Research methods Flashcards
One of the advantages of lab experinments is that they hypotheses can be trested in controled conditions
MENTION MORE
1) particapants may not be aware that they are being observed thus –> hawthrone effect is avoided
2) Postivits see this as a detatched + Objective scinteifc mean of study
being in controled coditons –> relaible thus replicable
mention 2 limitations of using tringulation
1) researcher needs to be skilled in several research methods
2) can be time consuming + expensive to use several methods
3) since postivism + interpretivism approaches both based on completely different ideas –> can be difficult to combine both of them in 1 peice of research
What does reliability mean
Research can be repeated with the same responses
What are the types of interviews
Unstructured
Semi structured
Focus groups
State the stages in research design
Identifying a topic
Reviewing existing evidence
Developing aims and hypothesis
Target population
Methods
OperationalisAtion
Pilot studies
Implementing research method
What includes content annylisis
Studying the content of documents and mass media
who itnitated the use of S.Q M
emile durkeim and August comte who saw the gorwing abilioty of natural science to predict + understand the working of society
why could researcher imposition happen?
can happen bec SOCIAL CHARACTERTISTICS of the researcher influence answer given or behavior observed (age, gender,etc)
OR
bec researher WORDS
questions or annlyzes data in part. ways
What does the Use of S.Q.M allow?
1) reliabilty –> follow standardized procedire
2) replicable and reprduced
3) objectivity–> to remain nuetral –> unbiased –> uncover the truth –> not let own values giude them + what they life to be truue
allow reseqrcher to uncover C/E relationship
what is interwiever bias?
ways in which the interviewer ASKS qs or INERPRETS asnwers –> that have an effect on findings
____ of sociological reserch needs to be _____ as we cannot ____thar the meaning is ____ to everyone
findings
interpreted
assume
clear
what do we have to be careful of while interpreting research?
we need to be aware of any bias –> that may have influenced it
what is the Hawthreone effect
when ppl change thier behavior –>when they know they are being watched
mention factors of postivists
advocate use of Scinetific Quantitative methods
- objetivity
unnaised + detatched
- look for trends and patterns when annylyzing data
what is a panel sample?
and what do they do?
it is the group or households being studied in a longtitudinal study
they are interviwed or they complete quesionares on regular basis –. WITH PERIODF OF MONTHS OR EVEN YEARS IN B/TW interviews
why does hawtheone affect occur?
ppl may want to observe part impression of themselves
OR
simply Become more aware of their actions due to being observed
what is the interviewer effect?
when interviewer may influence participants responses –> through their characteristics –>
- apperance
- verbal cues –> such as facial expresssions OR tone of voice
what does “target population” mean?
mention 2 limitations of longtitunal studies
1) SAMPLE ATTRITION
panel members may drop out of reaerach at later date due to death or move away –> which afects REPRESENTATIVENESS
2) being part of this type of research can cause change in participants behavior called HAWTRONE EFFECT
- think more csrefully of actions
3) considerable commitement of time + funding over a long period
what are hard statistics/evidence copy?
AND give examples
they should be complete accurate
apart from any errors ot incompleteness
recorded by law
eg// in most countries records kept of al births + marriages + death
How do sociologitsts using S.Q.M stay objective?
they aim to remain unbaised+ neutrual and discover the truth–> without letting their values OR what they would like to be true giude them
what does generalisabilty mean?
when findings about a sample can be applied to a larger grp of ppl sharing same characteristics
what view does Positivism take?
macro view of society and that human behavior is predicable
react to exeternal stumili just as aspects of nature
mention 2 strengths of longtitunial study
1) becomes possible to see what factors –> have casued changes in ppls lives over time
2) shows how ppls live change over time
3) holistic view
4) not a snapshot view of what things are like in one moment of time
5) as repsondant shave to commit –> chances of valid info
define sampling error
when there are differences btw results for a sample and results for the target population
interprevitists are interested in how ____ make sense of ____ and of ______
inuduviduals
society
social actions
what are soft statistics copy?
AND give examples
these depend on ppl making decisions about what + how to record
^these decisions may lead to –> different statistics + there may be changes overtime IN WHAT IS RECORDED
not clearly recorded
e.g// include unemployment statistics +
how many crimes taken place –> bec DECISIONS ARE MADE ABT WHAT TO INCLUDE + HOW TO COMPILE STATISTICS
in most longtitunal studies —> the same SAMPLE is used each time
TRUE OR FALSE
TRUE
smention 2 strengths of using offical statistics
Readily available
Free of charge often on internet thus cheap and easy to use
Often repeated each yr or every few yrs showing change overtime (confirms reliability)
Allows researcher to make comparisons in trends and patterns
Reliable and replicable as produced by research that is well planned + well organised + with samples
(Representativeness)
Have already been produced + public so unlikely to have any ethical issues
Useful to policy makers + sociologists + govt + organisations to plan ahead
A limitation of using offical statistics include, that due to reducing everything to numbers –> they lack validity with no reason or details shown behind the data (no true pic)
mention 2 more limitations
As funded by govt~> politics can affect statistics
May be baised in favour of govt + presented to show things at best light
Statistics rarely completed + accurate as appear + claim to be
Interprtivits argue that they are not objective facts as socially constructed -> do not always mean what they same to mean
Produced by others and may not have exactly what sociologists would like to know
Eg how many marriages break down want to know but statistics includes only divorces not separations
What do interprevitism state about human beings?
