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sociology. > research methods. > Flashcards

research methods. Flashcards

1
Q

What 2 ways can research data be classified into?

A
  • primary and secondary data.
  • quantitative and qualitative data.
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2
Q

What is meant by primary data?

A

Information collected by sociologists themselves for their own purposes.
[obtain a first-hand picture of a group or society or to test a hypothesis]

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3
Q

How can primary data be collected?

A
  • social surveys.
  • participant observation.
  • experiments.
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4
Q

How are social surveys conducted?

A

Asking people questions in a written questionnaire or an interview.

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5
Q

How are participant observations conducted?

A

The sociologists joins in with the activities of the group they are studying.

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6
Q

Which experiments do sociologists use?

A

Sociologists rarely use lab experiments but they sometimes use field experiments and the comparative method.

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7
Q

What are the advantages of using primary data?

A
  • able to gather precisely the information they need to test their hypotheses.
  • more accurate and reliable.
  • updated information.
  • more control over data as research can be manipulated to help them to obtain correct feedback.
  • privacy is maintained.
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8
Q

What are the disadvantages of using primary data?

A
  • costly.
  • time-consuming.
  • experienced person is needed for the analysis.
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9
Q

What is meant by secondary data?

A

Information that has been collected or created by someone else for their own purposes but which the sociologists can then use.

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10
Q

How can secondary data be collected?

A
  • official statistics.
  • documents.
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11
Q

How are official statistics conducted?

A

Produced by government on a wide range of issues such as education, crime, divorce and unemployment as well as other statistics produced by charities, businesses, churches and other organisations.

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12
Q

What examples of documents?

A
  • letters.
  • emails.
  • diaries.
  • photographs.
  • official reports.
  • novels.
  • newspapers.
  • the internet.
  • tv broadcasts.
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13
Q

What are the advantages of using secondary data?

A
  • time-saving.
  • cheap.
  • easily accessible.
  • allows for the generation of new insights from previous analysis.
  • anyone can collect the data.
  • large quantity.
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14
Q

What are the disadvantages of using secondary data?

A
  • those who produce may not be interested in the same questions as sociologists so exact information may not be provided that sociologists need.
  • no control over data quality.
  • may be biased in favour of person who collected.
  • may be out of date.
  • anyone can access.
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15
Q

What is meant by quantitative data?

A

Information in a numerical form such as official statistics (girls passed 5 or more GCSEs) and the percentage (marriages ending in divorce or number of unemployed people).

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16
Q

What is meant by qualitative data?

A

Describes qualities or characteristics giving a feel for what something is like such as what it feels like to get good GCSE results or for divorce.

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17
Q

What are the advantages of using quantitative data?

A
  • can be tested and checked as the way it is collected can be replicated as well as the results.
  • straightforward analysis.
  • larger sample size.
  • increased representativeness.
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18
Q

What are the disadvantages of using quantitative data?

A
  • does not consider the meaning behind the numbers.
  • sometimes obtained in unnatural environments.
  • individual characteristics do not always apply to the general population.
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19
Q

What factors may influence the choice of methods?

A
  • practical issues.
  • ethical issues.
  • theoretical issues.
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20
Q

What are the examples of practical issues?

A
  • time and money.
  • requirement of funding bodies.
  • personal skills and characteristics.
  • research opportunity.
  • subject matter of study.
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21
Q

What are the advantages of laboratory experiments in T&M?

A
  • practical.
  • reliable.
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22
Q

What are the disadvantages of laboratory experiments in T&M?

A
  • ethical.
  • validity.
  • representativeness.
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23
Q

What are the practical advantages of laboratory experiments in T&M?

A
  • small samples may make it easier for variables to be controlled.
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24
Q

What are the reliable advantages of laboratory experiments in T&M?

A
  • allows experiments to be replicated easily.
  • detached method so researcher’s personal opinions and feelings are disregarded.
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25
Q

What are the practical disadvantages of laboratory experiments in T&M?

A
  • complex as not all variables are identified or controlled.
  • past cannot be experimented and variables cannot be controlled.
  • small samples results in difficulty to investigate large scale nature of lab experiments.
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26
Q

What are the ethical disadvantages of laboratory experiments in T&M?

A
  • lack of informal consent.
  • deception.
  • harm mentally or physically.
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27
Q

What are the reliable disadvantages of laboratory experiments in T&M?

