Research methods Flashcards
What are laboratory experiments and who favours them
Test hypothesise in a controlled environment where the researcher changes the independent variable and measures the effect on the dependent variable - favoured by positivists
Advantages of lab experiments
- Highly reliable (TS) - can specify precisely what steps were followed
- Can easily identify cause and effect relationships
- Can isolate variables (PS)
Disadvantages of lab experiments
- Artificiality - carried out in artificial environment, may not reveal how people act in real world
- Hawthorne effect (TL) - people know they are being studied
- Unrepresentative (TL) - small scale nature
- Impossible to identify/control all the variables that might exert influence on certain social issues (PL)
What are field experiments
take place in the real social world - sociologist either creates a situation or adapts a real life situation to their research purpose. Involved dont usually know research is taking place
Advantages of field experiments
- Less artificiality
- High validity - people unaware so no hawthorne effect - act normally
Disadvantages of field experiments
- People experimented on without informed consent (EL)
- Less control over variables (PL)
- Limited application - can only be applied to a limited number of social situations - may not be reliable (TL)
Advantages of questionnaires
- Cheap and quick (PS)
- Quantifiable data
- Representative - reach many (TS)
- Reliable - questionnaire can be easily repeated (TS)
- Consent when they answer because under no obligation to do so (ES)
Disadvantages of questionnaires
- Low response rate - may hinder representativity (TL)
- Low validity - people may be more willing to lie (TL)
- Interviewer cant ask follow up questions if participants don’t understand questions or say something interesting (PL)
What are structured interviews and who favours them
Use a list of pre set questions and all interviewees asked in same way
Favoured by positivists
Advantages of structured interviews
- Training interviewers is easy and cheap (PS)
- Cheap and easy to administer (PS)
- Representative (TS)
- Results easily quantifiable because they use close ended questions with coded answers (PS)
- Reliable (TS)
Disadvantages of structured interviews
- Lack of validity - close ended and pre coded answers may not fit what the interviewee wants to say (TL)
- People may lie or exaggerate (TL)
What are unstructured interviews and who favours them
mainly ask open ended questions that produce qualitative data rich in meaning
favoured by interpretivists
Advantages of unstructured interviews
- Can build a rapport - makes interviewee more comfortable
- Flexible - interviewer not restricted to a fixed set of questions
- Valid - people can be more truthful because conversation is not constrained
Disadvantages of unstructured interviews
- Time consuming
- Expensive to train interviewers
- Unrepresentative - small research samples
- Not reliable - because questions are open - cant be easily repeated by another researcher
What are semi structured interviews
qualitative method - combines pre-determined set of open questions with opportunity for interviewer to explore particular themes
Advantages of semi structured interviews
- Lots of data and detail generated
- Fairly flexible and sensitive
- Easier to analyse than unstructured interviews
Disadvantages of semi structured interviews
- Cant guarantee honesty of participants
- Cause and effect cannot be inferred
- Flexibility of interview may lessen reliability
- Open ended questions difficult to analyse
- Difficult to compare answers
What are participant observations
when the researcher joins in the activities of the group they are researching
Advantages of participant observations
- Valid - groups are observed in a natural and authentic setting so data more likely to be true
- Data is richly detailed and offers insight into social behaviour
Disadvantages of participant observations
- Unreliable - cannot be easily replicated because in natural environment
- Unrepresentative - small scale groups - not representative of wider population
- Researcher bias - might go native
- Difficult to ensure anonymity of participants (EL)
- Problems getting in and staying in group (PL)
What are non participant observations
Observer avoids any direct involvement with the research group
Advantages of non participant observations
- Valid - limited risk of the researcher “going native”
Disadvantages of non participant observations
- Not reliable - each observation will be subjective so cant be repeated
- Not representative - small scale research sample
What are overt observations
researcher explains their research intention to the group so the subjects know they are being observed
Advantages of overt observations
- More ethical - participants know being observed
- Observer can openly take notes
- Higher level of reliability than covert
- Allows researcher to use interview methods as well
Disadvantages of overt observations
- Time consuming - (PL)
- Lacks validity - Hawthorne effect
- Less reliable - difficult to repeat
- Not always representative
What are covert observations
when the researcher keeps their real identity and purpose secret from research subjects
Advantages of covert observations
- More valid than overt - lack of Hawthorne effect
- Research obtained is more valid
- More in depth detail
Disadvantages of covert observations
- Ethically immoral to deceive people
- Researcher has to gain trust and acceptance - can be time consuming
Advantages of official statistics
- Cheap and easy to obtain - (PS)
- Can compare trends overtime
- Representative - often cover large groups of people
Disadvantages of official statistics
- Data may not cover exactly what sociologists specifically want to study
- Differences in interpretations
Advantages of documents
- High degree of validity - written for personal purposed to in depth and genuine
- Cheap and save researchers time
- Eliminates many areas of social life
- Can be used to confirm or question other interpretations and accounts
Disadvantages of documents
- Difficulties in representativeness
- Personal bias likely to be present
what is meant by verstehen
german word “to understand”
term refers to seeing the world as others see it - rich valid data
what is meant by going native
researcher stops being a researcher - ceases to balance the roles of participant and observer
what is a longitudinal study
follows a group of people over a long period of time at regular intervals
Name an example of a longitudinal study
Douglas - study on cultural deprivation
Feinstein - used data from NCDS to study class differences in educational achievement
Strengths of longitudinal studies
- Can identify patterns and make comparisons
- Data is seen to be more valid - discrepancies can be checked against previous data
- Can identify causes
Limitations of longitudinal studies
- Sample attrition - people dropping out of study
- Likely to be expensive to fund
- Time consuming
- Can be difficult to analyse and store data
what are life histories and who favours them
ethnographic method favoured by interpretivists in which the researcher attempts to understand how individuals construct their life worlds
what is meant by the term ethnographic
type of qualitative research that involves immersing yourself in a particular community or organisation to observe their behaviour and interactions
Example of a life history
Judith Stacey - interviewed women who rejected housewife roles and returned to education or divorced and remarried
what is meant by the term “methodological pluralism”
refers to researchers using a range of methods in the same piece of research - allows for triangulation to maximise validity and reliability
what is triangulation
the use of two or more methods to check the reliability and validity of research evidence
what type of data to documents provide and who favours them
qualitative data and favoured by interpretivists
what are Scott’s 4 criteria for evaluating documents
- Authenticity
- Credibility
- Representativeness
4, Meaning
what type of data do positivists prefer and why
positivists prefer quantitative data because they assume that society has an objective factual reality - uncover and measure patterns of behaviour
what types of research methods do positivists prefer
- Questionnaires
- Structured interviews
- Experiments
- Official statistics
what type of data do interpretivists prefer and whY
prefer qualitative data to uncover universe of meaning - actions are not a product of external forces
why types of research methods do interpretivists prefer
- Participant observations
- Unstructured interviews
- Personal documents
what is random sampling
sample is selected purely by chance - everyone has equal chance of being selected
what is systematic sampling / quasi random
where every nth person in the sampling frame is selected.
what is stratified random sampling
the researcher first stratifies the population in the sampling frame eg by age, gender class - then the sample is created in the same proportions
what is quota sampling
population is stratified and then interviewer just finds the people who fit the brief as they come
what is snowball sampling
involves collecting a sample by contacting a number of key individuals and then ask them to suggest other they know who also fit the brief to be interviewed
what is opportunity sampling/convenience sampling
choosing from those individuals who are easiest to access - not likely to be representative
what is a case study
involves the detailed examination of a single case eg school, family, individual - not representative and cant be generalised
