Research Methods

Question 1

Laboratory Experiments

Answer 1

-favoured by positivists
-highly controlled environment

Question 2

advantages of laboratory experiments

Answer 2

-highly reliable,

Question 3

disadVantages of laboratory experiments

Answer 3

-the Hawthorne effect (a lab is not a formal or natural environment)
-ethical issues (reseacher needs informed consent of the participants

Question 4

field experiments

Answer 4

-take place in real social world
-those involved are usually unaware of the research taking place

Question 5

advantages of field experiments

Answer 5

-less artificiality
-validity ( people are unaware of the experimental situation

Question 6

disadvantages of field experiments

Answer 6

-ethical issues ( experiment carried out on people without their informed consent)
-limited application

Question 7

structured interview

Answer 7

• positivist favoured method
  -face to face or over the phone

Question 8

advantages of structured interview

Answer 8

-practical(easy and cheap to administer)
-reliable (structured process provides a recipe for reproducibility)
-quantifiable because they use close ended questions

Question 9

disadvantages of structured interview

Answer 9

-lack of validity: people may lie or exaggerate
-+ the use of close ended questions can restrict information

Question 9

unstructured interview advantages

Answer 9

-flexibility (the interviewer is not restricted to a fixed set of questions
-valid (people can be open and truthful due to opened ended questions

Question 10

unstructured intervierws

Answer 10

-interpretivist favoured
method
-open ended question

Question 11

unstructured interview disadvantage

Answer 11

-practical ( time consuming and costly due to interview training)
-unrepresentative ( small research samples)
-not reliable (due to how the questions are open)

Question 11

questionnaires

Answer 11

-favoured by positivists
-via post email or handed out in person

Question 12

questionnaires advantages

Answer 12

-practical (cheap and quick)
-quantifiable data
-representative (reach a geographically widespread research sample

Question 13

questionaires disadvantages

Answer 13

-response rate (postal questionnaires in particular is very low)
-low validity (people may be more willing to lie)
-unrepresenative (people are too busy)

Question 14

observations

Answer 14

-either be participant or non participant (meaning researcher is involved in one)

Question 15

participant observations (researcher joins in the activities of the group they are researching) advantages

Answer 15

-valid (groups are observed in a natural settings + detailed data

Question 16

disadvantages of participant observation

Answer 16

-unreliable (open ended questions cannot be replicated)
-unrepresentative (small scale groups)
-not valid (Hawthorne effect)

Question 17

non participant observation

Answer 17

• the observer avoids any direct involvement with the researchers group

Question 18

advantages of non participant observation

Answer 18

valid- limited risk of the researcher going native

Question 19

disadvantages of non participant observation

Answer 19

not reliable
-not representative (involves a small scale sample )

Question 20

overt observations

Answer 20

the researcher explains their research intention to the group so participants are aware

Question 21

overt observation pros

Answer 21

-less ethical issues that covert as participants know they are being researched
-higher level of reliability than covert

Question 22

overt observation cons

Answer 22

-practical (time consuming)
-lacks validity (Hawthorne effect)
-less reliable (difficult to repeat )

Question 23

covert observation

Answer 23

researcher keeps their real identity an purpose secret from search subjects

Question 24

advantages of covert observation

Answer 24

-more valid than overt because lack of hawthorn effect -research obtained is more valid because you have a first hand insight

Question 25

disadvantages of covert observation

Answer 25

-ethical issue (immoral to decive people) -reasercher has to gain trust and acceptance (may be time consuming)

Question 26

official statistics

Answer 26

quantitative data collected by government bodies -favoured by positivist

Question 27

pros of official statistics

Answer 27

-practical (cheap, easy to access) -representative ( often cover large groups of people eg crime stats incorporate whole country)

Question 28

cons of official statistics

Answer 28

the government collects the stats for their own benefit, is they may not cover what sociologists specifically want to study

Question 29

documents

Answer 29

secondary data favoured by interpretivists which are created by individuals or groups -mainly comprising qualitative data

Question 30

pros of personal documents (diaries, letters)

Answer 30

-valid (written for personal purposes so have a high degree of validity) -practical (cheap and save researchers time)

Question 31

cons of personal documents

Answer 31

-some groups are unlikely to produce personal documents such as letters their views aren't represented while those with time and literacy skills may be overrepresented

Question 32

quantitative data (numbers) pros

Answer 32

-practical ( collect information quickly eg surveys) -allows for a larger sample size - preferred by positivists as they are looking to establish trends and patterns

Question 33

quantitative data cons

Answer 33

- can't understand why something is changing as it doesn't go into detail -low validity (dont know If someone is lying )

Question 34

qualitative data (words) pros

Answer 34

- more in depth data - more ethical (useful for sensitive topics) -prefered by interpretivists

Question 35

qualitative data cons

Answer 35

-low reliability ( hard to repeat) -practical issue (time consume + costly) -low representativeness ( small sample)

Question 36

primary methods of data collection

Answer 36

-questionaires -interviews -observation -experiments

Question 37

secondary sources of data

Answer 37

-documents -official statistics -personal diary -historical documents