Unit 4 first section q's

Question 1

Brewer (00)

Answer 1

Defines ethnography as ‘the study of people in naturally occurring situations, by methods of data collection which capture their social meanings an ordinary activities, involving the rsearcher participating directly in the setting if not also in the activities, in order to collect data in a systematic manner.

Question 2

David and Sutton (04)

Answer 2

Ethnogrphy study over 16 month period tryung to capture every aspect of a cashier’s working life using field diariries, participant observation oral life hisrohis, individual and roup interviews and participating in ‘out of work’ social activities.

Question 3

Grounded Theory

Answer 3

Grounded theory is the process where researchers don’t want their interpretation of data to be influenced by the categories and concepts used previously. Istead, they want their own to emerge from data collection.

Question 4

Research Bargain

Answer 4

Where access is granted only with various strings attached.

Question 5

Martin Bulmer (2001)

Answer 5

Overview of ethics - respondents need to be infromed about the nature and purpose of the study, how the data will be used and how their anonymity will be respected.Intervewer can check up on any possible harm by building a rapport, the data collected must be collected securely and in line with the Data Protection Act.

Question 6

Miles and Huberman (1994)

Answer 6

‘You cannot study everyone, everywhere, doing everything’.

Question 7

Stratified Sampling

Answer 7

Sampling frames can be sub-divided into smaller lists and then random samples taken from each list.

Question 8

Systematic Sampling

Answer 8

Say a sampling frame of 1000 names, it is then decided that the sampling size is to be 100. The sample is chosen by simply choosing every 10th name on the list.

Question 9

Multi-stage cluster sampling

Answer 9

Sample of areas may be chosen and then a random sample taken from these clusters. More practical than randomly selecting from a huge national sample.

Question 10

Quota sampling

Answer 10

involves dividing the population according to characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity.

Question 11

Jessica Jacobson (98)

Answer 11

Used a snowball sample in her qualitative sample of the importance of religion for the identities of young Pakistanis. No sampling frame was available and she needed an initial contact to ‘smooth the ground’ for her.

Question 12

Bryman (2004)

Answer 12

Cricises dtructured interviews ‘the resaecrher extracts inforation from the researcher subject and gives nothing in return’.

Question 13

Semantic differential scales

Answer 13

To extremes at either end of a series of numbers. Respondents are given a statement and then circle the number that most closely reflects the strength of their opinion.

Question 14

Qualitative Researcher aims to

Answer 14

See the world through the eyes of research participants, examine the contexts in ehich social processes over time and use flexible methods which allow participants to express themselves in their own way.

Question 15

Respondent validation

Answer 15

A process which research participants are asked to comment on the validity of the research findings.

Question 16

Principle of Verifiability

Answer 16

identification of norms of a group which allow the researcher or other ‘outsiders’ to act as a ‘normal’ member of the group.

Question 17

Eileen Baker (1984)

Answer 17

Study of the Moonies. Conducted in depth interviews dealing with their background, why they became a Moonie, their life. She also lived as a participant observer in several centers with Moonies. Two years after her researcher she conducted a large Questionnaire based on her findings in order to find social patterns and trends.

Question 18

Three types of triangulation

Answer 18

Investigator - using different researchers to check for bias. Data - Collecting data at different times from different people in different places. Methodological - Variety of techniques within the same method or combination of research methods and the data produced.

Question 19

Data Sets

Answer 19

Sets of data collected at regular intervals, which provide a bank of information for researchers to draw on. e.g. General Household Survey, BSA etc.

Question 20

Trace Measures

Answer 20

Physical traces left by human activity which can be analyzed to check the validity of responses in interviews and questionnaires.

Question 21

Myhill & Allen (2002)

Answer 21

Nationally representative sample of 6,994 women aged 16 to 59. Estimated that nearly 1 in 20 women in England and Wales have been raped since the age 16. The operational definition was the use of violence, threats or intimidation to force women to have sex against her will. Only 60% of women classified as rape victims were prepared to classify their experience as rape.

Question 22

Goffman

Answer 22

Participation observation study of behavior of inmates in mental hospital in Washington DC. He watched and listened and amassed a vast quantity of data. He didn’t decide in advance what was relevant but simply watched and listened. However his sensitivities were those of middle class and, as a result, he may have misinterpreted the meanings patients gave to their situation.