A
  • rarely used in sociology.
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28
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of laboratory experiments in T&M?

A
  • artificial settings producing unnatural behaviour.
  • free will therefore cannot be compared to plants.
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29
Q

What are the representativeness disadvantages of laboratory experiments in T&M?

A
  • small samples.
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30
Q

Do interpretivists favour or reject laboratory experiments?

A

REJECT
- fails to achieve their main goal of validity.
- artificial and produces unnatural behaviour.

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31
Q

Do positivists favour or reject laboratory experiments?

A

FAVOUR
- achieves their main goal of reliability.
however
- used less.
- impossible or unethical to controll all variables.
- not representative or generalisable.

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32
Q

What is meant by T&M?

A

Theories and methods where research methods are applied in all situations.

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33
Q

What are the disadvantages of field experiments in T&M?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
  • reliable.
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34
Q

What are the validity advantages of field experiments in T&M?

A
  • takes place in natural surroundings.
  • no hawthorne effect.
  • unsure that they are subjects to an experiment.
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35
Q

What are the practical disadvantages of field experiments in T&M?

A
  • less control over variables due to realistic experiments.
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36
Q

What are the ethical disadvantages of field experiments in T&M?

A
  • not aware that they are subjects of an experiment so there is no consent.
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37
Q

What are the reliable disadvantages of field experiments in T&M?

A
  • cannot be carried again exactly the same way.
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38
Q

Do interpretivists favour or reject field experiments?

A

FAVOUR
- achieves their main goal of validity.
- more representative.
- natural setting.

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39
Q

Do positivists favour or reject field experiments?

A

REJECT
- fails to achieve their main goal of reliability.
- hard to replicate.
- less control.

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40
Q

What is meant by MIC?

A

Research methods in context of education.

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41
Q

What are the advantages of field experiments in T&M?

A
  • validity.
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42
Q

What are the advantages of using qualitatitve data?

A
  • gives the researcher an insight on the participants thoughts and feelings.
  • can save money as it uses a smaller sample size.
  • provides participants with flexibility.
  • provides detail-oriented data.
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43
Q

What are the disadvantages of using qualitatitve data?

A
  • not statistically representative form of data collection.
  • requires an experienced researcher.
  • hard to replicate.
  • can be misinterpreted.
  • may be costly as it will require an experienced individual to analyse.
  • may be influenced by reasercher bias.
  • time-consuming.
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44
Q

What are the advantages of laboratory experiments in MIC?

A
  • reliable.
  • representativeness.
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45
Q

What are the disadvantages of laboratory experiments in MIC?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
  • validity.
  • representativeness.
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46
Q

What are the reliable advantages of laboratory experiments in MIC?

A
  • experiments like Harvey and Slatin’s can be reused to be replicated.
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47
Q

What are the representativeness advantages of laboratory experiments in MIC?

A
  • pupils used in the Harvey and Slatin experiment were of different backgrounds allowing its results to be applied.
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48
Q

What was the aim of the Harvey and Slatin experiment?

A

Used lab experiments to investigate teacher expectations where they examined whether teachers held fixed ideas about pupils of different social classes.

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49
Q

How was the Harvey and Slatin experiment carried out?

A

The teachers were represented with photographs of children from different social class backgrounds and then asked to rate them based of their performance, parental attitudes to education, aspirations and so on.

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50
Q

What were the results of the Harvey and Slatin experiment?

A

Lower-class students were rated less favourably.

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51
Q

What are the practical disadvantages of laboratory experiments in MIC?

A
  • large and complex where many variables may go uncontrolled such as class size, streaming or type of school.
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52
Q

What are the ethical disadvantages of laboratory experiments in MIC?

A
  • deception.
  • lack of informed consent.
  • psychological damage when pupils are used such as in the Charkin et al experiment.
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53
Q

What was the aim of the Charkin et al experiment?

A

Used lab experiments to examine whether their expectations could be passed on to pupils through non-verbal communication.

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54
Q

How was the Charkin et al experiment carried out?

A

Used a sample of 48 university students who each taught a lesson to a 10 year old boy.
- one third were told the boy was highly motivated and intelligent.
- one third were he was poorly motivated and with a low IQ.
- one third were given no information.

