Research Methods Flashcards
What are ‘descriptive questions’?
Describing something or looking at the extent/amount of something
What are ‘explanatory questions’?
Looking at ‘why’ something happens
What are ‘evaluative questions’?
Weighing up whether something has worked or not
What are ‘predictive questions’?
Working out what might be the likely outcomes/effects of something
What are ‘empathetic questions’?
What it is like to experience something
What type of question is:
“Why do men commit more crime than women?”
Descriptive, explanatory, evaluate, predictive, empathetic
Explanatory
What type of question is:
“How many crimes were committed in Britain last year?”
Descriptive, explanatory, evaluate, predictive, empathetic
Descriptive
What type of question is:
“Has anti-social crime decreased since ASBOs have been introduced?”
(Descriptive, explanatory, evaluate, predictive, empathetic)
Evaluative
What type of question is:
“What is it like to be a member of a gang?”
Descriptive, explanatory, evaluate, predictive, empathetic
Empathetic
What type of question is:
“Is drug related crime likely to be reduced if class A drugs are legalised?” (Descriptive, explanatory, evaluate, predictive, empathetic)
Predictive
What type of question is:
“What is the most commonly committed crime in Britain?”
Descriptive, explanatory, evaluate, predictive, empathetic
Descriptive
Why might a sociologist decide to study a particular topic?
- getting payed to
- personal interest
- past experiences
- want to change views/raise profile
- political or theoretical
What is the positivist tradition?
Scientific research
What is the interpretivist tradition?
More qualitative data and is more sympathetic
What are the missing worlds?
“Sociologist should try and be ______ and keep as much _______ __________ as they can from those that they are studying in order to be as objective as possible”
- impartial
- social distance
What does the word ‘reliability’ mean in sociology?
Means the study can be replicated by other researchers
What do you call the method where sociologists compare their data with other studies to see if there are any trends or patterns?
Comparative method
What do you call it when sociologists use there findings from a sample of the population (representative of society as a whole) and then apply it to the rest of the general population?
Making a generalisation
Who did a study on suicide?
Emile Durkheim
What do sociologists with the interpretivist view argue?
They argue that human behaviour and social actions are so complex and varied, that it is impossible to generate a ‘social law’ that applies to everyone
What are qualitative techniques?
Participant observation or informal interviews
Why are qualitative techniques used?
Allow the researcher to understand the meaning which people attach to their behaviour
What research did James Patrick carry out in 1960s?
Research on gangs in Glasgow
Book: ‘a Glasgow Gang observed’
What is ‘random sampling’?
Every member of the sampling team has an equal chance of being selected
