Theoretical issues

Question 1

Validity

Answer 1

• a valid method is one that produces a true or genuine picture of what something is really like
• it allows the researcher to get closer to the truth
• many sociologists argue that qualitative methods such as participant observation give us a more valid account of what it is like to be a member of a group than quantitative methods such as questionnaires
• this is because participant observation can give us a deeper insight through first hand experience

Question 2

Reliability

Answer 2

• another word for reliability is replicability
• a replica is an exact copy of something, so a reliable method is one which, repeated by another researcher, gives the same results
• in sociology, quantitative methods such as written questionnaires tend to produce more reliable results than qualitative methods such as unstructured interviews

Question 3

Representativeness

Answer 3

• representativeness refers to whether or not the people we study are a typical cross-section of the group we are interested in
• if we ensure our sample is representative or typical of the wider population, you can make generalisations
• large-scale quantitative surveys that use sophisticated sampling techniques to select their sample are more likely to produce representative data

Question 4

Methodological perspective

Answer 4

sociologists’ choice of method is also influenced by their methodological perspective - their view of what society is like and how we should study it

• there are two contrasting perspectives on the choice of methods: positivism and interpretivism
• positivists prefer quantitative data, seek to discover patterns of behaviour and see sociology as a science
• interpretivists prefer qualitative data, seek to understand social actors’ meanings and reject the view that sociology can model itself on the natural sciences
• functionalists and marxists often take a positivist approach (they see society as a large-scale structure that shapes our behaviour)
• by contrast, interactionists favour an interpretivist approach (they take micro-level view of society, focussing on small-scale, face-to-face interactions)

Question 5

• representativeness refers to whether or not the people we study are a typical cross-section of the group we are interested in
• if we ensure our sample is representative or typical of the wider population, you can make generalisations
• large-scale quantitative surveys that use sophisticated sampling techniques to select their sample are more likely to produce representative data

Answer 5

Representativeness

Question 6

• another word for reliability is replicability
• a replica is an exact copy of something, so a reliable method is one which, repeated by another researcher, gives the same results
• in sociology, quantitative methods such as written questionnaires tend to produce more reliable results than qualitative methods such as unstructured interviews

Answer 6

Reliability

Question 7

• a valid method is one that produces a true or genuine picture of what something is really like
• it allows the researcher to get closer to the truth
• many sociologists argue that qualitative methods such as participant observation give us a more valid account of what it is like to be a member of a group than quantitative methods such as questionnaires
• this is because participant observation can give us a deeper insight through first hand experience

Answer 7

Validity

Question 8

• sociologists’ choice of method is also influenced by their methodological perspective - their view of what society is like and how we should study it
• there are two contrasting perspectives on the choice of methods: positivism and interpretivism
• positivists prefer quantitative data, seek to discover patterns of behaviour and see sociology as a science
• interpretivists prefer qualitative data, seek to understand social actors’ meanings and reject the view that sociology can model itself on the natural sciences
• functionalists and marxists often take a positivist approach (they see society as a large-scale structure that shapes our behaviour)
• by contrast, interactionists favour an interpretivist approach (they take micro-level view of society, focussing on small-scale, face-to-face interactions)

Answer 8

Methodological perspective