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55
Q

What were the results of the Charkin et al experiment?

A

Those in the high expectancy group made more eye contact and used more encouraging body language than the low expectancy group.

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56
Q

When was the Charkin et al experiment carried out?

A

1975.
[1970s]

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57
Q

When was the Harvey and Slatin experiment carried out?

A

1976.
[1970s]

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58
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of laboratory experiments in MIC?

A
  • artificial experiments therefore results lack ecological validity.
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59
Q

What are the representativeness disadvantages of laboratory experiments in MIC?

A
  • teachers may not have been of different backgrounds.
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60
Q

What are the advantages of field experiments in MIC?

A
  • reliable.
  • representativeness.
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61
Q

What are the disadvantages of field experiments in MIC?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
  • reliable.
  • validity.
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62
Q

What are the reliable advantages of field experiments in MIC?

A
  • simple and easy to repeat such as the Rosenthal and Jacobson experiment.
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63
Q

What was the aim of the Rosenthal and Jacobson experiment?

A

To test the self-fulfilling prophecy theory.

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64
Q

How was the Rosenthal and Jacobson experiment carried out?

A

Teacher were told in Oak school that the children will be given an IQ test which was perfect as it was likely that none of the teachers would be familiar with it.
18 of the teachers were told that the kids in their class were at the top 20% meaning they were expected for greatness that school year.
The teachers did not know the list was randomised and there were no difference the students.

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65
Q

What were the results of the Rosenthal and Jacobson experiment?

A

The students classed at the top 20% showed greater gains than everyone else.

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66
Q

When was the Rosenthal and Jacobson experiment carried out?

A

1968.
[1960s]

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67
Q

What are the representativeness advantages of field experiments in MIC?

A
  • different people mean different cultures.
  • more generalisable.
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68
Q

What are the pratical disadvantages of field experiments in MIC?

A
  • lack of control over variables.
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69
Q

What are the ethical disadvantages of field experiments in MIC?

A
  • children were educationally held back such as the spurters in Rosenthal and Jacobson’s experiment.
  • deception from researchers.
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70
Q

What are the reliable disadvantages of field experiments in MIC?

A
  • can not be replicated exactly.
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71
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of field experiments in MIC?

A
  • observations claim that teacher’s expectations were passed on through differences in the way they interacted with pupils which was not carried out.
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72
Q

What is meant by the comparative method?

A

An experiment carried out only in the mind of the sociologist which does not involve the actual experimenting of real people.

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73
Q

What is the use of the comparative method?

A

To discover cause-and-effect relationships.

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74
Q

How are the comparative method experiment carried out?

A
  1. identify 2 groups of people that are alike in all major respects except for the 1 variable we are interested in.
    1. compare the 2 groups to see if this one difference between them has any affect.
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75
Q

What is an example of the comparative method?

A

Emile Durkheim’s study of suicide.

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76
Q

When was Emile Durkheim’s study of suicide carried out?

A

1897.
[1890s]

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77
Q

How was Emile Durkheim’s study of suicide carried out?

A

Had a hypothesis that low levels of integration of individuals into social groups caused high rates of suicide.
- argued that Catholicism produced higher levels of intergration than Protestantism.
- predicted that Protestants would have higher suicide rate than Catholics.

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78
Q

How was Emile Durkheim’s study of suicide tested?

A

Comparing the suicide rates of Catholics and Protestants who were similar in all other important aspects such as terms where they lived or whether in a relationship.

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79
Q

How was Emile Durkheim’s study of suicide supported?

A

By official statistics which showed Catholics have lower suicide rates.

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80
Q

What are the advantages of questionnaires in T&M?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
  • reliable.
  • validity.
  • representativeness.
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81
Q

What are the disadvantages of questionnaires in T&M?

A
  • practical.
  • reliable.
  • validity.
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82
Q

What are the practical advantages of questionnaires in T&M?

A
  • quick and cheap.
  • large quantity of people.
  • no need to recruit interviewers or train as it is completed and returned by respondents.
  • processed quickly by computers creating relationships between different variables due to closed questions.
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83
Q

What are the ethical advantages of questionnaires in T&M?

A
  • no obligation for questions to be answered.
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84
Q

What are the reliable advantages of questionnaires in T&M?

