Research Methods Flashcards
(24 cards)
Practical issues
Time and resources
Access and subject matter
Money and funding
Ethical issues
Informed consent
Confidentiality/ privacy
Effects on those taking part
Theoretical issues
Representativeness
Reliability
Validity
What are positivists
They see sociology as a science
Prefer quantitative data
They look for patterns of behaviour
What are interpretivists
Try to understand issues/ face to face
Prefer qualitative data
What are close ended questions
Where respondents must choose and answer such as yes/no
What are open ended questions
Respondents can answer freely in their own words
What is a hypothesis
A possible explanation that can be tested by collecting evidence to prove if it’s true or false
What are pilot studies
Smaller surveys that are carried out before the main surveys. This helps decided on how to change your survey and make it better
What is a sample
A smaller sub-group drawn from the wider group that we are interested in
What is sampling
The process of selecting a sample
What is a sampling frame
A list of all the members of the population you are studying
What is random sampling
Simple technique , the sample is selected by chance
Quasi-random or systematic
Every nth person in the frame is selected
What is stratified sampling
The research first stratifies ( breaks down) the population, it is then created in the same proportions
Quota sampling
Where the population is stratified as above and then each interviewer is given a quota of ( e.g, 10 men and women) that they have to follow with respondents, who fit these characters
Practical
Carrying out the survey, how to do it
Ethical
Whether what the researched does is right
Theoretical
The data you want/ get
Structured interview advantages
Quantifiable
Reliable
Valid
High response rate
Structures interview disadvantages
Time consuming
Questions can be biased
Inflexible
Unstructured interview advantages
Flexible
Valise
Can check understanding
Unstructured disadvantages
Time consuming
Requires training
Not reliable
Cannot quantify
Method types
Questionnaire, interview, experiment, observations, official stats, historical documents
