research methods

Question 1

how do researcher know what to research about ?- how do they pick a topic ?

funding ?

Answer 1

they look at :
social problems- drugs/ crime
can be harmful for society; needs to be fixed.
sociological problems- education, needs explanation, not necessarily harmful.
funding ESRC - uni’s charities, schools, government

Question 2

what does verstehen mean ?

Answer 2

point of view

Question 3

what does p.e.r.v.e.r.t.e.d stand for ?

Answer 3

PRACTICAL- issues getting in to the school.
ETHICAL- issues such as asking for consent
RELIABILITY- reliable research gained from quantitive research- results can be repeated if done again- same answers. e.g questionnaires
VALIDITY- true data, in depth picture, qualitative research e.g. an observation
REPRESENTATIVE- generalisable, the sample of people that have been studied should represent that target popultaion.
Theoretical- marxist/ interpretavist/ positivist.
ETHICAL
DATA- qualitative ( words), quantitive ( number )

Question 4

who is Natalie jolly?
what did she study,
How is this done,
time span ?

Answer 4

Jolly investigated the role of a non amish midwife in the amish community, given that midwives that serve the amish community are not considered part of the community. Despite this Jolly aimed to collect data through Ethnographies over the 2 year span. To argue that the non- amish midwives provide Amish men and women access knowledge about sex and sexuality and providing them with books and condoms. The role of the non- amish midwife proves to be largely invisible when viewed from a conventional analysis. As an analytic category, this position ‘ neither fully part of amish society nor fully extricated from it’ has something to offer studies of community power within the field of Sociology and argument future studies of amish society.

Question 5

what are positivist approaches to research ?

Answer 5

positivists assume there is an objective structure to reality and that rigorous research will yield truth about this reality.
more quantitive methods- e.g stats
experimental methods- lab experiments
large scale surveys
structured QS/ interviews
non- participant observation.

Question 6

what are interpretavist approaches to research ?

Answer 6

interpretavist do not believe that there is objective truth, to understand society we need to look at subjective experiences.
more qualitative data
newspapers, autobiographies
uncontrolled experiments
small scale case studies of group interactions.
unstructured qs/ interviews
participant observation

Question 7

what are the different types of research methods ?

Answer 7

experiments, observations, interview, survey, case studies, secondary sources.

Question 8

what is a structured interview ?

Answer 8

set questions

Question 9

what is an unstructured interview ?

Answer 9

No set questions

Question 10

what’s a semi structured interview ?

Answer 10

a mix of set and not set questions

Question 11

what’s a one to one interview

Answer 11

a researcher and participant interview

Question 12

what’s a group interview

Answer 12

the researcher talks to a group of people at the same time, rather than discussing with individuals.

Question 13

what’s focus group

Answer 13

a prompt from the researcher

Question 14

Oakley 1981 used unstructured, focus group interviews in a study on the experience of becoming a mother, explain why ?

Answer 14

she might of wanted to see what other peoples experiences are compared to her own.
focus group mean that the conversation can go anywhere, for the mothers and that they could be more honest and open as they have something in common, motherhood.

Question 15

what did Sharpe study and what type of interview was used ?

Answer 15

sharpe (1976) studied girls attitude to education, family and work to find out whether they had high aspirations for their futures.
focus group/ semi structured interviews.
few of the same QS

Question 16

what did willis study and what interview method was used ?

Answer 16

willis (1977) studied working class lads anti- school subcultures, these interviews allows the ‘lads’ to talk freely in their own words about how they viewed school, teachers and work.
focus group used and semi structured.

Question 17

what did Oakley study & research method used

Answer 17

Oakley used a focus group to be able to study the experience of becoming a mother

Question 18

what is meant by Neo- marxism ?

Answer 18

marxism and interactionalism

Question 19

what are the benefits of unstructured interviews

structured interview problems

Answer 19

1. broader understanding- follow up questions. flexibility.
2. They can explain feelings/ reasons & descriptions
   valid data, the data is in depth about their particular experiences which builds rapport and the participants are more likely to be honest.
   This small scale in-depth understanding of situations can potentially be unethical as the researcher could go off topic

Question 20

what are the structured interviews benefits.
unstructured interview problems

Answer 20

more ethical because they know what type of question they’re being asked- less confusing.
more reliable as it can be easier to find trends as the answers are more specific. large scale. generalisable bc you ask lots of the same qs, money saving- quicker. not forced to answer

Question 21

what are the strengths of a focus group

Answer 21

can build rapport with people meaning that people are more likely to be honest.

Only a prompt given so the conversation can go in anyway depending on the topic.

qualitative data.

Question 22

what are the strengths of group interviews

Answer 22

wider understanding as the researcher can evaluate more than one person at once.

asked the same questions so can be easy to see peoples point of view and the information is easy to compare between participants.

qualitative.

Question 23

what are 1:1 interview strengths

Answer 23

quicker, less time consuming as its only one POV

can be easy to find trends, gives answers to specific qs,

large scale

external influences.