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Sociology - Education + class, ethnicity, theory and methods > THEORY AND METHODS: Research Methods (PET's and Positivism and Interpretivism) > Flashcards

THEORY AND METHODS: Research Methods (PET's and Positivism and Interpretivism) Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

Define primary data

A
  • Data collected first hand by researchers themselves for their own purposes.
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2
Q

What methods are commonly used in primary data

A
  • Social surveys
  • Participant observation
  • Interviews
  • Content analysis
  • Longitudinal studies
  • Experiments
  • Case studies
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3
Q

Advantages and disadvantages of primary data

A

ADV: Can precisely gather the information they need
DISADV: Can be long and costly

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4
Q

Define secondary data

A
  • Already existing data collected by previous or other researchers
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5
Q

What methods are commonly used in secondary data

A
  • Documents
  • Diaries
  • Official statistics
  • Data from social surveys
  • Historical documents and evidence
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6
Q

Advantages and disadvantages of secondary data

A

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

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7
Q

Define quantitative data

A

Information in numerical form or statistics

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8
Q

Give an example of quantitive data

A
  • % of pupils passing GCSE
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9
Q

Define qualitative data

A

Information that gives a feel of what something is like

- can be written, auditory or visual

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10
Q

Give an example of qualitative data

A
  • What it feels like to get good grades
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11
Q

What is the acronym that affects choice of methods and what does it mean

A

PET’s

Practical, Ethical, Theoretical issues

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12
Q

What practical issues are there to influence choice of research method

FOTS (P)

A
  • Funding
  • opportunity and access to respondents
  • Time and money
  • Subject matter
    (Personal skills and characteristics )
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13
Q

What ethical issues are there to influence choice of research method

CHIRP (V)

A
  • Convert research
  • Harm to participants
  • Informed consent
  • Research should not be law breaking
  • Privacy and confidentiality
    ( Vulnerable groups)
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14
Q

What are the top 5 ethical considerations are there to influence choice of research method

A
  • Deception
  • Right to withdraw
  • Informed consent
  • Protection from psychological and physical harm
  • Social sensitivity
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15
Q

Define the term methodological approach (part of theoretical issues)

A

Sociologists vies on what society is like and how we should study it

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16
Q

Positivists

  • Preferred data method
  • Main beliefs
  • What do they see sociology as
  • Examples of sociological theories
A
  • Quantitive data
  • Seek patterns of behaviour
  • see sociology as science
  • Functionalism, Marxism
17
Q

Interpretivists

  • Preferred data method
  • Main beliefs
  • What do they reject sociology as
  • Examples of sociological theories
A
  • Qualitative data
  • Seek to understand social actors’ meanings
  • Reject the view that sociology can model itself on natural sciences
  • Interactionism
18
Q

What theoretical issues are there to consider when conducting research

A
  • 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
19
Q

What 4 factors influence sociologists topic of research

A
  • The sociologists perspective
  • Societies values
  • Practical factors
  • Funding bodies
20
Q

How does the sociologists perspective influence sociologists topic of research

A
  • 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.
21
Q

How does societies values influence sociologists topic of research

A
  • 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
22
Q

How do practical factors influence sociologists topic of research

A
  • Practical factors influence sociologists topic of research in many ways
  • Eg, the opportunity (accessibility of their participants)
  • Eg, the travel considerations
23
Q

How do funding bodies influence sociologists topic of research

A
  • 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.
24
Q

Define triangulation

A
  • 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.
25
Q

What are some strengths of triangulation

A
  • 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
26
Q

Define verstehen

A

a particular form of deep, emphatic understanding

27
Q

Verstehen

  • Who
  • Why is it good / how is it observed
A

Weber

- rich valid data that might be acquired through participant observations or unstructured interviews

28
Q

Positivist sociologists

  • Who
  • Studies
  • Why sociology is considered a science
A
  • 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)
29
Q

Positivism

- Criticisms

A
  • 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
30
Q

Interpretivists sociologists

  • Who
  • Studies
  • Why sociology is not considered a science
A

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
31
Q

Interpretivism

  • Criticisms
  • Strengths
A
  • 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)
-

Sociology - Education + class, ethnicity, theory and methods (32 decks)

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