social surveys

Question 1

social survey

Answer 1

involves asking a large number of people the same questions in the same order. Mainly closed ended questions but a few open-ended.

Question 2

what are the 2 ways social surveys can be administered by

Answer 2

structured or formal interviews
questionnaires (self-completion, online and postal)

Question 3

what are 3 practical advantages (strength of questionnaires)

Answer 3

-quick and cheap to gather large amounts of data from a larger geographical scale (online and postal questionnaires)
-no training or recruitment of interviewers and observers needed as it is self-completion
-easy to quantify (especially if close ended) and quickly processed by computer to reveal relationships between different variables

Question 4

what are 2 reliability advantages (strength of questionnaires)

Answer 4

-repeating research with same questions in same order for new respondents
-no hawthorne effect/researcher bias as it is done online or postal

Question 5

why are questionnaires useful for testing hypotheses?

Answer 5

can be used to test hypotheses about cause and effect relationships between different variables. So it is useful for positivists to explore the correlation of science and sociology

Question 6

why are questionnaires good for detachment and objectivity?

Answer 6

thy are free from sociologists personal involvement with respondents so can maintain detachment and objectivity

Question 7

why do questionnaires provide representativeness and generalisability?

Answer 7

as a large number of people respond/complete it

Question 8

why are there few ethical problems with questionnaires?

Answer 8

respondents are generally under no obligation to answer (it is done online or postal so no researcher pressure)

Question 9

operationalising concepts when constructing questionnaires

Answer 9

key concepts in questionnaires need to be operationalised when constructing it.
-this means turning a sociological concept or theory into something measurable (e.g. when studying the effect of social class on educational achievement the researcher may use parental occupation to measure the concept of social class)

Question 10

why do sociologists using social surveys carry out pilot studies?

Answer 10

to identify any problems or clarify questions which helps the researcher to finalise the questionnaire.

Question 11

Shere Hite - the Hite report on Female sexuality

Answer 11

feminist who was studied sexual behaviour. She sent out 100,000 postal questionnaires to women and received a response of 4500. Of those who responded, 98% were dissatisfied with their marriage, and 75% were having extra marital affairs.

Question 12

3 advantages of postal questionnaires (Evaluation of Hite’s study)

Answer 12

-no researcher bias
-large geographical spread/scale that can be divided into groups/subsections (can be sent out to many people around the country)
-higher in reliability/can replicate data
-more privacy and less embarassing (due to Hite’s being on sexual behaviour)

Question 13

3 disadvantages of postal questionnaires (Evaluation of Hite’s study)

Answer 13

-lower response rate (see it as junk mail/optional to complete)
-lack of validity and depth
-self selecting sample (only those in Hite’s sample who were having marriage problems responded so that is why there is a higher percentage of dissatisfied marriages)

Question 14

give 3 reasons for practical disadvantages with questionnaires

Answer 14

-data from questionnaires is limited and superficial (due to people only wanting to answer non time consuming questions.
-cannot be sure whether potential respondent has received questionnaire (due to being online or postal)
-unsure if returned questionnaire was actually completed by the person to whom it was addressed to.

Question 15

give 3 reasons for questionnaires having a disadvantage due to a low response rate

Answer 15

-few people can be bothered to complete and return it
-due to a faulty questionnaire design (e.g. complex language used in questions which people don’t know)
-unrepresentative, only those with the time and interest into the questionnaire topic will respond so other groups aren’t represented (e.g. working class won’t be)

Question 16

why is inflexibility a disadvantage of questionnaires

Answer 16

once the questionnaire is finalised the researcher can’t change what they’ve asked and can’t explore any new areas which may come up during research

Question 17

why is it a disadvantage that questionnaires only give a snapshot of social reality

Answer 17

they only give a picture of social reality in that moment of time, so they fail to produce a fully valid picture because they don’t capture the way people’s attitudes and behaviours change

Question 18

why is detachment not always a good thing in questionnaires? (disadvantage)

Answer 18

there’s no way to clarify what the questions mean to the respondent or to deal with misunderstandings. There’s no way of knowing if researcher and respondent interpret questions or answers the same.

Question 19

what is the disadvantage of lying, forgetting and right-answerism in questionnaires?

Answer 19

creates a problem of validity as respondents give answers they feel the researcher wants them to give and the researcher can’t tell that this has happened as they aren’t present during completion.

