THEORY AND METHODS: Research Methods (PET's and Positivism and Interpretivism) Flashcards
Define primary data
- Data collected first hand by researchers themselves for their own purposes.
What methods are commonly used in primary data
- Social surveys
- Participant observation
- Interviews
- Content analysis
- Longitudinal studies
- Experiments
- Case studies
Advantages and disadvantages of primary data
ADV: Can precisely gather the information they need
DISADV: Can be long and costly
Define secondary data
- Already existing data collected by previous or other researchers
What methods are commonly used in secondary data
- Documents
- Diaries
- Official statistics
- Data from social surveys
- Historical documents and evidence
Advantages and disadvantages of secondary data
ADV: Quick and cheap
DISADV: Those who produced it may not have the answers to questions researchers need, so it won’t be providing the exact information needed
Define quantitative data
Information in numerical form or statistics
Give an example of quantitive data
- % of pupils passing GCSE
Define qualitative data
Information that gives a feel of what something is like
- can be written, auditory or visual
Give an example of qualitative data
- What it feels like to get good grades
What is the acronym that affects choice of methods and what does it mean
PET’s
Practical, Ethical, Theoretical issues
What practical issues are there to influence choice of research method
FOTS (P)
- Funding
- opportunity and access to respondents
- Time and money
- Subject matter
(Personal skills and characteristics )
What ethical issues are there to influence choice of research method
CHIRP (V)
- Convert research
- Harm to participants
- Informed consent
- Research should not be law breaking
- Privacy and confidentiality
( Vulnerable groups)
What are the top 5 ethical considerations are there to influence choice of research method
- Deception
- Right to withdraw
- Informed consent
- Protection from psychological and physical harm
- Social sensitivity
Define the term methodological approach (part of theoretical issues)
Sociologists vies on what society is like and how we should study it
Positivists
- Preferred data method
- Main beliefs
- What do they see sociology as
- Examples of sociological theories
- Quantitive data
- Seek patterns of behaviour
- see sociology as science
- Functionalism, Marxism
Interpretivists
- Preferred data method
- Main beliefs
- What do they reject sociology as
- Examples of sociological theories
- Qualitative data
- Seek to understand social actors’ meanings
- Reject the view that sociology can model itself on natural sciences
- Interactionism
What theoretical issues are there to consider when conducting research
- Validity - method that produces a genuine picture of something
- Reliability - Or replicability - should produce the same results
- Representativeness - If the research sample reflects the characteristics of the wider population or if they are a cross-section of the group studied
- Methodological perspective
What 4 factors influence sociologists topic of research
- The sociologists perspective
- Societies values
- Practical factors
- Funding bodies
How does the sociologists perspective influence sociologists topic of research
- Their theoretical perspective has major influence on what topic they want to research
- Eg, a new right researcher might study the effects of welfare benefits on lone-parent families
- Eg, a feminist is more likely to choose a study in domestic violence against women.
How does societies values influence sociologists topic of research
- As the values of the society they live in change, so does the focus of research.
- Eg, in the 1960’s the topic of gender inequality with feminism may have been the focus, whereas today we might be more inclined to study the effects of global warming
How do practical factors influence sociologists topic of research
- Practical factors influence sociologists topic of research in many ways
- Eg, the opportunity (accessibility of their participants)
- Eg, the travel considerations
How do funding bodies influence sociologists topic of research
- Most research requires funding from an external body. As the funding body is paying for the research, it will determine the topic to be investigated.
Define triangulation
- is the use of two or more research methods in a single piece of research to check the reliability and representativeness (and validity) of research evidence.
What are some strengths of triangulation
- Different methods can compliment each other - the strengths of one counter the weaknesses of the other
- They offer new insights and ways at looking at things, especially if using very different types such as official statistics and observation
Define verstehen
a particular form of deep, emphatic understanding
Verstehen
- Who
- Why is it good / how is it observed
Weber
- rich valid data that might be acquired through participant observations or unstructured interviews
Positivist sociologists
- Who
- Studies
- Why sociology is considered a science
- Comte
- Established theories with natural laws, sciences
- Wanted sociology to be seen as the ‘queen science’ that held more importance than the other sciences
- Durkheim
- Used a comparative method - study of suicide - to back up comtes points
- Found that less social integration = higher levels of suicide (bigger picture)
Positivism
- Criticisms
- Treats individuals as if they passive and unthinking
- Interpretivists argue that people’s subjective realities are complex and this demands in-depth qualitative methods
- The statistics used to find their ‘laws of society’ might themselves be invalid, because of bias in the way they are collected
- By remaining detached we actually get a very shallow understanding of human behaviour
Interpretivists sociologists
- Who
- Studies
- Why sociology is not considered a science
Weber
- Saw both social action and structural approaches to develop a full understanding of society
- Verstehen
Mead
- Symbolic interactionism
- more emphasis on the role of the active individual
Goffman - developed from Mead
- Dramaturgical theory
- People are actors playing roles to project idealised selves to people
Interpretivism
- Criticisms
- Strengths
- Still too much focus on society shaping the individual – symbolic interactionism argues that individuals have more freedom to shape their identities.
Strengths:
- He recognized that we need to understand individual meanings to understand how societies change (unlike Marxism)
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