Research methods

Question 1

What is primary data?

Answer 1

Information that has been collected first-hand by sociologists themselves for their own research purposes

Question 2

What is secondary data?

Answer 2

information collected not by sociologists themselves for their own research purposes, but by other people or organisations for non-sociological purposes.
- Usually free or cheap
- Often includes official statistics, the media and personal documents

Question 3

What is quantitative data?

Answer 3

Information in numerical form (percentages, tables, graphs etc). Official statistics and the results of social surveys are two important sources of quantitative data

Question 4

What is qualitative data?

Answer 4

Data representing information and concepts that cannot be represented by numbers

Question 5

What is objectivity?

Answer 5

a lack of bias, judgement or prejudice

Question 6

What is subjectivity?

Answer 6

when judgement is made based on personal bias

Question 7

What is validity in sociological research?

Answer 7

the capacity of a research method to measure what it sets out to measure. A valid method method is thus one that gives a truthful picture

Question 8

What is an interview schedule?

Answer 8

The list of questions to be asked in an interview. It is useful because it allows some standardisation of the interviewing process, since all interviewers will use the same schedule of questions

Question 9

What is the Hawthorne Effect?

Answer 9

Behaviour change due to awareness of awareness.

Question 10

What is a questionnaire?

Answer 10

Written list of questions for data collection

Question 11

State advantages of questionnaires

Answer 11

Easy comparison, cost-effective, quick, respondent anonymity

Question 12

State disadvantages of questionnaires

Answer 12

Limited responses, low rates, sensitive topic reluctance

Question 13

What is a structured interview?

Answer 13

Interviews with a rigid set of questions

Question 14

State advantages of structured interviews?

Answer 14

High response rates, increased validity, comparable results

Question 15

State disadvantages of structured interviews?

Answer 15

Formality reduces rapport, no flexibility, cost issues

Question 16

What is an unstructured interview

Answer 16

Flexible interviews without a set question pattern

Question 17

State advantages of unstructured interviews

Answer 17

Flexible, detailed, reduced bias, open-ended questions

Question 18

State disadvantages of unstructured interviews

Answer 18

Inconsistent, low generalizability, time-consuming

Question 19

What is an Overt Participant Observation?

Answer 19

Participants know they are being observed

Question 20

State advantages of Overt Participation Observation?

Answer 20

Gains unique insights, allows objective data collection.

Question 21

State disadvantages of Overt Participation Observation?

Answer 21

Time-consuming, ethical concerns, may induce Hawthorne effect

Question 22

What is Covert Participation Observation?

Answer 22

Participants unaware they are being studied

Question 23

State advantages of Covert Participation Observation

Answer 23

High validity, researchers maintain a low profile

Question 24

State disadvantages of Covert Participation Observation

Answer 24

Raises ethical concerns, time- consuming

Question 25

What is an Overt Non-participation Observation?

Answer 25

Participants know researchers are present but do not interact

Question 25

State advantages of Overt Non-participation Observation

Answer 25

Objective data, ethical, informed consent obtained

Question 26

State disadvantages of Overt Non-participation Observation

Answer 26

Susceptible to Hawthorne effect

Question 27

What is Covert Non-participation Observation?

Answer 27

Participants unaware of being observed at all

Question 28

State advantages of Covert Non-participation

Answer 28

minimises the risk of people being affected by the presence of a researcher

Question 29

State disadvantages of Covert Non-participation

Answer 29

Raises ethical concerns (no informed consent)

Question 30

What are Laboratory Experiments?

Answer 30

Controlled experiments testing specific hypotheses

Question 31

State advantages of Laboratory Experiments

Answer 31

High control, reliable, replicable conditions

Question 32

State disadvantages of Laboratory Experiments

Answer 32

Artificial environment, deception issues, unrepresentative results

Question 33

What are Field Experiments?

Answer 33

Experiments in natural settings with controllable elements

Question 34

State advantages of field experiments

Answer 34

High ecological validity, establishes casual relationships

Question 35

State disadvantages of field experiments

Answer 35

Less control over variables, difficult to replicate

Question 36

What are Official statistics?

Answer 36

Quantitive data collected by government agencies

Question 37

State advantages of Official Statistics

Answer 37

Cheap, easy to collect, Objective and reliable, as they are usually collected under strict guidelines

Question 38

State disadvantages of Official Statistics

Answer 38

data is collected for administrative and policy purposes (and specifically for sociological research) classification and definitions may vary or not be useful Data produced by the state might have been presented in such a way as to make the government look better or avoid embarrassment

Question 39

What are Personal Documents?

Answer 39

Private written documents intended for limited audience

Question 40

State advantages of Personal documents

Answer 40

They can provide information that may not be covered in official documents They can be easy to access if the owner(s) are willing to reveal them

Question 41

State disadvantages of Personal documents

Answer 41

Documents may not be genuine They may not be representative, so findings cannot be generalised Using private documents without permission can cause ethical problems related to consent

Question 42

What are Public Documents?

Answer 42

Reports created by organisations for public access

Question 43

State advantages of Public Documents

Answer 43

provide valid in-depth qualitative data, providing insights into the attitudes, values, and meanings of those people who produced them

Question 44

State disadvantages of Public Documents

Answer 44

Researchers have to work with existing data, and so they may not find what they need It may take a lot of time to go through the documents if they are in-depth

Question 45

What are Historical Documents?

Answer 45

Documents from the past providing historical insights

Question 46

State advantages of Historical Documents

Answer 46

Historical documents can offer useful insights into the past, and in some cases, they may be the only way of studying past events. Public historical documents, such as records and reports, may be easily accessible

Question 47

State disadvantages of Historical Documents

Answer 47

It may be difficult to verify the authenticity of some historical documents Words and meanings change over time; this can affect the interpretation of the information

Question 48

What is a Content Analysis?

Answer 48

Method to analyse and codify written works

Question 49

State advantages of Content Analysis

Answer 49

Identifying and counting up the instances of a particular topic means that the data generated from content analyses tend to be quantitative

Question 50

State disadvantages of Content Analysis

Answer 50

Can be extremely time consuming. Is subject to increased error, particularly when relational analysis is used to attain a higher level of interpretation.