Practical, ethical and theoretical issues Flashcards
(21 cards)
What is primary data?
Information collected by the sociologists themselves.
What is secondary data?
Information collected by someone else for their own purposes but which the sociologist can then use.
What are the advantages of primary data?
- You can gather precisely the information you want.
- It will be current.
What are disadvantages of primary data?
- Can be costly and time consuming.
Primary and secondary data are……?
Methods to obtain data.
What are the advantages of secondary data?
It is quick and a cheap way of collecting data.
What are the disadvantages of secondary data?
- May be outdates/
- May not provide exactly the information you require.
What are the 2 kinds of data sociologists use in their research?
Quantitative and Qualitative.
What is quantitative data?
Information in a numerical form
What is qualitative data?
In depth, detailed information that is descriptive.
What are the advantages of quantitative data?
- Easy to analyse
- Data is unusually collected faster.
What are the disadvantages of quantitative data?
- Lacks depth
What are the advantages of qualitative data?
- You can probe deeply into an issue and have more in depth knowledge.
What are the disadvantages of qualitative data?
It can be very time consuming and difficult to analyse.
What are the practical issues?
T.R.A.M.P.S
Time
Research opportunity
Access
Money
Personality/skills
Sampling
What are the ethical issues?
D.R.I.P
Deception
Right to
Informed consent
Protection from harm
What are the theoretical issues?
P.I.Q.Q
Positivist
Interpretivism
Quantative
Qualitative
What are positivists?
Prefer quantitative data and seek to discover patterns of behaviour.
What are interpretivists?
Prefer qualitative data and go off natural sciences and seek to interpret the meanings that direct human action.
Examples of primary quantitative data.
Surveys
Experiments
Observations
Examples of secondary quantitative data?
Official statistics
Divorce statistics
Opinion polls
