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Sociology Paper 1 > Theory and Methods > Flashcards

Theory and Methods Flashcards

1
Q

What is primary data?

A

Collected directly by the researchers themselves- interviews, questionnaires and surveys

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2
Q

What is secondary data?

A

Used by sociologists but have collected by other people - books journals census

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3
Q

What is quantitative data?

A

information that can be expressed in statistical or number form

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4
Q

What is qualitative data?

A

information concerned with the meaning and interpretation people have about some issue or event

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5
Q

What is reliability?

A

The extent to which the outcomes are consistent when the experiment is repeated more than once

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6
Q

What is validity?

A

The extent to which the instruments taht are used in the experiment measure exactly what is needed

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7
Q

Positivity theory and methods

A

Human behaviour is repetitious - possible to repeat the study and get same results (reliability)
Causality must be established to predict behaviour - measure directly so no other confound variables are found (validity)
Human behaviour is subject to external forces - ability to generalise findings to a wider population (representativeness)

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8
Q

Interpretivists theory and methods

A

Action and behaviour is unique - invisible internal influences (subjectivity)
Meanings and motives are essence - described using words and pictures (qualitative)
People make own social reality through interactions - details accounts (validity)

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9
Q

What is the difference between objective and subjective?

A

O- Dependent on factual truths while S is on personal opinion

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10
Q

What are some practical factors in choosing a research method?

A

Cost - large surveys can be time consuming and expensive to complete
Appropriate methods - using written questionnaires is difficult if group studies maybe be illiterate

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11
Q

What are other factors in choosing a research method?

A

Theoretical - different researchers have different views on best research type
Aims - researchers could sometimes twist data to confirm a hypothesis

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12
Q

Why might funding influence a research?

A

Researchers may avoid areas that aren’t lucrative or they choose subjects based on lots of funding

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13
Q

What are some hard to access groups

A

gangs and cults - dangerous and uncooperative

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14
Q

What are some ethical issues in research?

A

Confidentiality - researcher can identify a given persons response but promises to to do so publicly
Harm - can be physical or psychological
Anonymity - neither the researcher nor the the finding can identify a response with a respondent
Honesty - use of deception is often necessary to get authentic behaviour
Effects of the people being studied - could be harmed which could be traumatic
effects on wider society - lead to discrimination or show which groups need help
issues of legality and morality

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15
Q

What is representativeness?

A

The extent to which a sample mirrors a researchers target population. and reflects its characteristics

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16
Q

What does PERVERT model?

A

Practical - time, cost and location
Ethical - research meets ethical guidelines
Reliability- research can be repeated
Validity - the research has measured the intended variable
Examples - sociological studies
Representativeness - the sample is typical of the rest of the target population
theoretical - refers to positivism and interpretivism

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17
Q

What are the different types of sampling?

A

Simple Random - pulling names out a hat
Systematic - select participants systematciallly
Stratified - divided by a criteria and chosen randomly from each group
Quota - told to select people who fit certain categories
Snowball - researcher identifying someone and they suggest others
Cluster - dividing a population more and more

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18
Q

What is a questionnaire?

A

A formalised set of questions for obtaining information from respondents

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19
Q

What is the difference between open and close questions?

A

Open allows respondent to answer freely while closed limits number of responses to a question

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20
Q

What is operationalising concepts?

A

define key concepts or variable in a measurable way

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21
Q

What is the imposition problem?

A

Respondents may not be able to express their true feelings as the the questions have been pre chosen

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22
Q

What is a pre coded questionnaire?

A

A format to ask questions based on predetermined categories in a questionnaire form

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23
Q

PERVERT of questionnaires

A

P- cost effective but low response rate
E - includes bias
R - questions can be repeated
V - no option to clarify doubt
E - demography
R - reach a large number of people
T - positivists

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24
Q

What are the strengths and limitations of questionnaires?

A

Strengths:
Quick and cost effective
No need to train interviewers
More ethical
High reliability
Representative

Limitations:
inflexible
low response rates
social desirability bias
no opportunity to clarify how the respondent interprets the question
May understand question wrong a

