Research Methods Studies Flashcards
Longitudinal Research - Parker
Parker studies drug use in a group of 1125 teenagers for four years from 14 to 18 and found types of drugs used overtime changed.
Positivist Approach to Research - Durkheim
Durkheim studied suicide in a positivist way as he looked at the official statistics on suicide rates on different countries and social groups. He found married people without children committed suicide more than married people with children and single people committed more than married people.
Interpretivist Approach to Research - Atkinson
Atkinson studies suicide in an interpretivist way. He interviewed coroners and found they have a typical suicide and typical victim pictured in their head.
Covert Participant Observation Research - Humphreys Tea Room Trade
Humphrey was interested in social behaviour of homosexual men as they met in public toilets. He adapted role of ‘watch queen’ and was a lookout. He interviewed the men, pretending it was a health survey and found over 50% were married and tried to live a respectable life.
Overt Participant Observation Research - Venkatesh
Venkatesh spent nearly 10 years conducting an overt observation on the Black Kings Crack Gang in Chicago. On his first day he was held at knife point until the gang leader arrived who he managed to befriend, giving huge insights. He was constantly worried about his ethical position due to criminal behaviour he witnessed and involved guilty knowledge.
Non Participant Observation - Zimbardo
Zimbardo placed abandoned cars in different neighborhoods to observe how people reacted. He watched from a distance without interacting, analysing how long it would take for the cars to be vandalised.
Case Study (Ethnography) - Prichard
Prichards study of the Azande looking on their belief systems, witchcraft and magic
Lab experiment - Zimbardo
Zimbardo Stanford Prison Experiment - 24 US males, social roles - prisoners and police officers
Field study - Rosenthal and Jacobson
Investigated the effect of teachers expectations on pupils academic performance. 20% defined as spurters and after a year 47% of spurters gained 20 plus IQ points.
Questionnaire - Cumberbatch
Gave young people questionnaires on horror films and a large number reported seeing horror films on the list that did not exist.
Group Interview - Willis
Willis ‘the lads’ interviewed WC boys to observe their interactions and make them more comfortable
Structured Interview - Wilmott and Young
Study of family life in Bethnall Green and found this technique brought a better response
Unstructured Interviews - Dobash and Dobash
Used this on a study of domestic violence as it was a socially sensitive subject.
Documents - Laslett
Laslett investigated two beliefs that people got married much earlier in past centuries and that families were much bigger and extended in the past. He used church parish records and found these not to be true.
Content Analysis - Lobban
Focussed on six primary school reading schemes in the 1960s and 70s. Twice as many stories had a male centred character and females were depicted in domestic roles.