Question 20

3 imposition problems (imposing the researchers meanings) as disadvantages of questionnaires

Answer 20

-by choosing which questions to ask the researcher has already decided what is important
-using close ended questions means respondents have to try fit their views into the ones on offer, so it gives an invalid picture of reality.
-open ended questions means that there is many responses so when the researcher turns it into qualitative data, similar (not identical) answers are merged into the same category so it lacks validity.

Question 21

detachment

Answer 21

researcher is separated from participants to ensure that the research is objective

Question 22

imposition

Answer 22

when the researcher influences the response by the participant, usually be selecting the questions and the possible answers.

Question 23

variables

Answer 23

any factor which can change (age, gender, occupation) and that sociologists seek to discover correlations

Question 24

open-ended questions

Answer 24

questions which allow the participant to express themselves in their own words

Question 25

interview schedule

Answer 25

a research method involving asking a large group of participants the same standardised questions

Question 26

hypothesis

Answer 26

an untested theory or explanation expressed as a statement

Question 27

correlation

Answer 27

a relationship or coincidence between two or more factors or variables

Question 28

close-ended questions

Answer 28

questions used in social surveys which only allow for a limited choice of answers from a pre-set list.

Question 29

social desirability/right answerism

Answer 29

when the participants respond to questions by giving answers they think the researcher would like

Question 30

operationalism

Answer 30

the process of turning a sociological concept or theory into something which is measurable

Question 31

What did Rutter use questionnaires for and why?

Answer 31

to collect a large quantity of data from 12 Inner london schools.

this was the most practical method to get data on class sizes, attendance, behaviour issues, etc.

Question 32

Why are questionnaires useful when researching sensitive topics?

Answer 32

Due to the anonymity of answers, so the results will be higher in validity than if the research was done face to face as participants will feel less embarassed/judged to say their real opinions.

Question 33

what the 5 characteristics of the education system that a sociologist should consider when researching schools?

Answer 33

pupils, teachers, parents, classrooms, schools

Question 34

what is the potential problems with power and status when researching schools?
what is a possible solution?

Answer 34

problem: due to young peoples lack of power and status it makes it more difficult for them to state their views openly (especially if it challenges the teacher or adult researchers opinions)

solution: group interviews rather than 1 to 1 interviews to try overcome power differences between adult researcher and young participant

Question 35

what is the potential problems with ability when researching schools?
what is a possible solution?

Answer 35

problem: limitations in pupils understanding makes it harder to gain informed consent, because sociologists may not be able to explain nature of research in a way to be understood clearly by students.

solution: take care in how they word their questions to make sure they’re understood clearly (simplicity)

Question 36

what are 3 potential vulnerability/ethical problems when researching schools?
what are 3 potential solutions?

Answer 36

problems: young people are more vulnerable to physical and psychological harm so it may be inappropriate to question them for a long period of time, may not be mature enough to make the moral choice to participate, practical issues of children taking longer to answer questions

solutions: make sure to establish rapport and gain trust by matching gender and ethnicity of student and researcher. Get consent from parents and teachers and state how personal data will be stored. Complete shorter research due to them being more vulnerable.

Question 37

what are 2 potential problems with researching teachers in schools?
what are 2 potential solutions?

Answer 37

problems: teachers are often over-worked and less fully cooperative even though they want to be to help researchers. Hawthorne effect of teachers knowing they are being researched and they are aware of needing to promote the school in a positive way and to not say something which will affect their future careers/jobs.

solutions: keep interviews and questionnaires short to save teachers time, however this may restrict amount of data obtained. Keep high confidentiality to ensure their answers won’t risk their future jobs/careers.

Question 38

what are 3 potential problems when researching classrooms in schools?
what is the potential solution with peer pressure conformity?

Answer 38

problems: clear boundaries and restrictions on access and behaviour.
interactions of teacher and pupil disguise real thoughts and feelings as students are told to make the school look amazing. Students are more sensitive to peer pressure.

solution: supervise pupils when filling in questionnaires to limit conformity from peer pressure.

Question 39

what are 3 potential problems when researching schools?
what are 3 potential solutions?

Answer 39

problems: headteacher may refuse access/permission as the research may interfere too much with school work. In single-sex schools it may be difficult to match researcher and participant sex.
Schools operate to a daily and yearly timetable so it is harder to organise a time to carry out research.

solutions: get consent from governers and head’s to do the research, and see how they may be persuaded (if it benefits the school in some way). Ensure to potential have 2 researchers of both sexes. Ensure to check when the school is open to go in and carry out research (on a school day)

Question 40

what are 3 potential problems when researching parents of the schools?
what are 3 potential solutions?

