Research Methods- Topic 6 (Paper1)

Question 1

Non-participation observation.

Answer 1

The researcher simony observed the group or event without taking part in it. Eg. they may use a 2 way mirror to observe children playing.

Question 2

Participation observation.

Answer 2

The researcher actually takes park in an event or the everyday life of the group while obsessed it.

Question 3

Explain the difference between overt observation and covert observation.

Answer 3

Overt observation is where the researcher makes their true identity and purpose known whereas covert observation is a study carried out ‘under-cover’.

Question 4

Why might a researcher choose to keep their real identity and purpose a secret from the group they’re observing?

Answer 4

They may get more valid data, reliable data.
Means they’ll get more accurate information.
For their own safety.

Question 5

How did Ned Polsky (1971) make contact with the subjects of his study?

Answer 5

He was a good pool player himself, found his skill useful in gaining entry to the world of the podroom hustler.

Question 6

How did James Patrick(1973) make contact with the subjects of his study?

Answer 6

He was able to join a Glasgow gang because he looked quite young and knew one of its members from having taught him in approved school.

Question 7

How did Eileen Fairhurst (1977) make contact with the subjects of his study?

Answer 7

She found herself hospitalised by back trouble and use the opportunity to conduct a study on being a patient.

Question 8

Why we the role that Whyte took a suitable one for his purposes?

Answer 8

Whyte succeeded in achieving both these aims by refusing all leadership roles, with the one exception of secretary of the community club, a position that allowed him to take ample notes under the guise of taking the minutes of meetings.

Question 9

What key problem does the participant observer face once they have been accepted into a group?

Answer 9

Having to be both involved in the group so as to understand it fully, and yet at the same time detached from the group so as to remain objective and unbiased.

Question 10

Write your definition of ‘going native.’

Answer 10

One danger of staying in the group is that of becoming over-involved or ‘goin native.’ By over-identifying with the group, the researcher becomes biased. When this happens, they have stopped being an ouectuce observer and have simply become a member of the group.

Question 11

What evidence is there that Punch went native in his research.

Answer 11

He found that in striving to be accepted by the tightly-knit patrol group he was studying, he over-identified with them, even acting as a ‘policeman’ himself- chasing and holding suspects, searching houses, cars and people and shouting at people who abused his police ‘colleagues’

Question 12

2 problems sociologists might face when leaving a participant observation.

Answer 12

Re-entering one’s normal world can be difficult. This problem can be made worse if the research is find on and off over a period of time, with multiple ‘crossings’ between the 2 worlds.

The researcher may find that loyalty prevents them from fully disclosing everything they have learnt, for fear that this might harm members of the group.

Question 13

4 advantages of overt observation.

Answer 13

1) It avoided the ethical problem of obtaining information by decent and when when studying groups that of being expected to join the activities.

2) It allows the observer to ask the kind of naive but important questions that only an outsider could ask.

3) The observer can take bites quickly.

4) It allows the researcher to use interview methods to check insights derived from observations.

Question 14

2 disadvantages of overt observation

Answer 14

1) A group may refuse the researcher permission to observe them, or may prevent them from seeing everything.

2) It risks creating the Hawthorpe effect where those who know they’re being observed begin to behave differently as a result. This undermines the validity of the data.

Question 15

What is the main practical advantage of covert observation?

Answer 15

It reduces the risk of altering people’s behaviour and sometimes it’s the only way to obtain valid information.

Question 16

4 practical disadvantages of covert observation.

Answer 16

1) It requires the researcher to keep up an act, and may call for detailed knowledge of the groups ways of life even before joining it.

2) Thr sociologist cannot usually take notes openly and must rely on memory and the opportunity to write them in secret.

3) The researcher cannot ask naive but important questions or combine observation with other methods like interviews.

4) The addition of a new memever (the researcher) can still change the group’s behaviour, thus reducing validity.

Question 17

4 ethical issues affect covert observation.

Answer 17

1) It is immoral to deceive people, obtaining information by pretending to be their friend or ‘in the same boat.’

2) Covert observers may have to lie about their reasons for levering the group at the end of their research.

3) They may have to participate in immoral or illegal activities as part of their ‘cover’ role.

4) They may have a moral or legal duty to intervene or to report them to the police.

Question 18

Explain why validity is an advantage of participation observation.

Answer 18

What people say they do when asked in a questionnaire and what they actually do aren’t always the same.
Supporters argue that this is the methods main strength.

Question 19

Explain why insight is an advantage of participation observation.

Answer 19

This is the best way to understand what something is like to experience it for ourselves.

Question 20

Why is participant observation a more flexible method than methods like questionnaires and structured interviews?

Answer 20

Rather than starting with a fixed hypothesis, it allows the sociologist to enter the situation with a relatively open mind about what they will find.

Question 21

Why might participant observation be the only method of studying certain groups?