A
  • can be repeatedly used.
  • no researcher to influence answers.
  • allow comparisons.
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85
Q

What are the validity advantages of questionnaires in T&M?

A
  • hypothesis on cause and effect relationships between different variables are useful.
  • minimum personal involvement from researcher.
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86
Q

What are the representativeness advantages of questionnaires in T&M?

A
  • larger quantity of people so increases representativeness.
  • more attention is payed to ensure representativeness.
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87
Q

What are the practical disadvantages of questionnaires in T&M?

A
  • limited and superficial data
    ↳ tend to be brief as people are less likely to complete long time-consuming questionnaires.
  • incentives may be offered for encouragement adding costs.
  • not sure who completed it.
  • not sure if it reached them.
  • low response rate.
  • inflexible.
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88
Q

What are the reliable disadvantages of questionnaires in T&M?

A
  • respondents may lie, have forgotten or answer desirably.
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89
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of questionnaires in T&M?

A
  • detached method
    ↳ inability to get close to the subjects of study and share meaning.
    ➝ no way of knowing whether respondent and researcher interpret the questions or answers in the same way.
  • answers may be lies.
  • respondents may have forgotten.
  • right answerism.
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90
Q

Do interpretivists favour or reject questionnaires in T&M?

A

REJECT
- fail to achieve their main goal of validity.
- argues that it lacks validity.
- does not give a true picture of what has been studied.
- impose the researcher’s framework of ideas on respondents.

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91
Q

Do positivists favour or reject questionnaires in T&M?

A

FAVOUR
- achieve their main goal of reliability, generalisability and representativeness.
- standardised questions and answers produce reliable data.
- quantitative data.
- more representative.

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92
Q

What are the advantages of questionnaires in MIC?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
  • reliable.
  • validity.
  • representativeness.
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93
Q

What are the disadvantages of questionnaires in MIC?

A
  • practical.
  • validity.
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94
Q

What are the practical advantages of questionnaires in MIC?

A
  • large quantity.
  • quick and cheap way to gather information such as in Michael Nutter’s case.
  • using schools to distribute questionnaires is efficient.
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95
Q

What are the ethical advantages of questionnaires in MIC?

A
  • anonymous so respondents may be more comfortable answering.
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96
Q

What are the reliable advantages of questionnaires in MIC?

A
  • can be repeated.
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97
Q

What are the validity advantages of questionnaires in MIC?

A
  • anonymous so more honest answers may be produced.
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98
Q

What are the representativeness advantages of questionnaires in MIC?

A
  • sampling by sociologist can be done to ensure all types of teachers and pupils are involved/represented.
  • no researcher’s input.
  • overcomes status differences of adult researcher and younger respondent.
  • higher response rate may result in higher representativeness.
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99
Q

What are the practical disadvantages of questionnaires in MIC?

A
  • access to information on pupils may be denied.
  • results are limited and superficial.
  • those unale to read or with learning difficuties may be unsuitable.
  • children have a shorter attention span resulting in questionnaire reading needing to be brief decreasing amount of information collected.
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100
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of questionnaires in MIC?

A
  • respondents may fail to answer the questions due to the complexity of sociological terms
    ↳ oversimplifying the questions may cease to have any sociological data.
  • responses may be discussed between pupils beforehand.
  • results are limited and superficial
    ↳ no explanation to correlation from data collected.
  • lack of experience may result in the inability to answer.
  • formality may cause children in anti-school subcultures not cooperating or seriously answering.
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101
Q

Do interpretivists favour or reject questionnaires in MIC?

A

REJECT
- believe developing a rapport with participants is important.
- difficult to establish.
- young people may be less likely to give full and honest responses.

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102
Q

Do positivists favour or reject questionnaires in MIC?

A

FAVOUR
- high level of representativeness.

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103
Q

What are the advantages of structured interviews in T&M?

A
  • practical.
  • ehical.
  • reliable.
  • representativeness.
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104
Q

What are the disadvantages of structured interviews in T&M?

A
  • validity.
  • representativeness.
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105
Q

What are the practical advantages of structured interviews in T&M?

A
  • inexpensive and straightforward to train interviewers.
  • large sample size.
  • quick.
  • fairly cheap.
  • straightforward way of gaining information.
  • easily quantified due to closed questions making it suitable for hypothesis testing.
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106
Q

What are the ethical advantages of structured interviews in T&M?

