Social Research Methods

Question 1

what is reliability?

Answer 1

this refers to the consistency of data - if the research is reliable we would expect that if it were repeated, with similar types of participants in similar circumstances, the same results would be obtained

Question 2

what is validity?

Answer 2

does the research actually measure what it is supposed to measure?

Question 3

what is subjectivity?

Answer 3

this refers to the interpretation of data: could participants’ data be interpreted differently, is the interpretation of data completely free from bias?

Question 4

what is objectivity?

Answer 4

essentially the opposite of subjectivity, is data able to be interpreted in such a way that it is deemed unbiased, untainted by attitudes, beliefs and values of the researcher

Question 5

what is induction?

Answer 5

using known facts to produce general principles - moving from the specific to the general, i.e. general principles are inferred from specific cases

Question 6

what is deduction?

Answer 6

using existing knowledge or assumptions to reach conclusions or understand something - moving from the general to the specific case, i.e. using existing theories and applying them to a specific case to explain it

Question 7

what is qualitative data?

Answer 7

descriptive, non-numerical information, such as that generated by open-ended questions, unstructured interviews etc

Question 8

what is quantitative data?

Answer 8

information is numerical in nature, such as that generated by closed questions, likert scales etc

Question 9

what type of data do surveys like questionnaires and interviews generate?

Answer 9

self-report data, i.e. information elicited from questions which relies on the participants reporting their own behaviour, feelings, attitudes etc

Question 10

what is the problem with the samples generated by surveys?

Answer 10

surveys reflect a number of biases, e.g. who can be bothered to complete them - also we tend to engage only with topics we care about, hence the fact that those who completed the survey care about the topic might make their responses unrepresentative

Question 11

what kind of questions do interviews contain?

Answer 11

interviews can contain open and closed questions, although closed questions are rare

Question 12

what are closed questions?

Answer 12

limited responses, participants select answer that applies to them: 1 word, yes/no answers, likert scales, multiple choice - yields quantitative data

Question 13

what are open questions?

Answer 13

can be answered how participant chooses, without restriction - words not numerical response, allows participants to explain answers and express opinions, yields qualitative data, may generate unexpected content that gives researchers new lines of enquiry

Question 14

where can self-report data come from?

Answer 14

open and closed questions and likert scales - this gives participants more flexibility in their responses, whilst still being easy to interpret and statistically analyse

Question 15

what is a strength of likert scale questions?

Answer 15

easy to analyse and compare data, less time consuming than interviews so may get more participants and so more data

Question 16

what is an unstructured interview?

Answer 16

questions are open-ended, not systematic, each question depends on answers given previously - qualitative data

Question 17

what is a semi-structured interview?

Answer 17

is a schedule of questions but some flexibility to expand on responses

Question 18

what is a structured interview?

Answer 18

systematic, standardised pre-set questions asked of every interviewee

Question 19

why do psychologists rely on sampling methods?

Answer 19

the whole target population cannot be tested, so psychologists rely on sampling methods to recruit a representative sample of the target population

Question 20

what is random sampling?

Answer 20

every member of the target population has an equal chance of taking part in research, like names being drawn out of a hat

Question 21

what is stratified sampling?

Answer 21

a proportional representation of the target group, e.g. if target group has 60% males and 40% females our sample will have the same proportion of males and females

Question 22

what is a volunteer/self-selected sample?

Answer 22

participants select themselves, e.g. respond to advert

Question 23

what is an opportunity sample?

Answer 23

participants selected from whoever is available at the time

Question 24

what is thematic analysis?

Answer 24

a technique used to identify patterns, trends and themes within qualitative data

Question 25

what are measures of central tendency?

Answer 25

refers to the idea that one number can be used to represent the general trend or pattern in a set of numbers, i.e. represents the typical number or score

Question 26

what is the mean?

Answer 26

this is the arithmetic average - often used with interval or ratio data

Question 27

what is the median?

Answer 27

this is the middle number of a set of scores after they have been put in numerical order, exactly half the scores are above this number and half below

Question 28

what is the mode?

Answer 28

this is the most frequently occurring number in a data set; there can be more than one mode in a data set: bimodal and multimodal

Question 29

what are descriptive statistics?

Answer 29

they describe and summarise the data collected in research: measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion are ways of describing statistical information

Question 30

what is the standard deviation?

Answer 30

a sophisticated measure of dispersion, as its calculation takes into account all numbers in a data set - it shows how much each score in a data set deviates on average from the mean of that set of data - it is the mean distance of scores from the mean of a set of scores

Question 31

when is the range normally used?

Answer 31

when the median is the measure of central tendency

Question 32

what is a problem with how the x axis could be manipulated?

Answer 32

the horizontal x axis could be manipulated to distort the graphical representation of data, e.g. on a bar graph bars may be distorted so that sample groups are of different sizes, so the resultant bars produce a distorted analysis, e.g. taxable income, bars might start with a £5000 range but then represent much bigger income variations, e.g. £30,000 range

Question 33

what is a bar graph?

Answer 33

is used when the data is in discrete categories, rather than a continuous variable as with histograms and line graphs

Question 34

when is a histogram used?

Answer 34

is used to present data that is continuous and occurs as a frequency, e.g. age of children and observed acts of aggression displayed

Question 35

when are scattergraphs used?

Answer 35

these are used to show relationships between variables - two variables are used to plot scattergraphs: one score will be variable y on the vertical axis and the other score will be variable x on the horizontal axis

Question 36

what does a frequency table show?

Answer 36

how many times - the frequency - the scores occurred in the data set

Question 37

what are the three most important distributions?

Answer 37

normal distribution, positively skewed distribution and negatively skewed distribution