
• operationalising concepts
• conducting a pilot study
• sampling
• the research

Question 12

Random sampling

PROS and CONS

Answer 12

Sample selected purely by chance

PROS - everyone has an equal chance of being selected.
CONS - not always representative of sampling frame. Imbalance of gender or age.

Question 13

Systematic sampling

PROS and CONS

Answer 13

Every nth person selected e.g., numbering participants then selecting every 3rd person.

PROS: straightforward technique. Researcher has a degree of control.
CONS: unlikely to generate representative sample. Unequal chance of being chosen.

Question 14

Stratified ransom sampling

PROS and CONS

Answer 14

Researcher stratifies the population into subcategories by age, gender, class, etc.

PROS: able to generalise findings.
CONS: time consuming to identify subcategories.

Question 15

Quota sampling

PROS and CONS

Answer 15

Dividing the target population into subcategories. Researcher given a quota to fill in.

PROS: straightforward convey the info has been found.
CONS: time consuming to identify subcategories, bias and unrepresentative.

Question 16

Snowball sampling

PROS and CONS

Answer 16

Key individual contacted asked to suggest others to contact. Useful if the group is difficult to reach such as criminals.

PROS: get in contact with difficult groups, help others trust the research.
CONS: not representative, bias arise if asking a friend. Not usually a big sample.

Question 17

Opportunity sampling

PROS and CONS

Answer 17

Selecting people available at the time. Individuals that are easiest to access.

CONS: very unrepresentative, often bias, likely to choose ‘helpful’ people.