A
  • no obligation for questions to be answered.
  • less intrusive.
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107
Q

What are the reliable advantages of structured interviews in T&M?

A
  • easily controlled.
  • standardised.
  • easily compare answers to identify similarities and differences.
  • easily replicable.
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108
Q

What are the representativeness advantages of structured interviews in T&M?

A
  • large sample size.
  • higher response rate such as for Young and Willmott where they approached 987 people and only 54 refused to be interviewed as it is harder to turn down a face-to-face request.
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109
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of structured interviews in T&M?

A
  • closed questions restrict interviewees to choosing from limited number of pre-set answers.
  • invalid data if answers provided do not match interviewees’ personal answer.
  • little freedom to explain answers or clarify misunderstandings.
  • lies or exaggeration can produce false data.
  • interviewer may influence answers.
  • does not reflect interviewee’s concerns and priorities.
  • fail to capture real life.
  • participants may try be socially desirable.
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110
Q

What are the representativeness disadvantages of structured interviews in T&M?

A
  • those interviewed may not be generalisable as they may be the few who are lonely and have time on their hands.
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111
Q

Do interpretivists favour or reject structured interviews?

A

REJECT
- fails to achieve their main goal of validity.
- lacks validity.
- not a true picture of what is being studied.
- researcher’s framework of ideas may be imposed on respondents.
- feminist criticism - Hilary Graham (1983).

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112
Q

Do positivists favour or reject structured interviews?

A

FAVOUR
- achieves their main goal of reliability, generalisability and representativeness.
- standardised questions and answers produce reliable data.
- quantitative data.
- more representative.

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113
Q

What are the advantages of unstructured interviews in T&M?

A
  • ethical.
  • validity.
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114
Q

What are the disadvantages of unstructured interviews in T&M?

A
  • practical.
  • reliable.
  • validity.
  • representative.
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115
Q

What are the ethical advantages of unstructured interviews in T&M?

A
  • no obligation for questions to be answered.
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116
Q

What are the validity advantages of unstructured interviews in T&M?

A
  • open questions allow a relationship to be built between interviewer and interviewee which may allow more information to be obtained due to respondent being more comfortable
    ↳ William Labov (1973) - interview of black american children.
    ➝ Dobash and Dobash - study of domestic violence.
  • prioritises interviewee’s priorities and concerns.
  • interviewer’s probing can help formulate and develop interviewees’ thoughts more clearly.
  • low chance of misunderstandings.
  • flexibility.
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117
Q

What are the practical disadvantages of unstructured interviews in T&M?

A
  • small sample size due to in-depth interviews.
  • more thorough training required.
  • costly to conduct.
  • good interpersonal skills are needed from interviewers.
  • lack of quantitative data makes it less useful for establishing cause and effect relationships and hypothesis testing.
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118
Q

What are the reliable disadvantages of unstructured interviews in T&M?

A
  • not standardised therefore interviewers are free to ask any questions they may feel is relevant.
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119
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of unstructured interviews in T&M?

A
  • lies or exaggeration can produce false data.
  • interviewer may influence answers.
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120
Q

What are the representativeness disadvantages of unstructured interviews in T&M?

A
  • small sample.
  • harder to make valid generalisation.
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121
Q

Do interpretivists favour or reject unstructured interviews?

A

FAVOUR
- achieves their main goal of validity.
- high validity.
- rapport built therefore a real life image can be made.
- qualitative data.

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122
Q

Do positivists favour or reject structured interviews?

A

REJECT
- does not achieve their main goal of reliability and representativeness.
- less representative.
- qualitative data.

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123
Q

What are the issues with interviews as a social interaction?

A
  • interviewer bias.
  • artificiality.
  • status and power inequalities.
  • cultural differences.
  • the social desirability effect.
  • ethical issues.
124
Q

How is interviewer bias an issue for interviews as a social interaction?

A

> leading questions may be asked which is less of a problem in structured interviews.
influenced answers from body language, facial expression or tone of voice.
ann oakley (1982) - as a mother herself struggled to remain detached and neutral when interviewing women on maternity and childbirth.

125
Q

How is artificiality an issue for interviews as a social interaction?

A
  • still not a normal conversation.
  • both parties know it is an interview.
  • risk of untruthful answers being obtained.
126
Q

How is status and power inequalities an issue for interviews as a social interaction?

