Methods Flashcards
Primary data
Data that is gathered by the researcher themselves
Secondary data
Data that has already been gathered
Quantitative data
Numerical data - statistics, figures and numbers
Qualitative data
Normally expressed in words - much more subtle and complex than numbers
Practical
Access
Time
Cost and funding
The researcher
Ethical
Informed consent
Confidentiality
Effect of participants/harm
‘Guilty knowledge’ - might get told something illegal
‘Going native’ - get too involved with the research
Theoretical
Positivist
Interpretivist
Validity
Replicability
Representative sampling
Quantitative
Qualitative
Verstehen - empathetic understanding
Objective
Subjective
Random sampling
Everyone in the population has an equal chance of being selected - quick, easy and representative
Systematic sampling
Every nth person on a list is selected - quick, easy
Stratified random sampling
Sample is divided into groups based on characteristics and then randomly chosen from each group list and combined
Quota sampling
Go out looking for the right number of each sort of person e.g. aged 60 and male
Snowball sampling
Sample is selected by the researcher with a unique characteristic, and asks them to introduce to others e.g. gang members
Positivism and research methods
The study of social facts
The feelings, emotions and motives of individuals cannot be observed or measured and shouldn’t be studied
Durkheim used positive methods with his study of suicide
Interpretivism and research methods
People’s behaviour is influenced by the interpretations they give things and a researchers task is to gain an understanding of these interpretations - verstehen
Micro approach with qualitative data
The Hawthorne Effect
The presence of a researcher or the knowledge of the group changes the behaviour of the group
Problems of the social survey
Validity - fail to fully capture reality due to distorted data
Generalisation - lack of representativeness
Reliability - the results may not be found again
General problems of interviews
Validity - artificial situation, might not provide comparable data
Interviewer bias - results may be distorted by the presence of an interviewer
Lab experiments
Theoretical - high levels of control, allowing replicability
Ethical - easy to secure informed consent
Theoretical - lacks validity
Practical - limited sample size
Field experiments
Theoretical - easier to have validity
Theoretical - allows you to identify cause and effect by isolating variables
Theoretical - limited validity by imposing artificial constraints
Practical - less control over the setting
Closed questionnaires
Practical - more data, cheap, quick and easy to distribute
Theoretical - more data makes it more replicable, positivist
Practical - may not get a high response rate
Theoretical - limited validity - imposition problem
Open questionnaires
Theoretical - greater chance of validity
Practical - may be quick, easy and cheap to gather depending on the method
Practical - time, cost, response rate
Theoretical - lacking replicability
Overt participation observation
Theoretical - validity
Practical & ethical - not difficult to set up with consent
Theoretical - risk of ‘going native’
Practical - access
Covert participation observation
Theoretical - no Hawthorne effect
Practical - cheap and easy
Theoretical - limited validity
Ethical - no informed consent
