topic 3: key research concepts- validity, reliability, representativeness and generalisability

Question 1

explain reliability?

Answer 1

sociology uses a variety of different methods to study people
If the same piece of research is repeated by different (or same) sociologists, then it should produce the same results
If this isn’t the case, then we couldn’t rely upon evidence produced

Question 2

explain standardised procedures?

Answer 2

standardised procedures refer to when all the participants are treated in exactly the same way at every step of the method, and sob all have the same experience
This means research can be repeated

Question 3

why do positivists approve of reliability?

Answer 3

Reliability for positivists is a good way of ensuring that sociology is scientific and repeatable

Question 4

Explain validity?

Answer 4

validity is the extent to which the research provides a true picture of the social reality of those being studied

Question 5

why do interpretivists approve of validity?

Answer 5

for interpretivists, sociology should be about accessing detailed, complex, true accounts of people’s meanings and experiences.
They favour qualitative methods that explore people’s feelings and opinions

Question 6

what is the relationship between reliability and validity?

Answer 6

They do not go hand in hand
Questionnaires are likely to be highly reliable, but doesn’t mean they’re valid e.g when asked about criminal activity, people often lie- meaning it’s invalid

Question 7

explain representativeness?

Answer 7

representativeness is concerned with whether the group/ individuals being studied are a fair reflection of the target population
Sociologists need to consider two things when trying to obtain a representative sample:
1) size of sample- the bigger, the better
2) the make up of the sample- do the social characteristics (e.g age, class) reflect the target population (the group the sociologist wishes to study)

Question 8

explain generalisability?

Answer 8

when talking about generalisability, it’s important to note we are focusing on the findings and conclusions
The aim of most sociological research is to produce knowledge which can aid us in understanding the behaviour of people in general- not just a specific group being studied.
If knowledge from the study cannot be generalised, then it has limited use