Revision for Mock Exam (14.03.2024) Flashcards
Methodological Pluralism
Methodological pluralism refers to researchers using a range of methods in the same piece of research.
Triangulation
Triangulation is a term that refers to the collection and use of multiple data sources, research methods, theories, and/or investigator perspectives to verify and corroborate research findings.
Positivism
Positivism refers to the belief that there are ‘social facts’ that can be studied objectively using methods similar to the natural sciences (e.g. physics, chemistry and biology).
Positivist methods produce quantitative data on social patterns and trends which can be used to explain society.
Positivist research methods
> Laboratory experiments
Social surveys
Structured questionnaires
Formal/structured interviews
Non-participant observation
Official statistics
Content analysis
Interpretivism
Interpretivism implies that most people are conscious of their personal beliefs, meanings, values, and interpretations and that these influence the way they act.
Interpretivist researchers attempt to gain understanding of how people see and understand the world around them.
Interpretivist research methods
> Uncontrolled field experiments
Open-ended questionnaires
Unstructured interviews
Overt and covert participant and non-participant observation
Personal accounts and documents, such as diaries and letters
PERVERT factors
P - Practical
E - Ethical
R - Reliability
V - Validity
E - Examples
R - Representative
T - Theoretical
Practical
Refers to factors such as time, cost, location. These can affect which method a sociologist chooses.
Ethical
Refers to whether the research has met ethical guidelines. Examples include informed consent, protection from harm, confidentiality, anonymity, deception.
Reliability
Refers to whether the research produces the same or similar results if repeated.
Validity
Refers to whether the research has measured what the researcher intended to measure. Has the hypothesis accurately been measured?
Examples
Refers to actual sociological studies. You need to learn a study per research method.
Representative
Refers to whether the samples are typical of the rest of the target population. If it is, then the research can be generalised.
Theoretical
Refers to Positivism and Interpretivism. These two approaches have differing views on how research should be conducted.
The research process
1) Formulation of a hypothesis / aim
2) Choice of method
3) Operationalising concepts
4) Pilot study
5) Data collection
6) Publish findings