Research design Flashcards
(35 cards)
primary data
new data collected by researcher themselves
examples of primary data
interviews, observations,questionnaires
strength of primary data
researcher able to define concepts that they choose to measure increasing validity
limitation of primary data
resource demands
secondary data
data collected from existing sources
examples of secondary data
diaries, photographs, statistics
strength of secondary data
gain insight into hard to access areas (e.g. historical events)
limitation of secondary data
requires interpretation thus subjective
quantitative data
numerical
examples of quantitative methods
structured formats with standardised questions: structured interviews, closed questionnaires, official stats
strength of quantitative data
preferred by positivists for being more objective and reliable
limitation of quantitative data
oversimplify complex phenomena
qualitative data
words / in-depth data
examples of qualitative methods
unstructured interviews, observations
strength of qualitative data
provide greater insight into the experiences of individuals
limitation of qualitative data
very time consuming to conduct and analyse so often small-scale
pilot studies
small scale trial run of a research method
strength of pilot studies
prevents researcher wasting time and money on research that has methodological flaws
limitation of pilot studies
takes time to conduct
random sampling
participants determined based on random selection from target population
example of random sampling
number generator
strength of random sampling
reduces bias in selecting participants and is a very simple method
limitation of random sampling
may not return a representative sample for diverse group as well as participants may not be available when research takes place
stratified sampling
participants selected form each stratum to ensure sample accurately reflects diversity of population propotionately
