paper 2

Question 1

what is positivism

Answer 1

Just like natural science (bio, physics and
chemists), social behaviour is a result of
natural law – product of social laws
which arise out of the way societies are
socially organised

Question 2

what is an interpretivist

Answer 2

Sociologists who seek meanings and motives of those
being researched

Question 3

what is qualitative data

Answer 3

Descriptive data (events, social interactions)
– Observations, published and broadcast material
– Open ended approach to data collection, seeking
viewpoints and experiences

Question 4

what is primary data

Answer 4

Collected directly by the researcher themselves
• Surveys, observations, questionnaires, interviews and
experiments

Question 5

what is secondary data

Answer 5

Sociologist use data collected by other people
• Official statistics, radio, internet, historical & official
documents, letters & diaries

Question 6

what is content analysis

Answer 6

Analysing the content of various media forms for
incidence of certain words, images or concepts
within material

Question 7

what is a quota sample

Answer 7

Quota sampling – when the researcher decides how many
of each category of person should be included in the
sample and then searches for the right number of people
in each category until the quota is filled

Question 8

what is a strength of quota sampling

Answer 8

Control samples characteristics. This will ensure that the
researcher can get the sample that they require for their study,
ensuring the sample is fit for purpose

Question 9

what is a weakness of quota sampling

Answer 9

Difficult and time consuming as need to know about the
population to be studied, including social class, age etc.
 Within quota the sampling may be unrepresentative- e.g.
researchers may only stop and question people who look ‘suitable’
or ‘cooperative’ or visit homes that look ‘respectable’.

Question 10

what is a snowball sample

Answer 10

Snowball sampling is mainly used when researchers
experience difficulty in gaining access to a particular group
of people whom they wish to study because there is no
sampling frame available or because the research
population engage in deviant or illegal activities

Question 11

what are the strengths of snowball sampling

Answer 11

Used when population is hard to find - allows study to be
conducted with participants which would not normally be conducted
Ethical – participants are essentially selecting themselves and
choosing to come to do the research

Question 12

what are the weaknesses of snowball samples

Answer 12

Biased and unrepresentative sample– lead to similar people as
people are bringing others they know
Difficult and time consuming to collect sample as you are relying
on others to find participants for you

Question 13

what is an opportunity sample

Answer 13

Opportunity sampling means using people from target
population available at the time and willing to take part

Question 14

what is a strength of opportunity samples

Answer 14

Allows large numbers of participants to be recruited
quickly and easily, therefore access to participants is not
a problem

Question 15

what is a weakness of opportunity samples

Answer 15

Biased sample can be generated as is only drawn from
a small part of target population, of people around when
the sample was being drawn, Therefore the sample is
unrepresentative of the target population

Question 16

what is a volunteer sample

Answer 16

When participants self-select to become part of a study
because they volunteer

Question 17

what is a strength of volunteer sampling

Answer 17

Quick and easy to do as people select themselves so limited
effort from the researcher. Also, good if the target population is
hard to locate as the participants come to the researcher
 Ethical as people are selecting themselves you are not imposing a
study on anyone

Question 18

what is a weakness of volunteer samples

Answer 18

Can end up with a bias sample. You can get a certain type of
person who volunteers to participate in research e.g. participants
are normally more motivated to do well therefore your sample
can be bias and unrepresentative

Question 19

what is a sampling frame

Answer 19

list of eligible members of a population from which samples are drawn

Question 20

what is a random sample

Answer 20

every member of the target population has an equal chance of being selected

• simple random sample
• systematic random sample
• stratified random sample

Question 21

what is a non - random sample

Answer 21

every member of the target population does not have an equal chance of being chosen but target specific groups within society

• quota sample
• opportunity sample
• snowball sample
• volunteer sample

Question 22

what does patriarchy mean

Answer 22

term used in feminism to describe the system of gender based hierarchy in society which asigns most power to men

Question 23

what does stratification mean

Answer 23

the way in which different groups of people are placed within society

Question 24

gender and education stats

Answer 24

UCAS data 2013 - women are 1/3rd more likely to enter higher education than men

Higher Education Funding Council for England - of students with AAB A levels, 79% of women go on to get a 1st or 2:1 compared to 70% of men

GCSE Exam Results 2014 - A*-C pass rate for girls 73.1% vs 64.3% in boys

Question 25

Francis - gender and education

Answer 25

found boys dominate classroom with disruptive behaviours, leaving girls receiving less attention from teachers

Question 26

Spear - gender and education

Answer 26

found that girls are pushed away from ‘science subjects’ leading to girls not having the qualifications needed to progress to a high paid job

Question 27

Hakin - occupational segregation

Answer 27

in uk men and women are employed in different industries of work, therefore it can be argued that there is two separate labour forces, one male and one female, which are not in competition with each other for the same jobs. 5Cs - cleaning - caring - cashiering - catering - clerical

Question 28

Wilkinson - evaluation of liberal feminism

Answer 28

‘genderquake’ radical difference in attitudes of the current generation of women compared with previous generations - women are now empowered!

Question 29

Ansley - marxist feminism

Answer 29

argues that women assume this role by absorbing the frustration and anger of husbands who are themselves exploited at work

Question 30

Benston - reserve army of labour

Answer 30

women are part of reserve army of labour hired by the capitalist class when the economy is prospering but laid off when recession sets in.

Question 31

Feeley - family ideology

Answer 31

women reporoduce the next generation of workers and socialise them into the norms and values hat benefit capitalism

Question 32

Dalla Costa and James

Answer 32

‘Domestic Labour Debate’ - drawing attention to the unpaid house work and caring work hat women do to contribute to the economy.

Question 33

Radical Feminism

Answer 33

radical feminists argue that gender inequality is the most important inequality in society, more important than class and ethnic inequality

Question 34

Johnson - Patriarchal Terrorism

Answer 34

Explain violence that is the result of ‘patriarcha tradition of men’s right to control “their” women’ Radical feminists point to the level of domestic violence across the world as evidence of the broad nature of patriarchal aggression WHO 2013 - 30% of women globally have suffered from domestic abuse

Question 35

Compulsory Heterosexuality

Answer 35

Men use patriarchal ideology to enforce compulsory heterosexuality as a way of maintaining control.

Question 36

Black Feminism

Answer 36

Black feminists argue that muc of the work of feminists in the late 20th century has ignored ethnicity as a contributing factor to inequality in society. some black feminists argue families provide support in a racist society.

Question 37

Intersectionality

Answer 37

an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a persons social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege

Question 38

Kimberle Crenshaw

Answer 38

coined the term intersectionality when she was describing the ‘double-burden’ of African American females suffering from police brutality.

Question 39

Sylvia Walby - Intersectional feminism

Answer 39

Walbys ideas combine the radical feminist and marxist approaches 1980 wrote about women in the combined systems of patriarchy and capitalism she later amended her writings to include racism and now embraces the idea of intersectionality

Question 40

Hakim - Preference Theory

Answer 40

women are not the victims of unfair employment but have preferences and make rational choices. women are over represented in part time work because they make choices to value housework argues that lack of affordable childcare is not a barrier to women getting jobs but instead women prioritise childcare over employment