Theory and Methods Flashcards
1
Q
With which research method does a sociologist need to consider the Hawthorne Effect?
A
Observations
2
Q
What are the three stages of a participant observation?
A
Getting in, staying in, Getting out.
3
Q
What term is used to describe the functionalist idea that the structures of society work together in the same way as the human body?
A
Organic Analogy
4
Q
Which Sociologist i s associated with the idea of Falsification?
A
Karl Popper
5
Q
What term is used to describe when participant changes behaviour to appear more socially acceptable?
A
Social Desirability
6
Q
What type of sampling method relies on the participant to introduce more participants to the study?
A
Snowball
7
Q
What is the difference between official and unofficial statistics?
A
Official statistics come from the government, unofficial come from companies, charities etc.
8
Q
What is meant by the term reliability in sociological research?
A
A study is replicable exactly and will get similar results.
9
Q
Name the 3 main practical considerations to choosing a research method.
A
Time, Cost, Accessibility, Funding, Personal characteristics
10
Q
Which theoretical perspective prefers the scientific method?
A
Positivists
11
Q
What are the 5 ethical considerations in sociological research?
A
Informed Consent, Right to Withdraw, Deception, Harm, Confidentiality.
12
Q
What are the 4 representative sampling methods?
A
Random, Stratified, Systematic, Quota
13
Q
What are the 4 types of interview?
A
Structured, Unstructured, Group, Semi Structured
14
Q
What term is used when a participant changes their behaviour to what they think the researcher wants?
A
Demand Characteristics
15
Q
What are the structural theories of sociology?
A
Functionalism, Marxism, Feminism
16
Q
Who is considered the father of modern sociology?
A
Comte
17
Q
What is meant by the term verification?
A
That a hypothesis should be proven correct even when the study is repeated.
18
Q
Who argues that sociology cannot be a science as it doesn’t have a single paradigm?
A
Khun
19
Q
What are the 6 types of observation?
A
Overt, Covert, Participant, Non-Participant, Structured, Unstructured.
20
Q
What type of data is Qualitative data?
A
Descriptive data, words
21
Q
What are the social action theories?
A
Interpretivism, Ethnomethodology, Phenomenology
22
Q
What are the three theoretical considerations?
A
Reliability, Validity, Representativeness
23
Q
Who argued that sociologists could not be value free when choosing a topic or interpreting data, but could be when carrying out their research?
A
Weber
24
Q
Which sociological perspective believes that social policies have led to a dependency culture?
A
New Right
25
What type of data is Quantitative data?
Numerical data
26
What is systematic sampling?
Listing all possible participants and taking every nth participant.
27
What are the three main feminist perspectives?
Radical, Marxist and Liberal.
28
What is a structured observation?
Where the observer is looking for specific behaviours, or records behaviours are specific time intervals.
29
Give one strength of using official statistics in sociological research.
Easy to access, cheap, can show trends over time, etc.
30
What is meant by the term social construction?
Created by society, not a naturally occurring phenomena
31
Which sociologist is generally associated with functionalism as an approach?
Durkheim
32
What are the 2 non-representative sampling methods?
Opportunity and Snowball
33
What are the two types of question used in questionnaires?
Open and Closed
34
What term is used to describe the research method which requires a hypothesis to be formulated prior to research being carried out?
Hypothetico deductive Method
35
What is an interview schedule?
The list of questions that will be asked in the interview and in what order.
36
What does it mean when it is suggested that a research topic is ‘in vogue’?
It is a popular research topic at the time
37
What is a hypothesis?
A statement which offers an explanation which will be tested.
38
Name 2 sociologists associated with postmodernist approach?
Lyotard, Baudrillard, Giddens, Beck
39
What is meant by the term ‘looking glass self’?
Seeing ourselves as others see us.
40
What is the GAIL schema?
Goal Attainment, Adaption, Integration, Latency
41
What is meant by primary sources of data?
Data that is collected by the researcher specifically for this study.
42
What does Goffman mean by ‘Dramaturgical”
Life is like a play in which the roles of the actors are loosely scripted by society.
