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Sociology year 1 > research methods > Flashcards

research methods Flashcards

1
Q

choosing a research method

Primary data

  • who
  • why
  • advantages
  • disadvantages
  • methods for gathering data
A
  • sociologists themselves
  • to obtain a first hand picture/to test a hypothesis
  • pricesely gather the inforation needed to prove their hypothesis
  • costly and time consuming
  • social surveys, participant observation, experiments
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2
Q

choosing a research method

secondary data
* who
* why
* advantages
* disadvantages
* sources of data

A
  • someone else
  • for sociologists to use
  • quick and cheap
  • may not be interested in the same questions, so information may not be exactly what is needed.
  • official statistics, documents
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3
Q

choosing a research method

quantitative data
* form
* examples
* how information is gathered

A
  • numerical form
  • questionaire, structured interviews, official statistics
  • by opinion polls/ research surveys
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4
Q

choosing a research method

qualitative data

* provides..
* evidence gathered how

A
  • a “feel” for what something is like, isight into peoples feelings and experiences.
  • participant observation, unstructured interviews, letters, newspapers.
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5
Q

choosing a research method

practical issues

A
  • time and money
  • requirements of funding bodies
  • personal skills and characteristics
  • subject matter
  • research opportunity
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6
Q

choosing a research method

why does time and money impact practicality?

A
  • different methods require different amounts of time and money
  • access to resources dependent on funds, well known do better
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7
Q

practical issues

requirements of funding bodies

A
  • funding bodies (businesses, institutes and organisations) may require the information to be in a particular form
  • e.g. quantative, so researchers would have to use best method e.g. questionaire
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8
Q

practical issues

personal skills and characteristics

A
  • sociologists all have different personal skills
  • may affect their ability to use different methods
  • e.g. participant observation requires being able to mix easily
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9
Q

practical issues

subject matter

A
  • more difficult to study a group by one method than an other
  • e.g. male sociologist in all female group
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10
Q

practical issues

research opportunity

A
  • opportunity can sometimes occur unexpectadly so structured methods may have not been prepared
  • other hand may be really prepared
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11
Q

ethical issues

ethical issues

A
  • informed consent
  • confidentiality and privacy
  • harm to research participants
  • vunerable groups
  • covert research
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12
Q

ethical issues

informed consent

A
  • research participants should have the right to refuse being involved
  • informed on all relevant aspects of research- to make a fully informed decision
  • consent should be gained before hand and at intervals throughout the process
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13
Q

ethical issues

confidentiality and privacy

A
  • identity of participants should be kept secret- prevents negative effects on them
  • personal information should be kept confidential
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14
Q

ethical issues

harm to research participants

A
  • researchers should be aware of possible effects of their work
  • effects- police intervention, harm to employment prospects, social exclusion, psychological harm, physical harm
  • should anticipate/prevent harm
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15
Q

ethical issues

vunerable groups

A
  • special care to be taken where participants are particularly vunerable- e.g. age, disability, physical/mental health
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16
Q

ethical issues

covert research

A
  • when the researchers identity and research purposes are kept hidden from those being studied
  • ethical problems- decieving and lying in order to gain their trust to obtain information
  • cant gain informed consent
  • can be justified under certain circumstances
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17
Q

theoretical issues

theoretical issues

A
  • validity
  • reliability
  • representativeness
  • methodological perspective
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18
Q

theoretical issues

validity

* what makes a valid method
* what kind of data is more valid and why

A
  • one that produces a true or genuine result to the truth
  • qualitative as it gives a more truthful account of something in particular as it gives a deeper insight through first hand experience
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19
Q

theoretical issues

reliability

* what makes a method reliable
* which kind of data is most used

A
  • if it is replicable, giving the same result
  • quantitative data gives more reliable results e.g written questionnaires
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20
Q

