Research Methods

Question 1

Questionnaires

Answer 1

Census-

Posted every 10 years, legal form to fill out

In 2001, 0.7% of people answered their religion as Jedi, shows it may not be taken seriously

Connor and Dewson-

Looked at factors influencing the decisions of working-class students gaining entry to university

Data was processed quickly by a computer

Question 2

Laboratory

Answer 2

Milgram-

Volunteers became ‘teachers’, and electrocuted the ‘learner’ when they got an answer wrong, with increasing voltage

Mayo-

Researched factors affecting workers productivity

The workers knew this research was happening

Question 3

Field experiments

Answer 3

Rosenthal+Jacobson-

Randomly IQ tested lots of pupils and told teachers certain pupils were spurters

Found spurters made the most progress

Question 4

Structured interview

Answer 4

Willmott and Young-

Researched extended families in London, 933 sample size

Each interview took 10-30 minutes

British crime survey-

Asked members of the public about crime they had experienced

75% of those invited to take part did

Question 5

Unstructured interview

Answer 5

Dobash and Dobash-

Found out about DV victims, some interviews took up to 8 hours

Dean and Taylor-Gooby-

Investigated claimant’s experiences of unemployment

Gave interviewers the freedom to talk in their own terms

Question 6

Group interviews

Answer 6

Paul Willis (same for NPO)

Studied WC boys in school, wanted to know what impact their background had on their education

Question 7

Participant observations

Answer 7

Venkatesh-

Spent 18 months, over 7 years, participating in a gang in Chicago

Gained insights on their illegal and violent behavior

Question 8

Official statistics

Answer 8

Durkheim-

Researched suicide, wanted to prove sociology is a science

Assumed all statistics were true

Question 9

Documents

Answer 9

Anne Frank (historical documents)-

To investigate the holocaust

Personal information about her, unethical