43
In which situation might informed consent not be necessary?
Non participant observation in public arena where there is no expectation of privacy.
44
How is a stratified sample determined?
Research population separated into groups strata and the sample reflects the proportions of these strata.
45
Which approaches are considered to be conflict approaches?
Feminism and Marxism
46
What do radical feminists mean by political lesbianism?
Lesbianism is the only way to combat oppression which is caused by sexual politics.
47
Name two of the ways of distributing a questionnaire?
Post, Internet, in person.
48
What does the term socialisation mean?
The process of learning the norms and values of a society.
49
What is meant by the term validity?
The degree to which a measurement instrument, such as a survey question, measures what we in fact think it measures.
50
Who are gatekeepers?
The people who need to give permission for you to be able to access your research population.
51
What did Durkheim mean by Social Facts?
Things that exist externally to the individual that they cannot control.
52
What is meant by Verstehen?
The understanding that comes from placing oneself in someone else's position.
53
What is the sociological cage?
Social groups studied by sociologists : Class, Age, Gender and Ethnicity
54
What is triangulation?
Using more then one method to improve the validity of your research.
55
What did Baudrillard mean by hyper-reality?
The inability to distinguish reality from fiction in the media.
56
Who argued that sociologists had a ‘moral responsibility’ when conducting research?
Weber and Gouldner
57
What is a metanarrative?
A big picture view of society.
58
What are the four main views on sociology as a science?
Positivist, Popper, Kuhn, Realist
59
Which sociologists is associated with the idea of the looking glass self?
Cooley
60
What did Garfinkle mean by ‘reflexivity’?
The use of common sense knowledge to make sense of social reality.
61
What is an open question in a questionnaire?
One where the respondent can answer in detail and explain their point.
62
Which sociologists is associated with Symbolic Interactionism?
Mead
63
What do feminist sociologists mean when they describe sociology as being Malestream?
Ignoring the impact and experience of women.
64
What type of research methods are preferred by interpretivists?
Qualitative methods
65
Who described a social problem as social behaviour which causes public and private misery and requires a collective response?
Worsley
66
What is meant by research population?
The group which you are intending to study.
67
What is meant by representativeness?
Can the research be generalised to the rest of the research population.
68
What is the difference between a methodological perspective and a theoretical perspective?
Methodological perspective is the view on HOW the world should be studied.
69
What are the 2 main types of closed question used in questionnaires?
Multiple choice and Likert scale.
70
What 5 elements make up a culture of a society?
Norms, values, Language, Customs and traditions, Beliefs.
71
What is a Subculture?
A smaller group within a larger culture, often having beliefs or interests at variance with those of the larger culture.
72
What are the two types of socialisation?
Primary and Secondary.
73
What is an ascribed status?
The status the is given to you based on birth and is usually unchangeable.
74
What is an achieved status?
The status you earn through merit.
75
According to the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification what are the 7 social classes in Britain today?
Elite, Established Middle Class, Technical Middle Class, New Affluent Workers, Traditional Working Class, Emergent Service Class, Precariat
76
What term did Giddens use to describe the equal importance of social structure and interaction in shaping human behaviour?
Structuration Theory
77
What is intersectional feminism?
A form of feminism which takes into account the varying experiences of different social groups such as class and ethnicity.
78
Who are the Proletariat?
Another name for the working class.
79
Who said “I am not who I think I am, I am not who you think I am, I am who I think you think I am”?
Cooley
80
What is Ethnomethodology?
A perspective which focuses on the way people make sense of their everyday world. People are seen as rational actors, but employ practical reasoning rather than formal logic to make sense of and function in society.
81
Which sociologist is associated with Phenomenology?
Schultz
82
According to Bulmer what are the three principals of interaction?
Our actions are based on the meanings we give to situations, The meanings we have arise from interactions and to some extent we can negotiate them. The meanings we give to things are mainly to result of taking the role of the other.
83
What is meant by secondary data?
Information that has been collected by others such as official statistics.
84
What is the difference between representativeness and generalisability?