Question 23

Three types of triangulation

Answer 23

Investigator - using different researchers to check for bias. Data - Colecting data at different times from differnt people in different places. Methodological - Variety of techniques within the same method or combination of research methods and the data produced.

Question 24

Positivism argues

Answer 24

Objective social facts about the social world, facts are not influenced by the researcher’s personal opinion, researchers can look for correlations in which two or more things occur, correlations may represent causal relationships, human behavior is shaped by external stimuli and one should only study what one can observe.

Question 25

Comparative method

Answer 25

Same logic as an experiment, but using events that have already taken place. More difficult to isolate variables but based on real social events and is the only systematic way to study long-term or wide-scale social change.

Question 26

Interpretivists

Answer 26

Usually advocate the use of qualitative data to interpret social action, with an emphasis on the meanings and motives of actors. This often requires imagining the situation from another person’s viewpoint.

Question 27

Symbolic interactionism

Answer 27

See individuals as possessing a self-concept, or image of themselves.

Question 28

Blumer (62)

Answer 28

Argues sociologists need to understand the viewpoint of the people who’s behavior they are trying to understand.

Question 29

Labelling theory (Becker)

Answer 29

Behaviours are deviant only when society labels them as deviant.

Question 30

Comparative method

Answer 30

Same logic as an experiment, but usisng events that have already taken place. More difficult to isolate variables but based on real social events and is the only systematic way to study long-term or wide-scale social change.

Question 31

Interpretivists

Answer 31

Usually advocate the use of qualitative data to interpret social action, with an emhaiss on the meanings and motives of actors. This often requires imagining the situation from another person’s viewpoint.

Question 32

Bryman (2001)

Answer 32

Four types of validity. Measurement - concerns whether something really measures what it claims. Internal - Whether a causal relationship is real or not. External - Whether results can be generalized. Ecological - whether social science theories hold true in everyday settings.

Question 33

Blumer (62)

Answer 33

Argues sociologists need to understand the viewpoint of the people who’s behaviour they are trying to understand.

Question 34

Pilot studies

Answer 34

Small preliminary studies carried out before a bigger study to improve, help design, or test the feasibility of proposed research.

Question 35

Hey (97)

Answer 35

Girls try to construct a feminine identity in schools; those who stray away from this are negatively labelled as ‘slags’.

Question 36

Phenomenologists

Answer 36

Reject the idea that causal explanations are possible. To them the social world has to be classified before it can be measured.

Question 37

Critical Social Science

Answer 37

Methods of study which are critical of society and have the aim of improving it.

Question 38

Plummer (1982)

Answer 38

A life history is useful for helping to understand the world from an individual’s point in view.

Question 39

Abbot and Wallace (99)

Answer 39

Criticizes ‘malestream research’ for researching only men and using male only samples, ignoring women’s issues.

Question 40

Oakley (1981)

Answer 40

In a masculine approach to interviewing there is an emphasis on objectivity and detachment.

Question 41

Standpoint feminists

Answer 41

Argue that women have a unique insight into the social world by virtue of being an oppressed group.

Question 42

Epistemological postmodernists

Answer 42

Reject the idea that any research can produce a single ‘true’ description of the world.

Question 43

Harvey (90)

Answer 43

Crucial aspect of critica; social science is deconstruction - taking apart an aspect of the social world to understand how it works.

Question 44

Popper (59)

Answer 44

Argues that you can never find the truth. Ge sees scientific methodology as desirable but sees that there is always the possibility that a theory may be proved wrong in the future.

Question 45

Paradigm

Answer 45

Provides the complete framework within which scientists operate.

Question 46

Metanarratives

Answer 46

Big stories such as Marxism or feminism which offer s single explanation, a single perspective in social reality. A total package into which all social reality can be accommodated.

Question 47

Kuhn (62)

Answer 47

Argues that scientific communtites develop a commitment to a particular paradigm, a set of shared beliefs about some aspect of the physical world.

Question 48

Lyotard (84)

Answer 48

sees all knowledge as story telling, with no way of distinguishing between true and untrue stories.