theoretical issues

representativeness

* what makes a method representative
* best way to gain

A
  • whether or not the group we study cross over with the group we are interested in
  • large scale quantitative surveys that use sophisticated sampling techniques to select their sample- more representative
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21
Q

theoretical issues

methodological perspective

* what is it
* 2 types

A
  • their view of what society is like and how we should study it
  • postivists- quantative data, seek to discover a definate amswer
  • interpretivists- qualitative data, seek to understand meaning
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22
Q

theoretical issues

why do positivists prefer quantitative data

A
  • they assume society has an objective factual reality (specific way it operates)
  • believes society eherts influence on its members, changing behaviour
  • can discover objective scientific law of cause and effect, determines behaviour
  • gain reliable, representative, replicable data
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23
Q

theoretical issues

why do interpretivists prefer qualitiative data?

A
  • believe we create reality through the meanings we create
  • actions based on what we give to a situation, not external factors
  • gain a subjective understanding of actions and behaviours
  • thus prefere articipant observation, unstructure interviews and personal documents producing valid data
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24
Q

factors influencing choice of topic

factors influencing choice of topic

A
  • funding bodies
  • societies values
  • practical factors
  • the sociologists perspective
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25
Q

factors influencing choice of topic

funding bodies

A
  • they pay for research - they choose what topic
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26
Q

factors influencing choice of topic

practical factors

A
  • may restrict what topic they are able to study- e.g wanting to study global coorperations but decisions are made in private
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27
Q

factors influencing choice of topic

societies values

A
  • as values vhange so does focus of research
  • e.g rise of feminism in 1960s, green crimes in 2000s
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28
Q

factors influencing choice of topic

the sociologists perspective

A
  • perspective influences their choice of research
  • e.g new right vs femenism
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29
Q

the process of research

overview of the process of research

A
  • chose a research topic
  • formulate an aim or hypothesis
  • operationalising concepts
  • the pilot study
  • samples and sampling
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30
Q

the process of research

whats a hypothesis

A

a possible explanation that can be tested to prove it true or false which gives direction to our research, a starting point.

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31
Q

the process of research

what if the hypothesis proves false?

A

we sould discard it, form a nw hypothesis and test it out

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32
Q

the process of research

why do positivists favour a hypothesis

A

as they seek to discover a cause and effect relationship, identifies what we aim to study and achieve through research

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33
Q

the process of research

why do interpretivists favour a broad aim

A

they want to find out what the actors themselves believe to be important

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34
Q

the process of research

what is operationalising a concept

A
  • we need an operational concept of our ideas
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35
Q

the process of research

what problems may arise when operationalising a concept

A
  • different sociologists may operationalise concepts differently, making it difficult to compare different pieces of research
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36
Q

the process of research

what is a pilot study

A

trying out a draft version of the questionnaire or interview schedule on a smaller sample

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37
Q

the process of research

what is the aim of a pilot study

A
  • iron out any problems
  • refine/clarify any questions and their wording
  • give researchers practice
  • in order to make sure actual survey goes as smoothly as possible
  • finalise research process
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38
Q

the process of research

sample

A

a smaller subgroup of the wider group we are interested in

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39
Q

the process of research

sampling

A

the process of creating or selecting a sample

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40
Q

the process of research

the basic purpose of sampling

A
  • ensure that the people chosen for the study are representative or typical of the research population
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41
Q

the process of research

if our sample is representative we can make a

A

generalisation

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42
Q

the process of research

what is the sampling frame

A

a list of all the members of the population we are interested in studying

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43
Q

the process of research

random sampling

A

sample selected purely by chance, “out of a hat”

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44
Q

the process of research

quasi-random sampling

A

every nth person in the samping frame is selected

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45
Q

the process of research

stratified random sampling

A

first breaks down research population by age, class, gender, so on. sample then created in same proportion

46
Q

the process of research

quota sampling

A

population stratified, then the interviewer has to find respondants who fit the characteristics

47
Q

the process of research

why might all studies not use representative sampling techniques

A
  • practical reasons
  • theoretical reasons
48
Q

the process of research

practical reasons why it may not be possible to create a representative sample

A
  • characteristics of research population may not be known (e.g. age)
  • may be impossible to find/create research frame for that population
  • respondents may refuse to participate
49
Q

the process of research

when its not possible to gain representative sample..