Generalisability refers to being able to extrapolate data to the rest of your research population. Representativeness refers to the sample reflecting the wider research population.
85
What three factors can influence the validity of a study?
Demand Characteristics, Social Desirability, Hawthorne Effect.
86
What is a correlation?
The relationship between two social events or phenomena.
87
Name two factors which influence topic choice.
Access to the research group, Academic Debate, Funding, Personal Interest.
88
Name two advantages of using Lab Experiments
High reliability, causality, objectivity, quantative data,
89
What is a social experiment?
Where the researcher manipulates the variables but the test takes place in the natural environment of the subject.
90
Which study into education used the a social experiment?
Rosenthal and Jacobson –Pygmalion in the classroom
91
What is a longitudinal study?
One which takes place over a long period of time such as months or years.
92
What three types of questions should a researcher avoid when creating a questionnaire?
Loaded Questions, Leading Questions, Technical or Complex Questions.
93
What is a semi-structured interview?
An interview which contains both open and closed questions and may not have an interview schedule.
94
What is a focus group?
A panel of adults who are introduced to an issue or debate via a stimulus and then asked to discuss as a group. This discussion is then recorded.
95
Name one practical issues with using interviews as a research method.
Time consuming, Expensive, Small Sample, group dynamics
96
What 4 questions does Scott suggest researchers need to ask before using personal documents?
Authenticity, Creditability, Representativeness, Meaning
97
Give one example of hard official statistics.
Birth records, death records, marriages, divorces, examination results.
98
What are soft statistics?
They are products of subjective decisions and choices made by powerful individuals.
99
Name three types of public document.
Government reports, Media reports, internet content, documents that report on specific activities of individual organisations, publicity materials.
100
What is the difference between a manifest and latent function?
Manifest functions are the intended functions and latent functions are the unintended functions of a social institution.
101
What are the three types of neo-Marxism?
Humanistic, Frankfurt School, Structuralist
102
Which sociologist is associated with the triple systems theory?
Sylvia Walby
103
What according to Beck are the 5 unique features of late modernity?
Risk, Global Influence, Lack of class difference, Reflexivity, Individualisation.
104
What do postmodernists see as the 4 causes of globalisation?
Technological change, Political Change, Economic Change, Global Movement of Peoples.
105
What is a quota sample?
When you the researcher takes a certain number of people who exhibit particular characteristics.
106
Crime statistics are an example of what form of official statistics?
Soft
107
What is the triple systems theory?
The bringing together of the three brad ideas of feminism to show how capitalism and racism produce a triple form of gender inequality.
108
What are hard statistics?
Data that once certified cannot be changed. They are the product of accurate and objective counting.
109
What is a pilot study?
A small scale version of the research to test out the validity and reliability of the research.
110
Name three research methods that would be preferred by interpretivists.
Unstructured interviews, personal documents, participant observations.
111
Giddens identifies two features which define periods of late modernity. What are they?
Disembedding and Reflexivity
112
What does Giddens mean by disembedding?
Impersonal forms of communication replacing face to face interactions which have led to an increase in individualism and the abandonment of civil and ethical guidelines when dealing with others.
113
What three reasons do interpretivists give to suggest sociology should not be a science?
People have consciousness, people are actively engaged in society and make choices, people are not passive puppets of society.
114
What are the five scientific characteristics of positivist sociology?
Quantifiable data, Controlled conditions, Reliable methods, Objectivity, High Validity.
115
Who suggests that there is no such things as a universal scientific logic or method which is followed by all scientists?
Feyerabend
116
Who suggests that the collection of data can be objective but the interpretation of the data is always subjective?
Weber
117
Who concluded that sociological research can never be value free as the person controlling the funding also controls the research values?
Gomm
118
What does Gouldner mean by “Domain Assumptions”?
A world view into which they have been socialised by their culture which seeps into their research.
119
What are the two types of social action which underpin social meaning?
Instrumental and Affectual
120
What is the difference between confidentiality and privacy in research ethics?
Confidentiality means you do not make participants names public, privacy means that you do not involve yourself in areas of the participants personal lives not relevant to the study.