They are active, concious human beings who make choices on how to behave
- thus their behavior cannot be predicted
what is the difference bwetween qualitative and quantitive data?
3 mention
QLTLTIVE DATA
- describes phenomena
descriptive
includes U.I and Participant obervation
prefered by interprevitists
offers validity
- looks a t meanings, interaction patterns between induviduals
QNTTIVE DATA
- numerical
produced as numbers such as officual statistics
- allows representativeness of target population
- includes surveys questionaries, Structured interviews
allows relaibility, representation and generalizability
what are “non official statistics”
These include data from research conducted by organisations such as religious groups * charities and policy instructions
mention 3 strengths of tringulation
1) can provide balance b/w methods –> whee one may be weaker than another in part area of research –> other can backup
2.can allow researcher to support quantative data with qualitative examples –> thus givimg stidy of both RELAIBILITY AND VALIDITY
3 can be used to check validity of research as QLT
- can be used to check relaibility of research using different sources
5) cross reference + check for accuracy of other data collected
what does the term validity mean?
it refers to the extent to which findings REFLECT REALITY + give TRUE PIC
non official statistics groups are also called _______ ______ in the media
think tanks
define historical documents
Documents produced in the past so may be useful to investigate how society has changed over time
Define the features of personal documents
First person accounts
Documents less easy for researcher to obtain since may feel that they are private thus may not show their availability or existence
Mention the limitations of using personal docs and historical docs
May be unrepresentative
Need to be checked
against resources
May give favourable view of themselves and actions
May be biased
intentionally as may have the intention to publish in the future
What are autobiography’s
Ppls published acc of their lives
Mention the strengths of digital sources
Make vast range of information available at low cost + very easy access
Are global -> makes it easier to access information about different parts of the world
How is relaibity a key aspect of scientific methods?
a key aspect of S.M is realibilty —>
it is an extent to which the finsings are replicable and confirmed –>
As they follow standardized procedure –>
can be carried out the same way + under same circumstances
which is why allow replicablity and can be reproduced –>
thus allow conformation of results
What does representativeness mean
Sampling a smaller version of the population
what is researcher imposition?
problem of researcher imposing THEMSELVES or their VLAUES on the reseach
How do positivits looks for trends and patterns when annylzying data?
1) they look for link btw variables
(people of a certain age–>likely to commit crome0
2) How trends change overtime
(no of marriages in population increasing)
what does tringulation mean?
is when researcher decides to use a variety of resarch methods –> usually including qlt + qnt data
define relaibility
the extent to which research findings can be repeated –> to produce SIMILAR results –> replicability
deifine longtitudinal studies?
these are carried out at INTERVALS + OVER A PERIOD OF TIME –> instead as one peice of research
what is the beleif of positivism
beleif based on that sociology should use the same research methods used for natural sciences
where does bias come from
from rsearchers values
what did emile durkhiems suicide study reveal?
durkiem wanted to show how behavior is governed by SOCIAL FACTS AND SOCIAL FORCES –> that affect induciduals actions
his study showed the pattern of suicude statistics between countries differ
found a corelation bwtween the type of relgion in country + the siucide rate
1) In socoeties with strong connections –> such as high rates of religious beleifs or strong family values –>siucude rates lower
- strong sense of belonging
2) In socoeties with weaker lvl of relgious control–> higher suicide rates
SHOWED THE NATURE OF SOCOETY NOT INDUCUDUEALS
interprevitists focus on ___ scale and on _____ and _____ rather than ______
- micro scale interactions
- induviduals, small groups
- whole socities
when using S.M why do sciwntist try to remain OBJECTIVE?
They try to remain nuetral–> avoiding bias and discover the trurth rather than lettimg their values guide them or What they like to be true
what does it mean that scientists advocating the use of qualitatitve methods observe Subjectivity?
It means allowing a personal point of view –> to influence interpretation and understanding
mention the strengths of quantitive data
mention the limitations of quanititive data
what are quesionares?
how do quessionares add to flexibility of the scientific quantitive methods?
can be used in different ways
administered in different ways
- via internet
- via telephone
- via postal or online qs
via person (can include hawthrone effect)
What is the key requirment of panel studies?
respondants must be the same through out study
in depth methods–> allows researcher to develop _______ _______ of the ________ and how they actually ____ about the _____ being researched
detailed understanding
feel
issue
why would longtitiudinal studies poften be used by govt funded research organizations?
to study basic qs aboutn changing
- lifsytle
- education
- health
- illness
- employment
find out about changes over time