A

sociologists may use snowball sampling/opportunity sampling

50
Q

the process of research

snowball sampling

A

contacting key individuals, who are asked to suggest others to be interviewed. not representative, but, useful to find willing sample

51
Q

the process of research

opportunity sampling

A

choosing individuals easiest to access, e.g. street

52
Q

the process of research

theoretical issues in why research may not be representative

A

interepretivists feel no need to make generalisations, less need to be representative

53
Q

secondary sources

what are official statistics?

A

quantitative data gathered by the government or other official bodies.

54
Q

secondary sources

two ways of collecting official statistics

A
  • registration- e.g. law states you have to register a birth
  • official surveys- e.g. a census or general household survey
55
Q

secondary sources

advantages of official statistics

A
  • free source of huge amounts of data, that we only couldn’t gather
  • they allow for comparisson between groups
  • collected at regular intervals so show trends and patterns
56
Q

secondary sources

disadvantages of official statistics

A
  • data is collected for government, not for same purpose of sociologist
  • definitions that the state use may be different from the definitions sociologists use
  • definitions change over time- making comparissons difficult
57
Q

secondary data

representativeness in official statistics

A
  • cover large areas, figures can be collected for entire population (e.g. through census)
  • however different regions within a group/locality may have disproportionate levels
  • also only based on a sample of relevant population- not all
58
Q

secondary sources

reliabilty of official statistics

A
  • compiled in a straight forward and standardised way with trained staff and set procedures
  • however, figures may be inaccuarate due to dishonesty of mistakes
59
Q

secondary sources

validity of official statistics

A
  • hard statistics on things like birth, death and marriages give a very accurate picture of the country
  • soft statistics however arent as accurate (e.g. not all crimes are reported)
60
Q

secondary sources

what view do positivists take on official statistics

A
  • see statistics as social facts, true objective measures
  • use them to test theur hypothesis
61
Q

secondary sources

what view do interpretivists take on official statistics

A
  • lacking validity
  • dont represent real things or social facts
  • argue that we should investigate how statistics are socially constructed
62
Q

secondary sources

what view do marxists take on official statistics

A
  • see official statistics as serving capitalism
  • systematically underestimate the number of people taking part in demonstrations against the government (gives impression there is less opposition to capitalism)
63
Q

secondary sources

what are the two types of documents?

A
  • public
  • personal
64
Q

secondary sources

what are public documents + some examples?

A
  • are documents produced vy government departments, schools, welfare agencies, businesses and charities
  • ofsted reports, minutes of council meetings, records of parlimentary debates
65
Q

secondary sources

what are personal documents + examples

A
  • first hand accounts of social events and personal experiences
  • letters, diaries, photo albums, autobiographies
66
Q

secondary sources

what are historical documents

A
  • a personal or public document created in the past
  • unless anyone is alive to recall events, often the only source of information we have from them
67
Q

secondary sources

four stages to assessing documents:

A
  • authenticity
  • credibility
  • representativeness
  • meaning
68
Q

secondary sources

first stage of assessing documents

A
  • authenticity
  • is the document what it claims to be
  • is there missing pages, free from error
  • did that person genuinely write it
69
Q

secondary sources

second stage of assessing documents

A
  • credibility
  • is the document believable
  • was the author sincere
  • is the document accurate
  • soon after the event or later
70
Q

secondary sources

third stage of assessing documents

A
  • representativeness
  • is the evidence typical?
  • keep in mind some groups may be illiterate or unable to access resources
71
Q

secondary sources

fourth stage of assessing documents

A
  • meaning
    -does the researcher have the skills to understand the document
72
Q