A
  • inequalities between interviewer and interviewee may affect the interviewee’s honesty or willingness to answer.
  • bigger status difference, less valid data.
  • josephine rich (1968) - when adults interview children, they feel the need to please affecting their answers.
127
Q

How is cultural differences an issue for interviews as a social interaction?

A
  • undermine validity.
  • different meanings being given to the same word may result in misunderstandings.
128
Q

How is the social desirability effect an issue for interviews as a social interaction?

A
  • interviewees may seek to be presented in a favourable light therefore give favourable answers that may not be all true.
  • may give an answer to avoid appear uninterested or ignorant when saying “i don’t know” or that they do not understand the question.
129
Q

How is ethical issues an issue for interviews as a social interaction?

A
  • interviewee may feel under pressure to answer.
130
Q

How can the validity of interviews be improved?

A
  1. reduce the chances of deceit
    • alfred kinsey (1953) interviewed sexual behaviour
      [asked questions rapidly giving less time to think and conducted follow-up interviews 18 months later to check earlier answer]
  2. reduce cultural differences
    • james nazroo (1997) survey for health of britain’s ethnic minorities
      [carried out in language preferred by interviewee]
131
Q

What are the advantages of interviews in MIC?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
  • reliable.
  • representativeness.
132
Q

What are the disadvantages of interviews in MIC?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
  • validity.
133
Q

What are the practical advantages of interviews in MIC?

A
  • more successful obtaining answers than in written questionnaire as young people are more verbal.
134
Q

What are the ethical advantages of interviews in MIC?

A
  • no obligation for questions to be answered.
135
Q

What are the reliable advantages of interviews in MIC?

A
  • standardised.
136
Q

What are the representativeness advantages of interviews in MIC?

A
  • increase in response rate.
137
Q

What are the practical disadvantages of interviews in MIC?

A
  • less developed linguistic and intellectual skills in young people can lead to misunderstandings.
    ↳ less articulation.
    ➝ lack of understanding of long, complex or abstract questions or concepts.
    ➝ limited vocabulary and use words incorrectly such as using slang.
    ➝ shorter attention span.
    ➝ poorer memory.
    ➝ read body language differently.
  • higher costs due to need of thorough interviews as children may pay attention to irrelevant parts of the question.
  • word can spread around quickly increasing chances of invalid answers.
  • location such as school may pose discomfort as it is linked to higher authority and status.
  • time-consuming.
  • can be disruptive.
138
Q

What are the ethical disadvantages of interviews in MIC?

A
  • may distress them.
139
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of interviews in MIC?

A
  • higher chance of misunderstanding in younger people.
  • answers and questions may spread after a few interviews producing invalid data.
  • young people may lie, exaggerate, conceal information or seek to please when answering questions.
140
Q

How can the validity of interviews be improved with pupils?

A
  • use open-ended questions.
  • not interrupt children’s answers.
  • tolerate long pauses allowing the children to think about what they want to say.
  • recognise that children are more suggestible so avoid asking leading questions.
  • avoid repeating questions as it can make children think their first answer was wrong therefore changing it.
  • use of unstructured interviews can remove that barrier of power as it gets rid of the formality.
141
Q

What are the advantages of group interviews?

A
  • create a safe peer environment creating a setting pupils are used to in the classroom.
  • reduces power imbalance.
142
Q

What are the disadvantages of group interviews?

A
  • peer pressure may influence answers producing invalid data.
  • questions cannot be standardised due to the free flowing nature of group interviews reducing reliability.
143
Q

What is meant by participant observation?

A

Where the researcher actually takes part in an event or the everyday life of the group while observing it.

144
Q

What is meant by non-participant observation?

A

Where the researcher simply observees the group or event without taking part in it such as they may use a two way mirror to observe children playing.

145
Q

What is meant by overt observation?

A

Where the researcher makes their true identity and purpose known to those being studied therefore open about what they are doing.

146
Q

What is meant by covert observation?

A

Where the study is carried out undercover so the researcher’s real identity and purpose are kept concealed from the group being studied.

147
Q

What are the advantages of non-participant observation in T&M?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
  • reliable.
  • validity.
  • representativeness.
148
Q

What are the disadvantages of non-participant observation in T&M?

