Research Methods Flashcards
What are positivists?
People who prefer scientific, quantifiable data that is quick and easy to obtain, rich in reliability and validity
What are interpretivists ?
People who value qualitative data that provides in-depth meaning of a small scale research group, therefore high in validity.
Name and explain the 3 practical issues of choosing a research method
1- Time ( data takes time to procure )
2- Money ( equipment costs, paying researchers , time available to research etc )
3- Access ( need to get permission to access certain research locations e.g schools )
Name and explain the 3 ethical issues to choosing a research method
1- Informed consent ( requirement of consent by researchers from subjects )
2- Confidentiality ( subjects need anonymity even after publishing of research )
3- Psychological harm ( some groups are more vulnerable e.g children )
Name and explain the 3 theoretical issues in choosing a research method
1- Reliability ( must be able to be repeated and obtain similar results. Positivists favour this and therefore use methods such as questionnaires and structured interviews )
2- Representativness ( sample groups must represent the wider population. Positivists value this because they which to do over general patterns about social behaviour )
3- Validity ( interpretivists emphasise the need of this. Use unstructured interviews and participant observation in order to find the true meanings in which people hold )
Give the advantages , disadvantages and an example of laboratory experiments
Advantages -
•highly reliable / easily replicated
•easily identify cause and effect relationships
Disadvantages -
• Artificial ( Hawthorne effect )
• Ethical issues as consent is required
• Unrepresentative / small scaled
Example -
Milgrams obedience test
Give the advantages , disadvantages and a example of field experiments
Advantages -
• less artificial / in real life ( duh )
• validity / people are unaware of experiment therefore no Hawthorne effect
Disadvantages -
• Ethical issues / no consent
• less control over variables
• limited application
Example(s) -
• Stanford prison experiment
• Panda / domestic abuse in life
• Jacobson & Rosenthal SFP
Give advantages , disadvantages and a example of questionnaires
Advantages -
• practical / cheap & quick
• quantifiable data
• representative / widespread research sample
• limited ethical issues / no need to answer
Disadvantages -
• response rate
• low validity / more willing to lie
• unrepresentative / different groups in society will respond differently/ some are too busy to answer
• no interviewer to simplify questions
Example -
• the census
Give the advantages and disadvantages of structured interviews
Advantages -
• practical / training is easy and cheap / easy to administer
• representative / geographically wide research sample
• reliable
• quantifiable
Disadvantages -
• lack of validity / close-ended questions and people are more likely to lie or exaggerate
Give the advantages and disadvantages of unstructured interviews
Advantages -
• Rapport / develops a relationship between interviewer and interviewee
• flexibility / interviewer isn’t restricted with set questions
• valid / no fixed questions
Disadvantages -
• practical / time consuming and expensive as requires better training
• unrepresentative / small research samples
• not reliable / questions are open, therefore cannot be easily replicated and each respondent is different
Give the advantages , disadvantages and a example of semi-structured interviews
Advantages -
• large amount of data
• flexible and sensitive
• easier to analyse than unstructured interviews
Disadvantages -
• can’t guarantee honesty
• cause & effect cannot be inferred
• flexibility lessens reliability
• open-ended questions are difficult to analyse
Example -
• Dobash and Dobash researched domestic violence with the help of unstructured interviews
Give the advantages and disadvantages of Participant observations
Advantages -
• valid / groups are observed in a natural & authentic setting / data is more likely to be true
• valid / data gathered is richly detailed and offers insight on social behaviour
Disadvantages -
• unreliable / no fixed procedure or structured system of measurement therefore cannot be replicated
• unrepresentative / small-scale groups
• not valid / Hawthorne effect , observation will effect the groups behaviour & risks ‘going native’
• ethical issues / difficult to preserve anonymity in the group
• practical issues / issues getting in, out, leaving or staying in the group
Give the advantages and disadvantages of non-participant observations
Advantages -
• valid / limited risk of ‘going native’
Disadvantages -
• not reliable / each observation is subjective , therefore cannot be repeated
• not representative / small-scale research sample
Give advantages and disadvantages of overt observations
Advantages -
• ethical issues / you know you’re being observed
• higher reliability than covert
• observer can openly take notes
• allows researchers to use interview methods
Disadvantages -
• practical / time consuming
• lacks validity / Hawthorne effect
• less reliable / difficult to repeat
• not always representative
Give advantages, disadvantages and a example of covert observations
Advantages -
• valid / lack of Hawthorne effect
• research is obtained more valid / you have first-hand insight
• find more in-depth details about why, who, where , when etc
Disadvantages -
• ethical / immoral to deceive people
• practical / time consuming e.g researcher has to gain trust and acceptance from the group
Example -
• Pearsons covert participant observation study of Blackpool football club supporters
Give advantages , disadvantages and a example of official statistics
Advantages -
• practical / cheap, easy to obtain & access
• collected at regular interviews / e.g the census every 10 years
• representative / covers large groups of people e.g crime statistics
Disadvantages -
• government collect for their own benefit / may not help a sociology study
• definitions may be different / e.g what the government understands to be poverty may be different than a sociologist
Example(s) -
• The census , death/birth rates, marriage/divorce rates or any statistics gathered by a government agency
Give the advantages and disadvantages of personal documents
Advantages -
• valid / written for personal purpose therefore provides and in-depth & genuine insight into people’s attitudes
• practical / cheap & not time consuming
• can be use to confirm or question other interpretations and accounts
Disadvantages -
• some groups are unable to provide personal documents and so their views are unrepresented
• personal bias is likely to be present
• ethical issues / may include sensitive topics such as suicide
Give advantages , disadvantages and a example of historical documents
Advantages -
• allow comparisons over time / e.g birth and death rates
• useful for asserting the outcomes of various social policies / e.g raising the school leaving age
Disadvantages -
• unrepresentative / documents may be lost or destroyed
• validity / documents written selectively
• reliability / authenticity of documents is open to question
Example(s) -
• Douglas suicide study / suicide notes & diaries , Thomas and Znaniecki studied letters from Polish immigrants
Methods in context - [ Themes ]
Exam questions refer to at least 1 theme, Name the main 5
1 - Pupils / vulnerable group, may have difficulty understanding questions, influenced by peers
2 - Teachers / professional & often busy
3 - Parents / hard to contact, differing levels of education, want to appear as good parents
4 - schools / large, protected environment
5 - classrooms / small, protected environments
Methods in context - [ Topics ]
Exam questions refer to at least 1 topic, name the common topics
1 - Gender / ethnic / class differences in achievement
2 - Parents attitudes towards school
3 - completion of homework
4 - labelling in classrooms