secondary sources

advantages of personal documents

A
  • enable to researcher to get close to the social actors reality, giving insight
73
Q

secondary sources

other advantages of documents

A
  • offer an extra check on other results
  • cheap
  • not time consuming
74
Q

secondary sources

what is content analysis

A

a method for dealing systematically with the context of documents

75
Q

secondary sources

although documents are usually qualitative, context analysis enables…

A
  • the sociologists to produce quantitative data
76
Q

secondary sources

advantages of context analysis

A
  • cheap
  • easy to find
  • useful source of quantitative data for positivists
77
Q

experiments

what are experiments used to test?

A

a hypothesis

78
Q

experiments

strengths of experiments

A
  1. the hypothesis can be tested in a controlled environment
  2. it is easy to isololate and manipulate variables to identify the causes of events
  3. high reliablity
  4. allows for comparisons to be made with other experimental research
  5. the researcher is seen as a detached objective observer which is considered to be more scientific
79
Q

experiments

weaknesses of experiments

A
  1. it is difficult to identify a single reason of a social issue
  2. ethical problems arise- may treat people differently
  3. often involve deception- e.g. not telling full reason for experiment
  4. fully informed consent can be hard to gether without spoiling experiment
  5. artificial conditions- cant be applied to real life
  6. hawthorne effect
80
Q

experiments

what is the comparitive method?

A

The comparative method retains the main principles of the experiment but collects data on different societies or social groups and then compares them with another society or group.

81
Q

experiments

what is the difference between a field and a labatory experiment?

A

field:
* takes place in subjects natural surroundings rather than a labatory environment
* people involved generally arent aware of the subect of the research

82
Q

experiments

Emile Durkheim’s study of suicide as an example of the comparitive method
- hypothesis
- findings
-

A
  • low levels of integration lead to higher suicide rates
  • catholicism had higher levels of integration that protestanism
  • predicted that protestants would have higher suicide rates due to less integration
  • finish
83
Q

experiments

3 advantages of the comparitive method

A
  • it avoids artificiality
  • can be uised to study past events
  • poses no harm to research participants
84
Q

experiments

disadvantage of the comparative method

A

gives the researcher even less control over variables- so can be difficult to find the cause of something

85
Q

participant observation

what are the two types of observation

A

non participant and participant

86
Q

participant observation

what is the difference between an overt and covert observation

A
  • overt- the researcher makes their true identity and purpose known to those that they are studying, they are open about what they are doing
  • covert- the study is carried out under cover, the researchers real identity and purpose are kept concealed from the group being studied. the researcher takes on a false identity/role, usually posing as a genuine member of the group
87
Q

participant observation

what are the two main issues sociologist face when conducting a participant observation study

A
  • getting in, staying in and getting out of the group being studied
  • whether to use covert or overt observation
88
Q

participant observation

what was it that made making contact with a Glasgow gang easy for James Patrick

A

he looked quite young (personal skills) and knew one of the members from teaching him at a young offenders instituion (right connection)

89
Q

participant observation

what did John Howard Griffin gain acceptance by a black street-corner gang in Washington DC? then what did he do…

A
  • he used medication and sun lamp treatment to change his skin colour and pass as black.
  • he travelled around the deep south of the USA experiencing first hand the impact of white racism e.g.
90
Q

participant observation

when in the process of ‘getting in’ what should be qualities of the role the researcher adopts?

A
  • one that doesn’t disrupt the groups normal patterns, e.g. studying mormons dressed inapropriately
  • one that offers a good perspective to make observations e.g. laying low
91
Q

participant observation

what is the difficulty with ‘staying in’ for the participant observer?

A
  • having to be fully involved in order to understand it
  • yet at the same time being detached as to not make a bias and remain objective
92
Q

participant observation

main danger of ‘going native’ (over-involved)

A

the researcher becomes biased
at this point they stop being and objective researcher and become a member of the group

93
Q

participant observation

advantages of participant observation (why are they valid?)

