Social Flashcards
What are the 5 ethical guidelines?
- Debrief
- Informed consent
- Right to withdraw
- Competent researcher
- Deception
What is an alternate hypothesis?
A specific testable prediction containing variables, and will state either a difference or relationship.
Directional hypothesis
States the direction the results will go in (more, less, positive, fewer)
Non-directional hypothesis
Does not state the direction of the results, leaving it open
What is the aim of sampling methods?
To ensure a representative sample of participants is used, so can be successfully generalised.
Opportunity sampling
Sample of those who are available at the time of the study
Random sampling
Every member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen.
Stratified sampling
Involves classifying the population into categories and then choosing a sample which consists of participants from each category in the same proportions as they are in the population.
Volunteer sampling
Volunteering when asked or in a response to an advert.
Advantages of random sampling
- No bias
- Clear how the sample is chosen, process can be explained
Disadvantages of random sampling
- Difficult to ensure everyone is available
- Some people might not want to take part in the study
- There can be bias in that there may be more of one group than the other, such as more male soldiers than female
Advantages of stratified sampling
- Each group is represented, so conclusions can be drawn
- Efficient to ensure representation from each group
Disadvantages of stratified sampling
- Difficult to know how many of each group to choose
- Some groups may not be important fro the study
Advantages of volunteer sampling
- More ethical as they chose to take part
- Volunteers are likely to be interested so less likely to give biased information, less likely to have social desirability or demand characteristic.
Disadvantages of volunteer sampling
- Takes long time to get sufficient numbers
- Participants may be similar, so there may not be representation
Advantages of opportunity sampling
-More ethical because the researcher can judge if the participant is likely to be upset by the study
- Researcher has more control over choosing, more quick and efficient
Disadvantages of opportunity sampling
- More chance of bias - choosing people you know, people of own age, friendly looking people etc.
- Self selected, so would rule out anyone not available or not willing
Types of closed ended questions
- Fixed choice questions, with yes/no response
- Likert scale questions, selecting from a fixed set of choices to rate agreement to statements
- Ranked scale question, ranking choice relative to other options
Strengths of closed ended questions
- Quick and easy to answer
- Researchers can easily analyse data, percentages and averages can be worked out
- Questions are all the same so is more reliable
Weaknesses of closed ended questions
- Limited amount of information
- Answers may not match what the participants would like express
- Choice answers could mean different things to different respondents, such as ‘unsure’ could mean ‘don’t know’, so lacks validity
Strengths of open ended questions
- Respondents can answer freely
- Allows them to elaborate on their answers and justify opinions
-More detailed and valid, true to real life
Weaknesses of open ended questions
- More time and effort for respondents
- Qualitative analysis which can lead to subjective interpretation that is difficult to analyse
- Respondents often fail to complete their answers
Structured interviews
Standardised so all respondents are asked same questions
Strengths of structured interviews
- Easy to administer
- Do not need to establish a rapport between researcher and respondent
Weaknesses of structured interviews
- Data can be superficial and lack depth
- Respondent may not be able to express opinions fully
Semi- structured interviews
More conversational and dynamic. Researcher has a set of questions they want to be answered but do not have a standardised format to follow.
Strengths of semi- structured interviews
- Conversation can flow better
- More comfortable having a relaxed atmosphere
Weaknesses of semi- structured interviews
- Flexibility of interviews may lessen reliability
Unstructured interviews
The interviewer needs to be analytical. No set of questions or format, just asking questions and making direct reference to quotes from respondents.
Strengths of unstructured interviews
- More flexible as questions can be changed
- Increased validity
- Usually in depth and detailed answers
Weaknesses of unstructured interviews
- Time consuming
- Employing and training interviewers is expensive
Response bias
If the respondents answer a certain way for a list of questions, they may continue to answer in that way out of habit.
Thematic analysis
Qualitative data is made numerical by counting the instances certain themes and categories appear in the data
Aim of thematic analysis
To analyse data without losing its meaningfulness, but making it more manageable by reducing it into patterns, trends and themes.
Strengths of thematic analysis
- Encourages researcher to derive themes, so achieves better validity
- Large data sets, many researchers can apply their interpretation to the data
Weaknesses of thematic analysis
- Highly subjective data as it requires interpretation, so unscientific
- Open to researcher bias, not very reliable
Measures of central tendency
Mean, median and mode
The mean
Adding up all values and dividing them by number of scores. Interval/ ratio level data is obtained. Most sensitive and can be affected by extreme values or when there is skewed distribution.
The mode
Most frequent score. Nominal data is obtained. Easy to calculate, not affected by extreme scores, but is not a useful measure on small datasets with frequently occurring same values.
The median
Placed in rank order and is the middle score. Ordinal level data is obtained. Simple calculation and not affected by skewed distribution, but is less sensitive than the mean and not useful on small datasets.
Measures of dispersion
The range and standard deviation
The range
Difference between highest and lowest value. Affected by extreme scores and may not be useful if there are outliers. Does not indicate the distribution around the mean. If there are extreme scores, interquartile range can be used.
Standard deviation
Useful for investigating spread of scores. Shows distance of each value from the mean. Standard deviation represents how the scores are spread around the mean, the higher the value, the greater the spread of scores around the mean value.
Bar charts
Present data from a categorical variable, such as mean, mode and median. Categorical variable on x-axis and height represents value.