Research Methods - Social Flashcards
what can a questionnaire produce?
questionnaires can produce qualitative or quantitative data
name the types of closed questions
rating scale, likert rating scale, semantic rating scale, ranked
rating scale
on a scale of 1-10
likert rating scale
1 - strongly disagree 5 - strongly agree
semantic rating scale
unhealthy- healthy
ranked
most useful- least useful
open ended questions
tell me about the children in this picture…
what is social desirability?
respondent doesn’t give a genuine answer, but one that is seen as more desirable socially
how can social desirability be removed?
using a lie detector
why is social desirability a problem?
can be problematic for research that investigates socially sensitive issues or attitudes and leads to demand characteristics
what is question construction? 
designing questions that aren’t complex, misleading or violate the right to privacy
how can we remove question construction ?
answer scales should be even so a person cannot pick neutral statements and should be reversed to avoid on this just agreeing. 
How can we give questionnaires reliability?
test-retest (external) , split-half (internal)
what is test-retest? 
same people are given the same questionnaire to complete on the on a different occasion, if same results given the reliability can be established
what is split-half?
Splits questions into two halves and compares the findings during analysis. if the answers are different then the questions may be measuring different concepts
how can we give questionnaires validity?
Face validity, predictive, felicity, concurrent validity 
what is face validity?
Looking at each question and deciding, if it is measuring the concept, an expert can be used to review and confirm
What is predictive validity?
It is able to accurately predict the same construct in the future
What is concurrent validity?
compares the test to another, which measures the same construct 
what are structured interviews?
Nature of the questions on the way in which they are asked, is usually the same way, and are closed questions for quantitive data 
Disadvantages with structured interviews
Data can be superficial and lack depth, and no report between the researcher and respondent
what are unstructured interviews?
begins with a loose research a.m. and gathers qualitative data from respondents interviewers need to be analytical and seek meaning have a good listening skills and use nonjudgmental language
advantages with unstructured interviews 
specialist Interviewer needs to be aware of sensitivity and privacy 
What are semi structured interviews?
they are more controversial and dynamic than structured, and have a set of questions to be answered, but have no format to follow can be qualitative and quantitative and conversation can flow
advantages of interviews 
anyone can give an interview and experienced interviewers can give them ambiguous questions on develop further answers
interviewers are a good format of collecting data as you can ask very in detail questions and it is easy for children to answer
you can give ambiguous answers, lots of detail and extensive information
Disadvantages of interviews
when asking questions, interview or characteristics can influence the respondents answer due to sex, age, manner, and personality, and this will affect one of the answers, detailed or true, so can lead to socially desirable characteristics
People may also feel uncomfortable or embarrassed
Name the four sampling methods
Random sampling, stratified, sampling, opportunity, sampling, and volunteer sampling
what is random something? 
every member of the target population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample
Strengths of random sampling
It is unlikely that the sample will be biased as a sample has no control over who is in the sample and all members of the target population have an equal chance of being chosen
weaknesses of random sampling
Random sampling can take time, especially if the target population is large
Stratified sampling
The sample is a proportional representation of the target population when is broken down into smaller groups, you then sample from those groups
strengths of stratified sampling
It can be very representative of the population of them correctly, and the whole population will be equally represented
weaknesses of stratified sampling
It is very time-consuming to do and can be very difficult
opportunity sampling
Example of selects participants from whoever is available at the time
strengths of opportunity sampling
It is convenient to do as the sampler select people who are there so it’s quick and easy and is likely to be ethical as they can give consent.
weaknesses of opportunity sampling
tends to be less representative because the sample was taken from a small section of the population
volunteer sampling
Participants put themselves forward to be in the sample and are therefore self selecting and often has population validity
Strengths of volunteer sampling
The participants would be very motivated. It’s quite easy to do and gives you access to a variety of people you would not have access to.
weaknesses of volunteer sampling
Volunteers are more likely to be similar, as volunteers tend to be more willing and more eager to please in the water population
measures of central tendency
advantages of using the mode
The figure produced will be one that is actually in the set of numbers
useful for nominal data
disadvantages of the mode
not a useful measurement of central tendency on smaller sets of data with frequently occurring same values
More than two scores is meaningless
Advantages of using the medium
good to use with ordinal data
Generally unaffected by anomalies on this easy to use an extreme values
disadvantages of using the median
Doesn’t work on small sets of data
advantages of using the mean
Most appropriate measure of central tendency, and makes use of all the data
disadvantages of using the mean
Can’t be used on data without liars so you need to look at the Royal score before deciding on using the mean
Can end in decimals
Extreme values skew the results
measures of dispersion
advantages of using the range
Indicates that schools are placed together
disadvantages of using the range
Affected by extreme scores
Doesn’t tell us if schools all bunched around the mean score
advantages of using the interquartile range
Cut out extreme scores. Calculate the range of the middle half of scores
advantages of standard deviation
Shows how spread out scores are from the mean
disadvantages of using standard deviation
Require is the mean to be an integer
can only be used on interval data
Doesn’t cover all data types
normal distribution of standard deviation gives
a bell curve
what is qualitative data?
non-numerical language based data collected through interviews, open questions and content analysis
what is the inductive process?
a conclusion is reached based on observations
what is the deductive process?
a way of deducing whether there is evidence for accepting or rejecting an explanation concluded from data by predicting consequences
why do people always carry condoms cause of disease
withdraw
deception
protection of people
advicd
consent
confidentiality
colleagues
observational research
debrief
practical aim
to determine if there was a difference in the level of obedience in men and women using year 12 collegiate students who were approached and asked to do a questionnaire containing a variety of question styles. the obedience was measured using the mean and standard deviation which allowed us to see the range of results.
practical results
female standard deviation (0.76) < male standard deviation (1.3) therefore females were more consistent whilst there is a greater possibility of skewed results w the males
female obedience (6.3) > male obedience (5.8) so females more obedient on average but not by a significant margin
practical conclusion