A
  • practical.
  • validity.
149
Q

What are the practical advantages of non-participant observation in T&M?

A
  • easy to leave.
  • notes can be obtained openly.
  • allows for the use of interview methods to check insights derived from observations.
150
Q

What are the ethical advantages of non-participant observation in T&M?

A
  • information is not gained through deceit.
  • consent is asked for.
151
Q

What are the reliable advantages of non-participant observation in T&M?

A
  • standardised.
  • easily compare answers to identify similarities and differences.
152
Q

What are the validity advantages of non-participant observation in T&M?

A
  • certain important questions can be asked.
153
Q

What are the representativeness advantages of non-participant observation in T&M?

A
  • larger samples can be studied due to less time taken.
154
Q

What are the practical disadvantages of non-participant observation in T&M?

A
  • consent may be denied.
155
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of non-participant observation in T&M?

A
  • hawthorne effect.
156
Q

Do interpretivists favour or reject non-participant observation?

A

REJECT
- fails to achieve their main goal of validity.
- not a true picture of what is being studied.

157
Q

Do positivists favour or reject non-participant observation?

A

FAVOUR
- achieves their main goal of reliability, generalisability and representativeness.
- standardised.
- quantitative data.
- less time-consuming therefore larger sample can be studied.

158
Q

What are the advantages of participant observation in T&M?

A
  • practical.
  • validity.
159
Q

What are the disadvantages of participant observation in T&M?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
  • reliable.
  • validity.
  • representativeness.
160
Q

What are the practical advantages of participant observation in T&M?

A
  • easy to leave.
  • valid information can be obtained as it reduces the risk of altering people’s behaviour.
  • useful to use when researching groups where activities may be seen as deviant or disreputable.
161
Q

What are the validity advantages of participant observation in T&M?

A
  • no hawthorne effect.
  • true reflection of their behaviour.
  • personal experience.
  • flexibility where no hypothesis is made at the start of the research.
162
Q

What are the practical disadvantages of participant observation in T&M?

A
  • making the initial contact with the group may depend on personal skills, having the right connections or even pure chances.
  • trust and acceptance must be gained.
  • risk of bias if researcher becomes over-involved.
  • researcher must keep up the act.
  • notes cannot be take openly and therefore researcher must rely on memory.
  • not too many questions can be asked.
  • time-consuming.
  • training required.
  • stressful and demanding for researcher.
  • personal characteristics such as age and gender may restrict the research.
163
Q

What are the ethical disadvantages of participant observation in T&M?

A
  • deceit.
  • lack of consent.
  • obtaining information without the individual(s) knowledge.
  • may have to participate in immoral or illegal activities as part of the research.
164
Q

What are the reliable disadvantages of participant observation in T&M?

A
  • not easily controlled.
  • based on personal characteristics and skills.
  • difficulties comparing due to qualitative data.
165
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of participant observation in T&M?

A
  • new member may change the behaviour of those being observed
    ↳ hawthorne effect.
166
Q

What are the representativeness disadvantages of participant observation in T&M?

A
  • small sample therefore less generalisable.
167
Q

Do interpretivists favour or reject participant observation?

A

FAVOUR
- achieves their main goal of validity.
- treu picture can be obtained.
- first hand insight.

168
Q

Do positivists favour or reject participant observation?

A

REJECT
- fails to achieve their main goal of reliability, generalisability and representativeness.
- lack of quantitative data.

169
Q

What are the advantages of structured observation in MIC?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
  • reliable.
170
Q

What are the disadvantages of structured observation in MIC?

A
  • validity.
171
Q

What are the practical advantages of structured observation in MIC?

A
  • flander’s system of interaction analysis categories (FIAC).
  • quicker.
  • cheaper.
  • less training reducing cost and time used.
172
Q

What are the ethical advantages of structured observation in MIC?

A
  • allows for participants to give consent.
173
Q

What are the reliable advantages of structured observation in MIC?

A
  • easily replicable.
  • easily comparable due to quantitative data.
174
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of structured observation in MIC?

A
  • sara delamont
    ↳ simply counting classroom behaviour and classifying it into limited number of predefined categories ignores the meanings that pupils and teachers attach to it.
175
Q

Do positivists favour or reject structured observation in MIC?

