PAPER 2 SECTION A RESEARCH METHODS

Question 1

Section A:
Key concepts in the research process:
• respondent validation
• longitudinal studies (25 MARKS - obseravation)
• interpretation of data
• the relationship between sociology and social policy

Question 2

IMPORTANT REVISION

Answer 2

1. UNSTRUCTURED INT: Qualitative (QUALTATIVE – GUIDED CONVO) A- Validty D- Reliabilty
2. STRUCTED INT: Qualitative
3. SEMI STRCUTURED INT: Qualitative
4. STATISTICS Quantative
5. STRUCTURED OBSERVATIONS Quantative (STRUCTURED = TALLY CHART)
6. UNSTRUCTURED OBSERVATIONS Qualitative
7. CLOSED QUESTION QUESTIONNAIRES Quantative A- Reliable
8. OPEN QUESTIONS Qualitative
9. LONGTUDINAL STUDIES Qualitative
10. CASE STUDIES Qualtative (ethnographic) but can be both A D- Hard to compareINTERPRVISTS

Reflexivity – looks back at the research and sees where personal bias could have ffected their results

Research and policy relationship – 1. Social research can inform us of problems that we need policies for (eg wc educational failure leads to the ema)
2. use social research to check if research is working

Ethnography – paritipnt observation (a- vershthen empathy ric h valid data)

Interpritivst – can’t generalise people and have small samples. Their samples are never representative as they cannot represent other people. Onne enlglish person cannot cover the whole of England.

Operational – to break diwn things so we’re all measuringthings in the same way (*positivists) need to be specific. Ie Measuring jobs is a better way to measure money levels than measuring

KEY CONCPT S- WHATS GOOD AND BAD ABOUT SOURCES
HOW VALID
HOW COMPARABLE ARE THE METHOD
HOW ETHICAL
HOW REPRESENATIVE IS THE SAMPLE

Question 3

four gara paras - dont mix these in the same paragrpaghs (for the 10 marker and the 25 (5 paras - strength weakness strength weakness conclusion)

Answer 3

representativeness
validty
reliabitly
ethics