Reserach Methods

Question 1

Primary data

Answer 1

Info collected by sociologists themselves for their own purposes

Question 2

Secondary data

Answer 2

Info that has been collected or created by someone else for their own purposes, but which the sociologist can then use

Question 3

Quantitative data

Answer 3

Info in a numerical form

Question 4

Qualitative data

Answer 4

Info in a letter form

Question 5

Practice issue examples

Answer 5

Time and money
Requirements of funding bodies
Personal skills and characteristics
Subject matter
Research opportunities

Question 6

Ethical issue examples

Answer 6

Informed consent
Confidentiality and privacy
Harm to research participants
Vulnerable groups
Covert research

Question 7

Theoretical issue examples

Answer 7

Validity
Reliability
Representativeness
Methodological perspective

Question 8

What does PERVERT stand for?

Answer 8

Practical
Ethical
Representative
Validity
Examples
Reliability
Theoretical

Question 9

What do positivists favour?

Answer 9

Quantitative data
Scientific law
Prove hypothesis
Seek reliability and representativeness

Question 10

What do interpretivist’s favour?

Answer 10

Qualitative data
Uncover the meaning that people give to their interactions
Seek validity through verstenen (emotional/empathetic understanding)

Question 11

Random sampling

Answer 11

Simplest technique, where the sample is selected purely by chance

Question 12

Systematic sampling

Answer 12

Where every nth person in the sampling frame is selected

Question 13

Stratified random sampling

Answer 13

The researcher first stratifies the pop in the sampling frame by age, class, gender, etc

Question 14

Quota sampling

Answer 14

Pop is stratified and then each interviewer is given a quota which they have to fill with respondents that fit these characteristics

Question 15

Triangulation

Answer 15

When sociologists use two or more methods or sources to obtain a more rounded picture by studying the same thing from more than one viewpoint

Question 16

How could a sociologists experience of education alter their research?

Answer 16

It can dull their awareness of just how different educational environments are from other social settings
The sociologist would have also had to have been successful in education which may make it difficult for them to empathise with students in an underachieving, anti-school subculture

Question 17

What is a lab experiment

Answer 17

An experiment taken place in a laboratory where they can control the experiment

Question 18

What was the aim of Bandura’s ‘Bobo Doll Experiment’?

Answer 18

To investigate if social behaviours can be acquired by observation and imitation. This is called social learning

Question 19

What was the hypothesis of the Bobo Doll experiment?

Answer 19

The boys would be more aggressive then the girls
Children were more likely to copy adults of their gender
Children would act aggressively if they saw an adult act in that way

Question 20

What was the method used in the bobo doll experiment?

Answer 20

There were 36 boys and 36 girls aged 3-6
24 children were exposed to aggressive adult behaviour, 24 were exposed to non-aggressive adult behaviour and 24 were the control group and were not exposed to any adult role models

Question 21

What is a practical issue of lab experiments?

Answer 21

Can only study small samples
People may act differently as a lab is not a natural setting which can affect the results

Question 22

What are the ethical problems of lab experiments?

Answer 22

Lack of informed consent
Deception
Harm

Question 23

Hawthorn effect

Answer 23

Labs are not natural or normal environments, meaning people may behave differently. This will ruin the experiment, which depends on the subjects responding to the variables that the researcher introduces into the situation, not the fact that they are being observed

Question 24

Field experiments

Answer 24

Conducted in a natural setting as opposed to the artificial environment created in lab experiments

Question 25

What is Rosenhan’s 1973 ‘pseudo-patient’ experiment?

Answer 25

8 ‘pseudo-patient’ presented themselves at institutions across the country with the same symptoms, they reported hearing voices that said, “thud, empty, hollow” They were all admitted and diagnosed with serious mental health disorders The ‘pseudo-patient’ spent between 7 and 52 days in psychiatric institutions; not one hospital staff member identified the participants as fake patients

Question 26

Comparative method

Answer 26

Involves comparing two or more similar societies or groups which are similar in some respects but varied in others, and looking for correlations. This can be across time and place. There are no research participants as such, it is a ‘thought experiement’

Question 27

What is an example of a lab experiment used to investigate education?

Answer 27

Harvey and Slatin examined whether teachers had preconceived ideas about pupils in different social classes They shows 96 teachers 18 photos of children from different social backgrounds and the teachers were asked to rate the students on performance, parental attitudes to education, etc W/c children were rated less favourably, especially by more experienced teachers

Question 28

Example of a field experiment used to investigate education

Answer 28

Rosenthal and Jacobson’s sputters experiment

Question 29

Practical strengths of questionnaires

Answer 29

Quick and cheap so can gather large amounts of data Data easy to quantify No researchers needed

Question 30

Practice limitations of questionnaires

Answer 30

Tend to be limited and superficial Has to be brief so people will do it

Question 31

Ethical strengths of questionnaires

Answer 31

Pose fewer ethics, problems With sensitive questions, respondents are usually not obligated to answer

Question 32

Ethical limitations of questionnaires

Answer 32

May not be completely confidential of personal details

Question 33

Strengths of questionnaires for positivists

Answer 33

Reliable Generalisable Representative Produces quantitative data

Question 34

Limitations of questionnaires for interpretivists

Answer 34

Fail to maintain validity

Question 35

How reliable are questionnaires?

Answer 35

There is no researcher present to influence the respondents answer Can be repeated easily However the answers are not always correct

Question 36

How representative are questionnaires?

Answer 36

Can collect into from a large number of people, the results stand a better chance of being truly representative of the wider population Postal questionnaires can receive small samples because people cannot be bothered to post them back

Question 37

How valid are questionnaires?

