Practical Factors
- Time and money
- The requirements of funding bodies
- The personal skill and characteristics of researchers
- The subject matter being studied
- Research opportunity
Ethical factors
- Informed consent
- confidentiality and privacy
- protection from harm
- Studying vulnerable groups
- The use of covert methods and deception
Theoretical factors
- Is the data reliable
- Is the data valid
- Is the data representative of the research population
Positivism
- Scientific approach to research
- Believe social life is not random , there are patterns of behaviour which can be studied and explained
- Human behaviour is shaped by wider factors
- Limited interaction between participant and the researcher
- Use methods that will produce quantitative data eg questionnaires, structured interviews, experiments and official statistics
Interpretivism
- Seek to experience what life is really like for individuals
- Reject the view that human nature is shaped by wider social factors (people have free will)
- People can interpret the world around them in very different ways
- Aim to achieve verstehen
- They use methods which provide qualitative data
Strengths of lab experiments
T : high in reliability
Produces quantitative data so cause and effect relationships can bee seen
Highly detached , the opinions of the researcher do not influence the outcome
You can assume the results are not effected by extraneous variables
Limits of lab experiments
P: unsuitable for studying society - can’t control everything
Cannot be used to study the past
E: Cannot achieve informed consent
Subjects may be harmed
T : Hawthorne effect may reduce validity
The artificial nature of the study reduces its validity
Small sample size so lacks validity
S of field experiments
T: natural setting makes it more realistic and therefore valid
No hawthorne effect which increases validity
Covert nature of the investigation makes it more valid
