the process of research

Question 1

hypothesis

Answer 1

a proposed explanation that can be determined to be true or false

‘family size determines educational achievement’

if the hypothesis is shown to be false, it will be discarded

used by positivists as they seek to discover cause and effect relationships

advantage - gives clear direction to research

Question 2

research aim

Answer 2

a more general statement of what the sociologist intents to study and hopes to achieve

‘to investigate the impact of male teachers on boys in primary schools’

used by interpretivists as they are interested in understanding actors’ experiences and meanings - want to find out what the actors themselves think rather than impose their own explanations in the form of a hypothesis

advantage - open ended and can be useful at the start of research when little is known about a topic

Question 3

operationalising concepts

Answer 3

before testing a hypothesis, sociologists will need a working definition of their key terms

e.g if our hypothesis us that working class people do worse in exams, we need a definiton of working class

is it based on income, culture, occupation?

once we have operationalised the concept, we can start asking questions that measure it and can correlate this with information we collect

Question 4

operationalising concepts:

positivists and interpretivists

Answer 4

make concepts measurable

positivists are most concerned to operationalise concepts because of the importance they place they place on quantitative data and testing hypothesis

interpretivists put less emphasis on operationalising concepts - more interested in actors own definitions and understanding of ideas than in imposing their own definitions of these concepts

Question 5

disadvantages of operationalising concepts

Answer 5

sociologists operationalise the same concept differently

this can make it harder to compare findings from different pieces of research

Question 6

pilot studies

Answer 6

sociologists who use social surveys such as questionnaires and structured interviews, often carry out a pilot study before conducting their own survey

this involves trying out a draft version of the questionnaire or interview questions on a small sample

young and willmott - carried out over 100 pilto interviews to help them decide on the design of their study, the questions to ask and how to word them

Question 7

sampling

Answer 7

we do not have the time or money to survey every working- class pupil in the uk .

we would, have to choose a sample of pupils to include.

a sample is a smaller sub-group drawn from the wider group that we are interested in. the process of creating or selecting a sample is sampling

Question 8

the purpose of sampling

Answer 8

the purpose of sampling is usually to ensure that those people we have chosen to include in the study are representative of the research population - the whole group we are interested in

so long as the sample is representative, we should be able to generalise our findings.

this is particularly attractive to positivist sociologists, who wish to make general, law-like statements about the wider social structure

Question 9

the sampling frame

Answer 9

a list of all the members of the population we are interested in studying.

young and willmott used the electoral register as their sampling frame.

it is important that the list we use as a sampling frame is as complete and accurate as possible.

once we have obtained our sampling frame, we can choose our sample from it. in selecting the sample, we need to ensure it is representative of the wider population we are interested in.

Question 10

representative sampling techniques:

random sampling

Answer 10

simplest technique - sample chosen purely by chance

everyone has an equal chance of being selected

a large enough random sample should reflect the characteristics of the whole research population

Question 11

representative sampling techniques

quasi random sampling/ systematic sampling

Answer 11

every nth person from the sampling frame is selected

young and willmott used every 36th name on the electoral register

Question 12

representative sampling techniques:

stratified random sampling

Answer 12

the researcher first stratifies (breaks down) the population in the sample frame by age, class, gender etc

then the sample is created in the same proportions

Question 13

representative sampling techniques:

quota sampling

Answer 13

the population is stratified, and then each interviewer is given a quota which they have to fill with respondents who fit these characteristics.

the interviewer keeps at this task until their quota is filled.

Question 14

non representative sampling techniques:

practical reasons

Answer 14

there are several practical reasons why it might not be possible to create a representative sample:

the social characteristics of the research population, such as age, gender and class, may not be known

it may be impossible to find or create a sample frame for that particular research population. for example, not all criminals are convicted, so there is no complete list available from which to select a sample

potential respondents may refuse to participate

Question 15

non representative sampling techniques:

snowball sampling

Answer 15

involves collecting a sample by contacting a number of key individuals who are asked to suggest others who might be interviewed

useful way to contact a sample of people who might otherwise be difficult to find or persuade to take part.

Question 16

non representative sampling techniques:

opportunity sampling

Answer 16

involves choosing from those individuals who are easiest to access.

examples include selecting from passers-by on the street or from a captive audience such as a class of pupils.

in neither case is the sample likely to be representative of the target research population.

Question 17

non representative sampling techniques:

volunteer sampling

Answer 17

uses people from the target population who select themselves

responding to an advertisement or poster online

Question 18

non representative sampling techniques:

theoretical reasons

Answer 18

even where it is possible to create a representative sample, some researchers may choose not to do so, because of their methodological perspective.

interpretivists believe that it is more important to obtain valid data
and an authentic understanding of social actors’ meanings than to
discover general laws of behaviour.

because interpretivists are less concerned to make generalisations, they have less need for a representative sample.

Question 19

case studies

Answer 19

the detailed examination of a single case (or a few cases) such as a school, family, workplace, or just one individual.

they are not representative and we cannot generalise from them.

they have several uses:
- to suggest hypotheses at the start of research: looking closely at one case may give us ideas we can test on a larger group
- to provide a detailed insight into a particular group.
- to study exceptional cases. an example is weber’s (1905) study of the role of the calvinist religion in the rise of capitalism, which he saw as unique.
- in a large-scale quantitative study, they can illustrate general points in more detail and the study a qualitative dimension.