the process of research Flashcards
what does the term social survey refer to?
A method of gathering large amounts of data from a wide variety of people.It can be done through questionnaires and interviews using both closed-ended and open-ended questions.
They are carried out using a standardised process
what is step 1 of conducting a social survey?
To decide the topic you wish to research, it can be a wide variety of topics.
what are the 4 factors that will affect the topic a researcher chooses?
-the sociologists theoretical values (whether they’re functionalist, marxist etc will affect what topics they’re interested in)
-society’s values ( sociologists are members of the societies they research ,so the society’s values are also the sociologist’s values. )
-practical factors (some topics may be very difficult or even impossible to research,)
-funding organisation
(all sociological research has to be paid for )
what is step 2 of conducting a social survey?
formulating the hypothesis and aims
what is an aim and hypothesis?
an aim is a statement that identifies what the researcher intends to study and hopes to achieve.
A hypothesis is a prediction, expressed as a statement, which the researcher sets out to prove or disprove by gathering evidence.
what is an advantage of having an aim and hypothesis?
aim:allows the researcher to investigate a broad range of interesting information about the topic of research.
hypothesis:gives direction to the research and gives the researcher a focus for the questions to ask
what is step 3 of conducting a social survery?
operationalising concepts
what is operationalising concepts?
It means converting key concepts into something measurable and helps the researcher write the questions for the survey as it focuses the researcher on what is actually being measured/researched. (To operationalise the concept ‘social class’ you would ask participants about their education, income, occupation, lifestyle, etc and then work out their class background from the answers. )
what is step 4 of conducting a social survey?
Choosing the research method (questionnaires, interviews, observations)
what is step 5 of conducting a social survey?
Conducting a pilot study (a trial run of a draft version of the questionnaire or interview) T
what is the aim of a pilot study?
to improve any questions and their wording to make sure the respondents can understand them easily.
what is step 6 of conducting a social survey?
Selecting the sample (the sample are the people the researcher will ask to take part in the study, can be selected through a variety of sampling methods, usually from a sampling frame)
the sample should be…
representative of the whole population.
what is step 7 of conducting a social survey?
Conducting the survey (carry out the actual interviews or questionnaires. )
what is step 8 of conducting a social survey?
Analysing the data (involves analysing the responses and quantifying them)
from the analysed data, the researcher…
reaches a conclusion on whether the hypothesis was proven true or false.