Answer 37

Detached and objective as no personal involvement with researcher You can’t know if the return questionnaire was actually completed by the person to whom it was addressed You can’t guarantee that the potential respondent had actually received the questionnaire

Question 38

Structured interviews

Answer 38

Interviewer is given strict instructions on how to ask the questions They are conducted in the same standardised way each time

Question 39

Unstructured interviews

Answer 39

Like a guided conversation Interviewer has complete freedom to vary the questions, their wording, order, etc from one interview to the next

Question 40

Semi structured interviews

Answer 40

Each interview has the same set of questions in common, but the interviewer can also probe for more info

Question 41

Group interviews

Answer 41

Focus on discussions where participants can throw ideas around the group and stimulate each others thinking which produces richer and more reflective data

Question 42

Strengths of structured interviews

Answer 42

Training interviewers is straightforward and cheap Suitable for gathering factual info Results easily quantified

Question 43

Limitations of structured interviews

Answer 43

Closed ended questions restrict interviewees Interviewers have little freedom to explain questions

Question 44

Strengths of unstructured questionnaires

Answer 44

Interviewer can develop a rapport with interviewee Good for researching sensitive topics

Question 45

Limitations of unstructured interviews

Answer 45

Time consuming Smaller sample size Less likely to be representative of wider population

Question 46

What are the advantages of interviewing students to investigate education?

Answer 46

Access and response rate- if researcher can get support for the study then students can be released from lessons which will increase the response rate

Question 47

What are the disadvantages of interviewing students to investigate education?

Answer 47

Young people may not want to talk and may not understand questions Contents of the interviews could be easily spread throughout the school Unethical if students feel unsettled

Question 48

What did Patrick use participant observation to study?

Answer 48

Used a covert study to study a violent and delinquent teenage Glasgow gang Patrick didn’t carry a weapon or engage in fights with rivals Patrick left Glasgow quickly when the violence became too unacceptable for him and he felt threatened

Question 49

Overt observation

Answer 49

The researchers makes their true identity and purpose known to those being studied

Question 50

Covert observation

Answer 50

The study is carried out ‘under cover’. The researchers real identity and purpose are kept concealed from the group being studied

Question 51

What are the three problems of conducting a participant observation?

Answer 51

Getting in Staying in Getting out

Question 52

Practical advantages of participant observation

Answer 52

Sociologist can build a rapport with the group and gain their trust

Question 53

Practical disadvantages of participant observation

Answer 53

Time consuming Researcher needs to be trained

Question 54

Ethical disadvantages of participant observation

Answer 54

You have to deceive people in order to obtain info about them May have to participate in illegal or immoral activities

Question 55

Official stats

Answer 55

Any set if data collected by the government or other official body

Question 56

Practical strengths of official stats

Answer 56

Free source of huge amounts of data Stats allow comparisons between groups Show trends and patterns over time

Question 57

Practical limitations of official stats

Answer 57

Gov. collects stats for its own purpose and not for the benefit of sociologists, so there may be nine available for the benefit of the sociologist The definitions that the state uses in collecting the data may be different from those that sociologists would use

Question 58

What are documents?

Answer 58

Sources with non-statistical content. They can be contemporary or historical

Question 59

Public documents

Answer 59

Produced by organisations such as gov. departments, schools, welfare agencies, businesses and charities

Question 60

Personal documents

Answer 60

Include items such as letters, diaries, photo albums, and autobiographies. These are first person accounts of social events and personal experiences

Question 61

Historical documents

Answer 61

A public or personal document created in the past

Question 62

What are the four potential limitations which might undermine the usefulness of documents according to Scott?

Answer 62

Authenticity Credibility Representativeness Meaning

Question 63

Content analysis

Answer 63

A method used to analyse qualitative data. It allows the researcher to take qualitative data and turn it into quantitive data

Question 64

What are the practical issues with using official stats to investigate education?

Answer 64

Govs collect stats for their own policy purposes and these may not be the same as the sociologists

Question 65

Are official stats representative when used to investigate education?

Answer 65

Some official stats on education are highly representative All state schools complete a census 3x a year- this collects info on pupils attendance, ethnicity, gender, numbers receiving school meals, etc

Question 66

Are official stats reliable when being used to investigate education?

Answer 66

Positivists favour official stats because their reliability means that they can be used to test and re-test hypotheses and thus discover cause and effect relationships

Question 67

Are official stats valid when used to investigate education?

Answer 67

Interpretivists question the validity of official stats. They argue that stats are socially constructed Schools may manipulate their attendance figures by redefining their absence members as being on study leave it additional work experience

Question 68

What are the practical issues with using documents to investigate education?

Answer 68

Personal documents are mote difficult ti access- Hey made use of notes girls passed to each other in class to understand their friendship patterns. However, the notes weren’t always easy to obtain Some educational documents are confidential so sociologists may be unable to gain access to them

Question 69

What are the ethical issues with using documents to investigate education?

Answer 69

There are more ethical problems over public documents Hey collected notes that girls had passed to each other: Some offered the notes freely Some were collected from desks after the lesson In one case a teacher took them from the bin and offered them to Hey In this case she didn’t gain informed consent

Question 70

Are documents representative when being used to investigate education?

Answer 70

Some official documents are legally required if all schools and colleges so it is more likely that we can form a representative picture of certain incidents in schools across the country Personal documents are less representative

Question 71

Are documents reliable when being used to investigate education?

Answer 71

Many public documents are produced in a systematic format which enables researchers to make direct comparisons

Question 72

Are documents valid when being used to investigate education?

Answer 72

Documents can provide important insights into the meanings held by teachers and students and can therefore be high in validity However all documents are open to different interpretation