research methods Flashcards
reliability
same or similar results are produced
verstehen
understanding
rapport
a relationship which is built on trust and respect so in an interview the responses are more likely to be valid
validitity
whether the research and its findings give a true picture of what is being studied
hypothesis
a predictive statement
aim
overall purpose of research
primary data
data generated by the sociologist
secondary data
data that has already been collected by another person
quantitative
numbers normally converted into tables and graphs
qualitative
information in a written form made up off personal accounts (opinions,feelings)
official statistics
quantitative data produced by the government
non official statistics
quantitative data produced by organisations outside the government
structured interview
closed questions not much flexibility
semi structured interview
open and closed questions
unstructured interview
guided conversation but most questions are made up on the spot
content analysis
analyse the media such as newspapers and magazines
non participant observation
researcher observes but does not take part
participant observation
researcher takes part
pattern
link between variables
trends
changes over time
researcher imposition
where the personal characteristics of the researcher impact the validity
subjectivity
the researcher interpreting something from their own viewpoint and getting personally involved
reflexivity
researchers are aware of how their decisions and actions may impact on their social behaviour
objectivity/value freedom
making sure what you are saying is unbiased, and independent of personal opinions or emotions when observing, analying, or presenting information.
operationalisation
to break down the hypothesis into something that can be consistently observed or measured
durkheim
examined nineteenth century suicide statistics and concluded that suicide was a social fact and that suicide behaviour was shaped by the nature of the society of which the individual belonged
atkinson
looked at coroners decision making and how they interpret evidence such as suicide noted
sampling frame
is a list of names of all or most of the people in a particular target population
random sampling
selecting names randomly from a sampling frame
systematic sampling
a system for selecting names such as every tenth or fourth name
jagger
researched whether age is still an important part of identity and whether this varies by gender
stratified sampling
involves diving the sample frame into a number of sections
snowball sampling
involves finding and interviewing a person who fits the research needs and asking them to suggest another person who may be interested
volunteer sampling
to access volunteers an advertisement could be placed on a website or in the newspaper
opportunity sampling
choosing individuals who are avaliable at the time of the study
purposive sampling
when a researcher choose specific people within the population to use for a particular study
quota sampling
they select people by going to a public place such as a shopping centre and asking people they come across to take part
informed consent
ensure the participant is fully aware they are part of the study and they should know the purpose of the research so they can say whether or not they want to take part
no deception
sociologists should not keep information about the research or lie about the purpose
privacy and confidentiality
the privacy of the research subject should be safeguarded as much as possible
protection from harm
the researcher should not emotionally or physically affect the participant so the researcher should or ask questions that create anxiety or fear
no illegality or immorality
make sure behaviour is never illegal or immoral sociologists need to avoid being drawn into situations where they commit crimes or assist or witness
not put self at risk
researchers need to avoid putting themselves in situations which they r their research team are put at risk of physical harm
strengths of random sampling
-less bias -everyone has equal advantage of being picked
-higher in generalisability
weakness of random sampling sampling
-might not be representatve
-may not be able to get a sampling frame
-time consuming and not easier so more expensive
strengths of non random techniques
-dont need sampling frame-quicker
-more practical cheaper
weakness of non random techniques
-more bias
-less generalisabity
-not representative
