Choosing A Resarch Method

Question 1

Research methods

Answer 1

We use theories to understand and explain patterns of behaviours un society in order to obtain these theories, research needs to be conducted to ensure that the theories are based on evidence.

Question 2

What us primary data

Answer 2

Primary data is information collected by sociologists themselves for their own purposes. These purposes may be to obtain a first hand ‘picture’ of a group or society, or to test a hypothesis.

Question 3

Methods for gathering primary data

Answer 3

• social surveys - asking people questions in a written questionnaire or an interview
• participant observation - the sociologist joins in with the activity of the group they are studying
• experiments - fields experiments and the comparative method

Question 4

What’s an advantage of primary data

Answer 4

An advantage is that sociologists may be able to gather precisely the information they need to test their hypothesis

Question 5

What’s a disadvantage of primary data

Answer 5

A disadvantage is that if can be costly and time consuming

Question 6

What’s secondary data

Answer 6

Secondary data is information that has been collected or created by someone else for their own purposes, but which the sociologists can then use

Question 7

What are the sources of secondary data

Answer 7

• official statistics- produced by the government e.g education, crime, divorce and unemployment as well as other statistics
• documents - letters, emails, diaries, photographs, official reports, novels, newspaper.

Question 8

What’s an advantage of secondary data

Answer 8

An advantage is that it can be quick and a cheap way of doing research

Question 9

What’s a disadvantage of secondary data

Answer 9

A disadvantage is that secondary sources may bit provide exactly the information that sociologist need such as not being interested in the same question

Question 10

What’s quantitative data

Answer 10

Refers to information in a numerical form.

Question 11

Examples of quantitative data

Answer 11

• official statistics on how many girls passed five or more gcse
• the percentage of marriages ending in divorce
• the number if people who are unemployed

Question 12

Whats Qualitative data

Answer 12

Gives a ‘feel’ for what something is like, e.g what it feels like to get good gcse results or marriage to end in divorce.

Question 13

What methods are used for qualitative data

Answer 13

Evidenced gathered by using participant observation, aims or give us a sense of what it feels like to be a member of a particular group. Similarly, in depth interviews that probe deeply into a persons views can give us an insight into what it is like to be in that persons shoes.
These methods can provide rich descriptions of people’s feelings and experience.

Question 14

Factors influencing choice of methods

Answer 14

Different methods and sources of data have different strengths and limitations. We can look as these strengths and limitations in terms of a number of practical, ethical and theoretical issues
P.E.T

Question 15

Practical issues

Answer 15

Time and money - different methods require different amounts of time and money and this may influence sociologists choice. E.g, large scale surveys may employ dozens of interviewers and staff which can cost a great deal. The researchers access to resources can be a major factor in determining Whig methods they employ

Requirements of funding bodies - research institutes, business and other organisations that provide funding for research may require the results to be in a particular form. E.g, a government department funding research into education achievement may have targets for pass rates and so require quantitative data to see wether these targets are being achieved. This means that sociologists will have to use a method capable of producing such data, such as questionnaires or structured interviews

Personal skill and characteristics- each sociologist possesses different personal skills and this may effect their ability to use different methods e.g, participant observation usually requires the ability to mix easily with others as well as goos powers of observation and recall. Not all sociologists have all the qualities and so some may have difficulty using certain methods

Subject matter - it may be harder to study a particular subject or group by one method than another. E.g, it might prove difficult for a male to study an all female group by participant observation.

Research opportunity - sometimes the opportunity to carry out research occurs unexpectedly and this means that us may not be possible to use structured methods such as questionnaires which take longer to prepare.

Question 16

Ethical issues

Answer 16

Refers to moral issues of right and wrong

Informed consent - research participants should be offered the right to refuse to be involved. The researcher should also tell them about all the relevant aspects of the research so that they can make a fully informed decision. Consent should be obtained before the research begins.

Confidentiality and privacy - researchers should keep the identity of research participants secret in order to help to prevent possible negative effects on them. Researchers should also respect their privacy. Personal information concerning research participants should be kept confidential

Harm to research participants - researchers need to be aware of the possible effects of their work on those they study. Wherever possible, researchers should anticipate and prevent such harm,

Vulnerable groups - special care should be taken where research participants are particularly vulnerable because of their age, disability, or physical or mental health. E.g, when studying children I’m schools, researchers should have regarded for issues of child protection and should obtain the consent of both the child and the parent.

Covert research - covert research is when the researchers identity and research purpose are hidden from the people being studied. This can create serious ethical problems, such as deceiving or lying to people in order to win their tryst or obtain information. Clearly, it is impossible to gain informed informed consent while at the same time keeping the research or its purpose secret. However some sociologists argue that the use of covert methods may be justified in certain circumstances. These may include gaoling access to secretive, dangerous or powerful groups.

Question 17

Theoretical issues

Answer 17

Refers to questions about what we think society is like and wether we can obtain an curate, truthful picture if it.

Validity - a valid method is one that produced a true or genuine picture of what something is really like. It allows the researcher to get closer to the truth. Many sociologists argue that qualitative methods such as Participant observation give us a more valid or truthful account of what it is like to be a member of a group than quantitative methods such as questionnaires. This is because participant observation can gauge us a deeper insight through first hand experience

Reliability - another word for reliability is replicability. A replica is an exact copy of something so a reliable method is one which, when related by another researcher, gives the same results

Representatives- refers to whether or not the people we study are a typical cross section of the group who are interested in. E.g, imagine you want to know the effects of divorce in children it would take a great deal of time and money to study every child of divorced parents, and we might be only be able to afford to study a sample or say 1000 children. However, if we ensure our sample is representative or typical of the wider population, we can use our findings to make generalisations about all children of divorced parents, without having to study them all. Large scale quantitative surveys that use sophisticated sampling techniques to select their smaller are more likely to produce representative data

Methodological perspective - sociologist choice of method is also influenced by their methodological perspective- their view of what so user us like and how we should study it, there are two contrasting perspectives on the choice of methods: positivism and interpretivism
Positivist - prefer quantitative data, seek to discover patterns of behaviour and see sociology as a science
Interprevisists - prefer qualitative data, seek to understand social actors meanings and reject the view tar sociology can model itself in the natural sciences,

Question 18

Factors influencing choice of topic

Answer 18

1. The sociologists perspective - theoretical perspective is a major influence on their choice of research.
2. Society’s values - sociologists themselves are part of the society they study and thus are influenced by its values
3. Practical factors - such as the inaccessibility of certain situations to the researcher, may also restrict what topic they are as,w to study
4. Funding bodies - most research requires funding from an external body.