Answer 40

problems: due to marketisation policies (parents are consumers) they feel pressured to make a good representation of the school so they’re vulnerable to right answerism. They are more difficult to contact and research as they are the most physically outside of the school. Barrier of class and ethnic differences between researcher and parents which makes it unrepresentative, working class are more likely to return questionnaires because they are the ones who have the most problems with the school.

solutions: confirm confidentiality and anonymity with parents so they know they are not subjected to make the school look good because they are considered consumers of it. Find a time or easier way to get parents to partake, e.g. ask school to deliver research method by emailing parents the questionnaire. Ensure research is accessible for all ethnicities and classes to make results more representative and higher in validity.

Question 41

4 issues when investigating students with learning difficulties

Answer 41

• students may have short attention span and have difficulty
  answering questions (due to learning difficulties)
• range of learning difficulties which could be a complex issue that
  requires great depth and detail.
• students may be too embarrassed and have low self-esteem
• distribution and response rate

Question 42

structured/formal interview

Answer 42

interview is conducted in the same standardised way each time, asking each interviewee precisely the same questions (word for word in the same order with the same tone of voice)

Question 43

semi-structured interview

Answer 43

each interview has the same set of questions in common, but the interviewer can ask for more information. Additional questions can be asked where the interviewer thinks it is relevant/appropriate.

Question 44

unstructured interview

Answer 44

more like a guided conversation, where the interviewer has complete freedom to vary the questions, their wording order and so on, from one interview to the next.

Question 45

group interview

Answer 45

involves interviewing more than one person at the same time. These are also referred to as focus group interviews.

Question 46

main similarity between structured interviews and questionnaires

Answer 46

both involve asking people a set of prepared questions that are usually closed-ended with prepared answers.

Question 47

main 2 differences between structured interviews and questionnaires

Answer 47

questions are read out in interviews and answers are filled in by a trained interviewer, instead of an interviewee in questionnaires.

interview involves interaction between researcher and interviewee, but not in questionnaires.

Question 48

4 practical strengths of structured interview

Answer 48

-training interviewers is relatively inexpensive and straightforward (since they’re all required to follow a set of instructions)

-surveys using these can obtain a large sample of answers as they’re quick and cheap to administer

-suitable to gather straightforward factual information (e.g age and job)

-results are easily quantified (due to closed-ended questions), making them suitable for hypothesis testing

Question 49

practical weaknesses of structured compared to questionnaires

Answer 49

It’s more costly than questionnaires which can be simply posted and they can’t match huge numbers of people that can be reached by postal questionnaires

Question 50

why do structured interviews have a higher response rate compared with questionnaires?

Answer 50

as people find it harder to turn down a face-to-face request and some may welcome the opportunity to talk

Question 51

why do structured interviews not always provide a representative sample?

Answer 51

those with the time and willingness to be interviewed may be untypical (e.g. those who are lonely and have time on their hands), so this undermines validity of any generalisations made from findings.

Question 52

2 reasons why structured interviews have higher levels of reliability

Answer 52

-it’s easy for researcher to standardise and control, ensuring their interview is conducted in precisely the same way (same tone of voice and same questions asked)

-if interview is conducted in exactly the same way then interviewees should all get similar results (=high reliability)

Question 53

3 reasons for structured interviews having lower levels of validity

Answer 53

-as they use close-ended Q’s that restrict interviewees to choose from a limited set of pre-set answers

-gives interviewers very limited freedom to explain Q’s and clarify misunderstandings

-people may lie or exaggerate, which produces false data

Question 54

why is being inflexible a significant weakness of structured interviews ?

Answer 54

They are only a snapshot taken at one moment in time with
pre-planned Q’s to stick rigidly to, so they’re not flexible to any changes (or any other moment in time)

Question 55

3 criticisms of structured interviews out forward by Feminists

Answer 55

-researcher is in control of interview and decides the line of questioning to be followed, which mirrors women’s subordination in wider society)

-treats women as isolated individuals rather than seeing them in context of power relationships that oppress them

-imposes researchers categories on women, making it difficult for them to express their experiences and concealing the unequal power relationships between the sexes