A
  • groups are observed in a natural authentic setting, therefore data is more likely to be a genuine picture of the group’s nature
  • data is richly detailed and provides a deep insight into social behaviour
94
Q

participant observation

why may participant observations be unreliable

A
  • research is very open ended, there is no fixed procedure or standardised process which can be replicated
95
Q

participant observation

why might participant observation be unrepresentative?

A
  • most participant observation studies look at only a small group within a larger population, which you can’t generalise findings to
96
Q

participant observation

why might participant observation not be valid?

A
  • hawthorne effect
  • researcher at risk of “going native”, over identifying and becoming biased.
97
Q

participant observation

why might participant observation have ethical issues

A
  • covert- can’t gain informed consent
  • cannot keep participants anonymous
98
Q

participant observation

practical issues with participant observation

A
  • issues with getting in, staying in and leaving the group
  • e.g. have to keep up an act: patrick fastened up blazer wrong which gang members knew was off
  • new member causes different behaviour
99
Q

non participant observation

non participant observation definition

A

observer avoids direct contact with the group being studied

100
Q

non-participant observation

advantages of non-participant observation

A

Valid - limited risk of the researcher ‘going native

101
Q

non-participant observation

dosadvantages of non-participant observation

A

Not reliable - each observation will be subjective, and therefore cannot be repeated.

Not representative - involves a small-scale research sample.

102
Q

overt observations

advantages of overt observations

A

Less ethical issues than covert because the participants know they’re being researched.
​
Higher level of reliability than covert.
​
The observer can openly take notes.
​
Allows researcher to use interview methods too

103
Q

overt observations

disadvantages of overt observations

A

Practical - Time consuming.
​
Lacks validity - Hawthorne effect.
​
Less reliable - Difficult to repeat.
​
Not always representative.

104
Q

covert observations

advantages of covert observations

A

More valid than overt because there is lack of the Hawthorne effect.
​
Research obtained is more valid because you have a first-hand insight.
​
Find out more in-depth detail about why, who, where, when etc.

105
Q

covert observations

disadvantages of covert observations

A

Ethical issues - it is immoral to deceive people.
​
Researcher has to gain trust and acceptance (this may be time consuming).

106
Q

interviews

3 types of interviews

A
  • structured
  • unstructured
  • semi-structured
107
Q

interviews

strengths of group interviews

A
  • participants may feel more comfortable to open up
  • throwing ideas around the group encourages stimulation of eachothers thinking, producing richer and more reflective data
  • can combine the opportunity with researching group dynamics and norms
108
Q

interviews

weaknesses of group interviews

A
  • one or two individuals may dominate the discussion, inhibiting others from contributing
  • difficult to keep the group on focus to the question
  • peer pressure to conform to group norms- not very valid
  • more complicated to analyse
109
Q

interviews

advantages of structured interviews

A

Practical - training interviewers is easy and cheap (still more costly than postal questionnaires)

​

Practical - Cheap and easy to administer

​

Representative - can reach a geographically wide research sample (still not the large amounts reached by postal questionnaires)

​

Results are easily quantifiable because they use closed-ended questions with coded answers + suitable for hypothesis testing

​

Reliable - the structured process provides a ‘recipe’ for reproducibility, easy to standardise and control to be the precicely same wa

​

Higher response rate as people find it harder to turn down a face to face request and may welcome an opportunity to talk

110
Q

interviews

disadvantages of structured interviews

A

Lack of validity: the use of closed-ended and pre-coded answers may not fit what the interviewee wishes to say (inflexible) as they may not reflect their priorities and concerns

​

Lack of validity: People may lie or exaggerate

​

Feminists: see it that the female interviewee is not incontrol of the interview which mirrors women’s subordination in wider society

111
Q

interviews

unstructured interviews advantages

Sociology year 1 (12 decks)

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