research methods intro

Question 1

what is primary data?

Answer 1

collected by the social researchers themselves

Question 2

what is secondary data?

Answer 2

the social research uses pre-existing data - already collected by others

Question 3

what is quantitative data ?

Answer 3

numerical data - (numbers) mostly statistics
nonnumerical data- comes in forms of words and images

Question 4

what is a pilot study ?

Answer 4

• trialling research
• a small scale study used to assess whether the research can be carried out
• used to identify problems the researcher was unaware of.

Question 5

PET - Practical factors

Answer 5

• time
• money and funding
• access - a gate keeper the individual who has the ability to grant access to researchers ie : school = headteacher
• location
• language
• characteristics of the researcher - sexuality , gender etc

Question 6

PET - ethical factors

Answer 6

• informed consent
• confidentiality
• data security - GDPR - keeping confidential info secure ie not leaking it or giving it to other companies
• privacy getting to involved
  -protection from harm - psychological and physical
• the British sociological association set strict ethical guidelines - they decide whether the research goes ahead or not.

Question 7

PET - theoretical issues - representative and reliability

Answer 7

• representative the extent to which a sample reflects a researchers target population and target which means you might need a bigger sample scale
• reliability - the extent to which the research study could be replicated by another researcher - the process should be the same.

Question 8

PET - theoretical issues - validity and theoretical perspective

Answer 8

validity - the extent in which the piece of research measures what its set out to do or how well it reflects the reality its meant to represent (ie are the participants lying?)
theoretical perspective - your sociological theoretical position may impact your research ie Marxists and positivists

Question 9

what is positivism ?

Answer 9

• a structural view of society , humans are like puppets of society so an individuals behaviour is not freewill or choice
• they look at how social institutions effect the individual - macro approach
• use scientific methods that will be reliable (graphs)

Question 10

what is interpretivism ?

Answer 10

• individuals shape society they have free will
• they argue social behaviour is the result of how people interpret their interactions with other-humans
• apply meaning to human behaviours - hugging
• study small scale human interactions
• prefer qualitative data such as - photos