other ways on conducting research

Question 1

what is an ethnographic study?

Answer 1

• studies the way of life of groups
• small-scale studies
• used to describe modern observational studies

Question 2

what are the positives of ethnographic studies

Answer 2

• produces qualitative data
• valid as study behaviour in natural settings
• can use triangulation
• in-depth research gives inside knowledge about a community

Question 3

what are the negatives of ethnographic studies

Answer 3

• relies of researcher’s subjective interpretation of what people do and say
• difficult to make generalisations from small-scale research

Question 4

what are longitudinal studies

Answer 4

• social surveys over a period of time, studying the same group of people
• done at regular intervals over a long period of time

Question 5

what are the positives of longitudinal studies

Answer 5

• large-scale quantitative data
• analyse changes and make comparisons over time
• studies how attitudes of the sample change

Question 6

what are the negatives of longitudinal studies

Answer 6

• hard to recruit a committed sample
• hard to keep contact with the sample, making the study less valid
• need long-term funding
• need to keep same research team
• rely on questionnaires and interviews which may not be valid or reliable
• participants may not want to be involved anymore
• involvement in these studies may affect behaviour of participants, different than if they were not being studied

Question 7

examples of longitudinal studies

Answer 7

• the Millennium Cohort Study
• the 1970 British Cohort Study

Question 8

what is the Millennium Cohort Study

Answer 8

a longitudinal study conducted by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at University of London, following the lives of a sample of 19,000 babies born in the UK from 2000-2001

Question 9

what is the 1970 British Cohort Study

Answer 9

a continuing, multi-disciplinary longitudinal studying, monitoring the development of babies born in the UK is one particular week in April 1970

Question 10

what is Giddens’ structuration theory

Answer 10

there is a form of structure that exists beyond the control of individuals, and which does constrain human action. These structures only exist in so far as people make them exist.

Question 11

example of an ethnographic study

Answer 11

Foster’s study of housing estates in East London, as the estate had a high crime rate, but residents did not perceive the estate to be particularly threatening.

Question 12

what is a case study

Answer 12

an in-depth piece of research on one particular example of something e.g. a particular school/ town/ person.

Question 13

example of a case study

Answer 13

Willmott and Young’s study in Bethnal Green, lead them to find family roles are now becoming symmetrical, and that men do their fair share of domestic labour.

Question 14

what is methodological pluralism/ triangulation

Answer 14

when sociologists use a combination of different research methods rather than just one

Question 15

why do sociologists use methodological pluralism/ triangulation

Answer 15

sociologists can explore social issues from multiple angles, and both reliability and validity being gained

Question 16

example of methodological pluralism/ triangulation

Answer 16

• Oakley’s from here to maternity used some interview questions to do statistical significance tests, and others to delve into qualitatively.
• Dobash and Dobash used unstructured interview for rich data, but also asked 109 women sample structured questions for quantifiable data