Answer 21

The open-mindedness allows the researcher to discover things that other methods may miss.

Question 22

Why is covert participant observation more likely than overt to be stressful and demanding for the researcher?

Answer 22

The researcher will need to be trained, it requires observational and interpersonal skills that jot everyone possesses.

Question 23

Suggest practical disadvantages that might affect the success of the observation.

Answer 23

Time consuming.
Researcher to be trained.
Interpersonal skills.
Personal characteristics.
Many groups may not want to be studied in this way.

Question 24

Why might divert participant observation raise ethical issues.

Answer 24

Deceiving people inorder to obtain information about them and participating in illegal or immoral activities in the course of sociological research.

Question 25

Suggets 2 resins why participant observation slant not use representative samples.

Answer 25

The group studied is usually very small and the ‘sample’ is often selected haphazardly.
This doesn’t provide a sound basis for making generalisations.

Question 26

Why may the data from participants observation studies not be reliable?

Answer 26

Depends on the personal skills and characteristics of a line researcher that it’s unlikely any other investigator would be able to replicate the original study.

Question 27

Give 3 reasons why participant observation studies may lack objectivity.

Answer 27

1) The risk of becoming too involved and ‘going native.’
2) Loyalty to the group or fear of reprisals leads the sociologist to conceal sensitive information.
3) Often attracts sociologists whose sympathies lie with the underdog.

Question 28

Why do positivists argue that findings form participant observation studies may not be valid?

Answer 28

Can lie about answers.
Hawthorne effect.

Question 29

Why do structural sociologists argue that participant observation may be inadequate?

Answer 29

Small scale.
Face to face may feel uncomfortable.
Seeing things through the actors’ eyes.

Question 30

Give 2 reason why positivists favour structured observation when studying education.

Answer 30

1) They enable them to identify and make quantitative data.

2) Non-participants.
Easy to repeat.

Question 31

Give one reason why interpretivists criticise strutted observation as a means of studying education.

Answer 31

Not valid limited number of categories.
Structured observation.
They are not flexible.
They don’t give qualitative data.

Question 32

Make a list of the problems a researcher might face in using Flanders’ system when studying classroom interaction.

Answer 32

Pupils may be confused or may not answer.
May answer like they’re like to a teacher.
Linked into the Hawthorne effect.
Encountered on the list- may not know what category.
No chance to write things down.

Question 33

Practical issues of unstructured observation.

Answer 33

Schools are busy.
Schools are complex places and more time-consuming to observe.
It may be easier to gain permission to observe lessons than to interview pupils and teachers.
Personal characteristics.
Observation of interactions in school setting is limited by the restrictions if the school timetable.

Question 34

Ethical issues of unstructured observation.

Answer 34

The observations of young people usalky mean that a covert approach to studying pupils isn’t appropriate.
Every observer in a school sees and hears things which could get pupils in trouble.
Guilty knowledge.
Given the harm that can be done to pupils, teachers and school additional care should be give to protect the researchers identify.

Question 35

Validity of unstructured observation.

Answer 35

It gives us an authentic understanding.
The power between young people and adults is a major barrier to uncovering the real attitudes and behaviour of pupils.
Teachers can be skilled at disguising their feelings
Language of pupils can be a barrier.

Question 36

The Hawthorne effect of unstructured observation.

Answer 36

Difficult to do covert observations in education settings.
Overt observations lead to the Hawthorne effect.
Ronald King (1984) tried to blend into the background in an infant school by initially spending short periods of time in the class room to allow the children to become familiar with his presence.

Question 37

Representativeness of unstructured observation.

Answer 37

The scale of the education system is vast.
Most observational studies focus on a small number of pupil in just a single school.
Hammersley considered that the data he collected in the school staff room was more open to smaller bias than his classroom data.

Question 38

Reliability of unstructured observation.

Answer 38

Participant observation studies of education tend to lack reliability.

The personal characteristics of different observes nah evoke differing responses.

Question 39

How easy or hard woukd it be for a covert observer to take on the role of a teacher, classroom assistant, cleaner, student, schoolkeeper, trainee teacher and why?

Answer 39

Teacher- Would need the knowledge.
Calderon assistant- Easier to do the observation.
Cleaner- Easy, all over the school; don’t really go un the classroom though.
Student- Personal characteristics- difficult.
Schoolkeeper- Snapshot, can’t observe the whole time.
Trainee teacher- They are learning.

Question 40

What would be the advantage in taking on the role of a schoolkeeper and a trainee teacher?

Answer 40

Schoolkeeper- All round the school.
Trainee teacher- In the classrooms.

Question 41

Give 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages of longitudinal studies.

Answer 41

Advantages:
They trace developments over time, rather than just taking a one-off ‘snapshot’ of one moment.
By making comparisons over time, they can identify causes.

Disadvantages:
Large amounts of data- can be difficult to analyse.
Longitudinal studies can also be costly.