Research methods

Question 1

What does P.E.R.V.E.R.T stand for?

Answer 1

Practical
Ethical
Reliability
Validity
Example
Representative
Theoretical

Question 2

What is Primary Data?

Answer 2

Information collected first hand by sociologists themselves for their own research purposes. Data not already in existence.

Question 3

Which methods are a source of primary data?

Answer 3

• Experiments
• Social Surveys
• Participant observations

Question 4

What two types of experiments are there?

Answer 4

• Field

- Lab

Question 5

What is the difference between a field and Lab experiment?

Answer 5

A Lab experiment is a test carried out in controlled conditions in an artificial setting to establish a cause and effect relationship between two or more variables.
A Field experiment has the same aim but is carried out in a natural setting, e.g. street.

Question 6

What is Secondary Data?

Answer 6

Information collected by people or organisations for non-sociological purposes. Sociologist will then make use of this second hand information?

Question 7

Why might sociologists use secondary data?

Answer 7

• Cheap or free
• Readily available
• Covers large numbers

Question 8

What does Objectivity mean?

Answer 8

Outside of what is happening. Remain detached therefore the research would be seen as unbiased and more factual.

Question 9

What does Subjectivity mean?

Answer 9

Could enter the research therefore could be bias. The value of information is reflection the view of the researcher.

Question 10

What are the Ethical Concerns with Lab Experiments?

Answer 10

• Only play a limited role in educational research - due to ethical concerns with working with young people.
• Most do not involve real pupils so have fewer ethical implications.
• Usually only examine one specific aspect of behaviour. This allows researcher to isolate and examine the variable more thoroughly but can result in too narrow a focus.

Question 11

What are the Practical Problems with Lab Experiments?

Answer 11

• It is impossible to identify or control all the variables that might exert an influence on teachers expectations.
• Some educational issues cannot be studied in small scale lab settings.

Question 12

What is the artificiality of Lab Experiments?

Answer 12

-May mean that they tell us little about the real world of education.

Question 13

What are the Ethical problems with Field Experiments?

Answer 13

-Unlikely to be given permission to be conducted today.

Question 14

How reliable are field experiments?

Answer 14

• Easy to repeat

- Cannot be replicated due to the differences in teachers and pupils involved etc.

Question 15

Why in education are field experiments said to be better than Lab experiments?

Answer 15

• Broader focus.
• Able to study a number of factors such as teachers expectations, labelling, and the self-fulfilling prophecy rather than just examining single elements in isolation.

Question 16

What are Practical Issues?

Answer 16

Refers to factors such as time, cost, location. These can affect which method a sociologist uses.

Question 17

What are the 4 practical advantages of official statistics?

Answer 17

-huge amount of free quantitative data.
-Sociologist can use data from the state or government saving them time and money.
-Allows comparisons between groups e.g.educational achievement
achievement.
-Collected at regular intervals - show patterns and trends over time. Can be used for ‘before and after’ studies to show cause and effect relationships. E.g. Can compare divorce statistics before and after a change in the law.

Question 18

What are the 3 practical disadvantages of official statistics?

Answer 18

• Government collects data for own purposes, not for the benefit of sociologists, therefore there may not always be data for topic interested in.e.g. Durkheim’s study of suicide found no statistics on religion of suicide victims.
• Definitions that the state use in collecting data may be different from what sociologists might use.
• If definitions change over time, this could make comparisons difficult. E.g. Unemployment has changed 30 times from 1980 - 1990.

Question 19

Representativeness and official statistics.

Answer 19

• Official statistics often cover large numbers and because care is taken with sampling procedures, they often provide a more representative sample that surveys conducted with the limited resources available to the sociologist.
• Some statistics may be less representative than others. E.g. Statistics gathered by compulsory registration such as birth are likely to cover all cases and therefore representative.
• Statistics produced by official surveys may be less representative because they are only based on a sample of the relevant population.

Question 20

What are the four secondary sources?

Answer 20

• Historical Documents
• Government Reports
• Life/Personal Documents
• Mass Media and Content Analysis

Question 21

Strengths of Historical Documents?

Answer 21

• Can study social changes which take place over an extended period of time.
• Past events are important in understanding contemporary patterns in social life.

Question 22

Weaknesses of Historical documents?

Answer 22

• Should be treated with caution and is dangerous to make generalisations based on such findings.
• Quantitative data does not provide sufficient detail, no way of checking for this.
• Qualitative documents may be unreliable and open to a number of different interpretations.