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25
What is a structured interview?
Interviewer has a predetermined set of questions and goes through these formally
26
What is an unstructured interview?
Set of issues the interviewer wants to pursue but the questions are less set in stone
27
What are the strengths and weaknessweaknesses of structured interviews?
Strengths: quick and cost effective high reliability representative Weaknesses: inflexible likely to lie
28
What are the strengths and weaknessweaknesses of unstructured interviews?
Strengths: dynamic discussion real opinion and attitudes expressed interviewee can express real feelings Weaknesses: risk wandering off the point researcher could influence answers hard to categorise answers
29
What is participant observation?
Where the sociologist joins in with the group being studied - used by interpretivists
30
What does verstehen mean?
Understanding people from their own perspective
31
What is non participant observation?
observer does not join in with group but remains outside - used by positivists
32
What is the problem of covert participant observation?
Involves deception and could out researcher at risk of being found out
33
Examples of observations:
Goffman: Asylums - covert participant Barker: the making of a moonie - covert participant Patrick: a Glasgow gang observed - covert participant Humphrey’s: The read room trade - overt non participant
34
What are the strengths and weaknesses of participant observation?
Strengths: Emic (within one culture) approach Avoids researcher bias as removes hawthorne effect A holistic approach Weaknesses: Difficult to record data Time consuming Risk of losing objectivity
35
What are the strengths and weaknesses of non-participant research?
Strengths: objective easy to record data researcher dies not interfere with behaviour Weaknesses: hawthorne effect ethical concerns looking from the outside
36
What are experiments
Positivist research form controls as many factors to claim that a particular factor that was manipulated caused the effects
37
What are the differences between lab and field experiments?
Lab - conducted in controlled environments in which all the causes are controlled by the researcher Field - conducted in the real world under social conditions
38
What are the two types of variables?
Dependent - the test subject Independent - the changes made
39
What are some examples of studies using experiments?
Bandura: bobo dolls lab experiment - children exposed to aggressive models were more likely to act in physically agressive ways Mayo: Hawthorne studies field - altered physical conditions such as lighting, heating and breaks to see impact on employee motivation
40
Pervert of lab experiments
P - cannot get many sociological subjects into small scale setting of a lab E- manipulating subjects reactions R - easier to repeat as it is in a controlled environment V - CV and IV are tightly controlled os the results are likely to be as a direct result E - Bandura bobo rolle R - smaller sample size which reactions are manipulated T - positivist prefer this as it gets definitive results
41
Pervert of field experiments
P - access is likely to be more of a problem E - involves a lot of deception. and lack of informed consent R - harder to get similar conditions to replicate V - lesser opportunity for the Hawthorne effect and gets more natural reactions E - Mayo Hawthorne studies R - people act more natural T - interpetivists prefer as it gives a more authentic reaction
42
What is secondary sources of information?
Information that sociologists did not collect themselves - have to be cautious over reliability and validity Exp. census, official statistics, newspapers and radio, diaries, historical documents
43
What is content analysis?
involves collecting primary data as the sociologists personally collects the information that he wants
44
What are the strengths and weaknesses of content analysis?
Strengths: cheap and fast can be checked and corrected no researcher effects Historical focus Weaknesses: limited to what is recorded validity - maybe be subjected
45
What is semiotics?
Involves reading an image to work out the meanings that are contained within it
46
What is a survey?
- questionnaires or structured interviews - pre set questions - large number of people - usually quantitative data
47
What is the census?
Every 10 years the government collects data on the size structure and characteristics of the population the forms were designed for self completion by form fillers and could be posted back a majority publicity campaign helped raise awareness of the census and its importance
48
What are official statistics and their advantages and disadvantages?
- quantitative data gathered by the government pros: freely available easy to access more representative reliable cons: expensive for the government to collect researchers limited to available data
49
Examples of official statistics?
Durkheim used statistics to argue that suicide was caused by factors in society Interpretivists say official statistics are socially constructed
50
How can documents be assessed?
authenticity - data could be forged and secondary data cannot always be sure weather it is authentic credibility - people often leave various pieces of data out of memories representativeness - big problem with older sources such as historical documents meaning - is it interpreted the way it was intended to be?
51
What is a cast study?
a detailed study of one particular case or instance - exp. a study of an individual group or community life history is a case study of a particular individual
52
What are the strengths and weaknesses of case studies?
adv: test the usefulness of theories of social life useful in generating new hyptheses see the world from the point of view of an individual or group disadv: may not be representative may not be reliable or valid raises questions about accuracy of recall or facts
53
What are longitudinal studies?
designed to study development and change over a period of time
54
What are the strengths and weaknesses of longitudinal studies?
Adv: possible to study change over time possible to discover the causes of changes provide more valid data as they can refer back to older studies disadv: original sample size will drop as people die those in the sample are conscious of being studied problem of cost
55
What is triangulation?
a variety of methods is used to try to give a more rounded picture of the topic under study - uses both positivit and interpretivist method
56
What are the uses of triangulation?
- provide qualitative data to check quantitative data and vice vers - check the findings of secondary data - overcome doubts about representativeness - make research more reliable - build up a fuller picture of the population - overcome or compensate limitations of one research method - check validity of finding obtained
57
What is the difference between hard and soft statistics
hard - included birth, death and marriage rate as they are registered by law meaning they are entirely objective soft - any other kind of statistic like crime and unemployment
58
What does socially constructed means
they represent labels that people give to the behaviours of others
59
Why can official statistics be called statistical icebergs
only a small fraction of data is reported while the large majority goes unreported
60
What does the research population mean?
the group that has a certain characteristics that is of interest to the researcher
61
What is Poppers falsification principle?
any scientific research must subject its hypothesis to falsification

Sociology Paper 1 (3 decks)

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