research methods Flashcards
what is the difference between primary data and secondary
primary: collected by themselves + research is first hand
secondary: information that has been compiled by others + data that already exits
advantages + disadvantages of using primary data
advantage: will be able to gather precise information they need to test their hypothesis
disadvantage: can be time consuming and expensive
advantages and disadvantages of using secondary data
advantage: quick and cheap way of doing research
disadvantage: its been produced for many reasons and may not find the research that the researcher is looking for
examples of primary data
experiments, questionnaires, interviews and participant and non participant observation
examples of using secondary data
official statistics, documents, newspapers and so on
what is quantitative data
- numerical data- usually comes in the form of statistics or percentages could be presented in a pie chart, graph e.c.t
allows macro level of research
why is quantitative data useful?
because it measures the strengths of relationships between different factors/ variables
examples of quantitative data
official statistics analysis on how many girls passed their gcses
what is qualitative data
-data is non numerical-usually comes in words or images
its micro level of research
why is qualitative data useful
could provide a richer and more in depth picture of social life- gives you a ‘feel’ for what something is like
key note; bottom up sociologist prefer this
example of qualitative data
newspaper article assessing the current state of education
what are the 5 aims/ goals when carrying out research
1) validity; data is valid if it presents a true, genuine and accurate picture, description OR measurements which enables researcher to get close to the truth BUT its difficult to achieve for number of reasons e.g. when people are being research they may change their behaviour ( H. affect)
2) reliability; data is reliable when another sociologist who repeats the research using similar sample + same method obtaining the same/ similar results
3) representativeness; KEY TERM: research population - group that the research is focused on. IMPORTANT that the sample is typical cross section of the wider group + sample cant be too small/ large sample or sociologist cant generalise on too little/ too much data
4) generalisability; most researchers want to generalise from the data they have been collecting, they wish to say the behavior/ attitudes found in sample can contribute to the wider population that is typical
5) objectivity; is the idea that all sources of personal views towards research can make it bias, could be eliminated from the researcher progress could be done by using random sampling technique e.c.t
practical factors of topic choice
1) access: some groups of people have the power to shut down sociologist or they may be suspicious of authority and not be wished to have their activities monitored e.g. anti school subcultures
2) source of funding: they subject matter maybe shaped by those who control the strings e.g. government may avoid funding research that sets out to be critical of educational policy
3) interests, values and politics of the researcher they may feel the need to highlight some injustice/ inequality
practical factors of choosing what research method to use
1) cost: some methods can be expensive. e.g. unstructured interviews and observation tend to be more expensive that questionnaires
2) time available: some methods are more suitable if sociologists only have a limited time period in which to carry out the research
3) subject matter: if it is sensitive/ embarrassing topics being used, it will make sense to use methods that are face to face
4) social characteristics; the age, social class, gender and ethnicity of the researcher and the research objectives may mean that certain methods may not work e.g. black students may not cooperate with white middle aged interviewers
5) type of data? quantitative or qualitative or a mix of both?
6) size sample: if large number of research subjects are required - questionnaires are structure interviews are suited. if small sample size - unstructured interviews are suited
ethical factors when carrying out research
1) honesty: researchers should avoid deceit and be honest about the purpose of their research
2) confidentiality: researchers need tp protect the identity and privacy of their research subjects by ensuring anonymity and confidentiality
3) avoid harming people: researchers must avoid doing any harm to their subjects. they should not encourage criminal/ immoral behaviour
4) informed consent; researchers should seek informed consent from their research subjects or their parent/ guardians
researchers should not engage in disreputable activities in the pursuit of their research. they have a duty of care to their research team
