Research Methods

Question 1

what are the 3 sources of information about deviance? which is the best?

Answer 1

official statistics, survey research, and participant observation; no approach is ultimately the best technique, it depends on the particular topic of interest

Question 2

what are official statistics?

Answer 2

numerical tabulations of data where the information is routinely gathered through government funds (ex. crime reports, census data); associated with absolutism due to the assumption that deviance can be objectively measured

Question 3

what are the pros and cons of using official statistics for researching deviance?

Answer 3

pros: quick access to pre-collected info, cheap to gather, longitudinal, great coverage

cons: changing/absent categories, lack of standardization, self-interpretation, validity concerns

Question 4

what is survey research?

Answer 4

questionnaires administered to a sample of respondents with the data being collected and analyzed

Question 5

what are the pros and cons of using survey research for researching deviance?

Answer 5

pros: researchers generate own questions, ability to cover more topics than basic facts, ability to measure attitudes, random samples can be generalized with accuracy, fairly objective

cons: expensive, time consuming, participant reluctance/sensitivity, correlation not causation

Question 6

what is participant observation?

Answer 6

researchers enter the real setting of interest and observe research participants

Question 7

what are the pros and cons of participant observation for researching deviance?

Answer 7

pros: deeper understanding, richer portrayal of experience and feelings, less expensive

cons: time consuming, personal issues, lacks generalizability