Research methods Flashcards
Positivism; key facts about their research?
- identify patterns and trends in data
- make comparisons of data over time
- finding correlations to identify cause and effect relationships between variables
- value free and objective research
- quantitative data collection (numerical data is favoured)
- operationalise key variables and concepts
- experiments (laboratory and field) are repeatable and therefore results can be checked and verified
- Durkheim follows the Positivist approach
Positivism; disadvantages?
- social reality cannot be studied in the same way as the natural world (natural sciences) because in the social world people interpret situations in different ways.
- they ignore human free will and rely on laboratory experiments as a research method
- ignore the subjective experience of individuals focusing on objective approach (ignore interpretations and meanings that people place on their actions)
- statistical data lacks verstehen (depth, meaning and reasoning)
Interpretivism; key facts
- qualitative data that’s rich, detailed, high quality and descriptive that shows meanings and motives
- reject positivism and natural sciences because we’re dealing with humans in sociology and so meaning is attached to how they act
- important to gain a rapport with the people being researched as this increases validity
- gives us good verstehen (empathetic understanding)
- aim to be reflective to examine if the participants’ behaviour changes during research
- participant observation, unstructured interviews and personal documents etc
Interpretivism; disadvantages?
- usually focuses on small samples and they might not be representative of a wider group or population in general.
- difficult to replicate because much of the research is the product of the unique rapport that the researcher has built up with members of the group. Another sociologist would produce a different set of data therefore reliability cannot be guaranteed (unreliable)
- research may be biased because it’s not value free
10 Main stages of the research process (area of interest to conclusion)
- Area of interest (choice of topic)
- Background research (helps to formulate your research question)
- Hypothesis
- Choice of research method (qualitative or quantitative)
- Detailed planning of your research (eg operationalise key concepts)
- Pilot study (testing out questions)
- Revise your methods if necessary (are they valid and reliable?)
- Carry out the research
- Analyse the results
- Conclusions
Define validity?
Whether the research findings give a true picture of what is being studied
Define reliability?
A reliable measure would produce the same results on different occasions
Define representativeness?
The people who take part in the research should have characteristics that are typical of the wider population being studied. They should come from the same or similar socioeconomic backgrounds and reflect the same ratio of gender, age and ethnicity.
Define generalisability?
Means that the sociologist can safely conclude that what is true of the sample that was was actually studied is probably true of the wider population to which the sample belongs.
What’s a longitudinal study?
It’s carried out over a period of weeks/months/years in order to study changes or developments over an extended period of time, it can also be used to identify casual relationships and correlations between variables eg health and class
- the sample must be carefully considered, should remain relatively large and should aim to prevent participants from dropping out
- how will it be funded
- ethical issues need to be considered
Longitudinal Studies; What’s a panel study?
The data is collected from a sample selected from sampling frames such as the postcode address file. The sample unit may be individuals, households or organisations.
Longitudinal Studies; What’s a cohort study?
They aim to study people who have the same social characteristics eg age. A whole group of people might be studied eg a class at school or a sample or the class might be studied.
Longitudinal Studies; methods?
Interviews
Observations
Ethnography
Longitudinal Studies; Advantages? Disadvantages?
- identify trends and patterns and correlations over time
- verstehen
- good rapport with the participants, more comfortable and open, results might be more valid
- can be expensive
- time consuming
- respondents may drop out which results in a smaller sample and this might not be representative of the population / group
- relationships built may mean the results are not reliable because they’re biased
Primary data ?
Eg Interviews, Observations, Questionnaires
Which enable new data collection that did not exist before the research began
Positivism - use quantitative methods eg a questionnaire or interview with a scaling system. Quantitative data eg stats/facts/figures are More reliable but less valid because they lack depth.
Interpretivism - qualitative methods eg unstructured interviews and observations. More valid because it shows meanings and motives but less reliable because replication of the same data/results might not be possible
Choosing a primary data research method?
- reliable = same/similar results produced by repeating method
- valid research = provides a true picture of what’s being studied or measured
- practicality;
Quantitative > qualitative because it’s more practical and less time consuming and allow you to study a large sample of people
Primary data; lab experiments?
Experiments conducted in a lab tend to use scientific equipment to measure the variables and concepts.
Advantages = variables can be controlled and experiments tend to have high control. Reliable as used in natural sciences. BUT the settings are generally artificial and we can’t study humans using that, it doesn’t give a true representation (less validity).
Primary data; field experiments?
Conducted in a natural setting/situation eg a classroom. Behaviour can be studied with some form of control.
BUT less control = results can be inaccurate. Hawthorne effect, people can change their behaviour because they’re being studied so giving inaccurate results,
Primary data; case studies?
These examine one particular case or instance eg a life history of an individual.
Advantages - Can be used to prove or disprove a hypothesis. Give new info or insight into a topic. Can become a pilot study.
BUT can be limited, unrepresentative of the general population.
Secondary data key points?
Official statistics is the best example. Form of secondary data which collects data in a quantitative manner that would be favoured by Positivist sociologists but rejected by interpretivists.
Secondary data; Official statistics key points?
The best source come from the census which is undertaken every 10 years by every household in the UK.
But can also be collected from
- registration
- official surveys (ONS responsible for all UK stats)
They tend to be reliable but not very valid
Governments may however manipulate statistics to their advantage which is called political bias therefore reporting them in a way making them not very valid. Eg governments might hide some data, released when there’s other news in the media dominating BUT if this is the only data available then sociologists have the rely on this
Secondary data; Advantages of official statistics?
- well planned, organised, detailed, official statistics should be quite reliable.
- representative samples are used to collect official statistics and these samples are very large (much larger than the sociologist could conduct alone due to lack of funding) eg census = whole of uk
- some research is conducted regularly and therefore has high temporal validity because the research is up to date and current
- published stats are usually readily available for everyone to access and use and they cost nothing or little to access eg through the internet
- patterns and trends of data are usually very easy to identify and recognise and this can be very useful when analysing large amounts of official statistics
Secondary data; Disadvantages of official statistics?
might not be fit for purpose if they’re not measuring what they intend to do eg annual crime stats by the home office don’t provide an accurate representation of crime due to unreported and unrecorded crime not part of this.
The government compiles and collects official stats so they might be biased in their political outlook and therefore not neutral.
Not very valid as The figures do not express reasons for trends/patterns and they lack meaning. Everything is reduced to a number and means that official statistics can be low in validity.
Secondary data ; non official stats?
Stats collected by independent companies, researches or academic institutions. QUANTITATIVE
+
Objective quantitative data
Quite accessible
-
Can’t guarantee reliability
Can be expensive