Social Surveys Flashcards
Doing a social survey involves getting information in what form?
standardised Form
1A.) & this is for what size group?
a large group
The main survey methods are ? {2}
questionnaires
structured interviews
Social Surveys usually result in a large amount of data in a relatively short amount of time, making them ? of society
representative
Therefore, Social Surveys are favoured by which type of sociologists?
( if they produce representative data)
positivists
Positivists favour Social Surveys because their findings can be generalised to ? ,
studying society on which scale?
wider population
macro
An example of a government produced survey is?
How often is it carried out?
Census
every 10yrs
Another case study for a Social Survey that isn’t used in any other section is?
British Social Attitudes Survey
The British Social Attitudes Survey (BSAS) has a sample of around ____ ,
and how is the sample selected?
3000 households are randomly selected from the Postcode Address File
BSAS:
asks people a range of questions to measure opinions on things like family l__,
religious belief, im___and environmental issues.
F R I E
family life
immigration
British Social Attitudes Survey:
If selected, a researcher visits your ____ where what type of method takes place?
household
structured interview
Social Survey’s are {PRACTICALLY} strong because of time & ?
money
{PRACTICAL ADVANTAGE} :
Social Surveys are only administered how many times? & they are relatively ___ to complete
once
quick
An {ETHICAL} advantage of social surveys is that its easy to obtain?
informed consent
{ETHICAL ADVANTAGE} :
how is it easy to get I.C ?
when doing something like a structured interview or questionnaire, it is easy to make the participant aware of the nature of the research
As we’ve seen, Positivists favour Social Surveys which means that THEORETICALLY,
what strengths do they have?
reliable/representative
Similarly to other structured methods, {PRACTICALLY} Social Surveys lack ?
flexibility
{PRACTICAL LIMITATION}:
Why are Social Surveys Inflexible?
the participant cant elaborate on their answers and are limited by the pre-set questions/ideas imposed on them
A possible {ETHICAL} limitation of Social Surveys is that they can cover what type of topics?
sensitive topics
{ETHICAL LIMITATION} :
If the topics are of a sensitive nature, the respondent might not feel what?
and this can lead to?
comfortable answering {intruding}
incomplete transcripts/data
Why are Social Surveys likely to lack validity?
Responses that participants can choose from might not articulate their truth, which will limit social reality.