A

FAVOUR
- achieves heir main goal of reliability.
- quantitative data.
- FIAC.

176
Q

Do interpretivists favour or reject structured observation in MIC?

A

REJECT
- fails to achieve their main goal of validity.
- quantitative data.

177
Q

What are the advantages of unstructured observation in MIC?

A
  • validity.
178
Q

What are the disadvantages of unstructured observation in MIC?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
  • reliable.
  • validity.
  • representativeness.
179
Q

What are the validity advantages of unstructured observation in MIC?

A
  • authentic understanding of the world-views of social factors.
180
Q

What are the practical disadvantages of unstructured observation in MIC?

A
  • time-consuming
    ↳ eggleston (1976) needed 3 months to familiarise himself to his cover up role.
  • personal characteristics affect the process of observation.
    ↳ wright.
  • school restrictions such as timetable, holidays and health and safety legislation.
181
Q

What are the ethical disadvantages of unstructured observation in MIC?

A
  • limited ability for participants to give consent.
  • wrong doings may need to be reported.
182
Q

What are the reliable disadvantages of unstructured observation in MIC?

A
  • unsystematic.
  • personal characteristics may evoke different response.
183
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of unstructured observation in MIC?

A
  • trust may be lost from reporting wrongdoings.
  • power difference between adult and child may cause them to present a false image.
  • language barrier between different students.
  • hawthorne effect.
184
Q

What are the representativeness disadvantages of unstructured observation in MIC?

A
  • small samples taken from large groups of students to allow researchers to focus.
185
Q

Do interpretivists favour or reject unstructured observation in MIC?

A

FAVOUR
- achieves their main goal of validity.
- qualitative data.

186
Q

Do positivists favour or reject unstructured observation in MIC?

A

REJECT
- fails to achieve their main goal of reliability, generalisability and representativeness.
- qualitative data.
- FIAC.

187
Q

What are the advantages of official statistics in T&M?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
  • reliable.
  • validity.
  • representativeness.
188
Q

What are the disadvantages of official statistics in T&M?

A
  • practical.
  • reliable.
  • validity.
189
Q

What are the practical advantages of official statistics in T&M?

A
  • free source of large amounts of data.
  • save time and money as the government is in control of collecting the data needed.
  • allows comparisons between groups.
  • show trends and patterns over time due to statistics collected at regular intervals
    ↳ can be used to show cause and effect relationships.
190
Q

What are the reliable advantages of official statistics in T&M?

A
  • compiled in a standardised way.
191
Q

What are the validity advantages of official statistics in T&M?

A
  • ‘hard’ official statistics do tend to measure accurately such as deaths, borths, marriages and divorces.
192
Q

What are the representativeness advantages of official statistics in T&M?

A
  • large sample size.
193
Q

What are the practical disadvantages of official statistics in T&M?

A
  • government collects statistics for its own purpose so there may be none available on the topic the sociologist is interested in.
  • definitions used by state may be different from those sociologists would use.
  • definitions change over time making comparisons difficult
    ↳ the official definition of unemployment changed over 30 times during the 1980s.
194
Q

What are the reliable disadvantages of official statistics in T&M?

A
  • forms filled by public may be filled incorrectly.
195
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of official statistics in T&M?

A
  • ‘soft’ statistics may give a less valid picture as police statistics do not record all crimes.
196
Q

Do interpretivists favour or reject official statistics?

A

REJECT
- fails to achieve their main goal of validity.
- see as social constructs and not social facts.
- atkinson regard statistics as lacking validity.

197
Q

Do positivists favour or reject official statistics?

A

FAVOUR
- objective social facts that achieve their main goal of reliability, generalisability and representativeness.
- provides reliable data as their standardised categories can be easily replicated.
- quantitative data allowing us to identify and measure behaviour patterns and establish cause and effect relationships.
- large scale.
- durkheim see statistics as valuable resource for sociologists.

198
Q

What are the advantages of documents in T&M?

A
  • practical.
  • validity.
199
Q

What are the disadvantages of documents in T&M?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
  • reliable.
  • validity.
  • representativeness.
200
Q

What are the practical advantages of documents in T&M?

A
  • cheap.
  • easy to find sources of material in the form of newspapers, television broadcasts and so on.
201
Q

What are the practical disadvantages of documents in T&M?

A
  • specialist skills may be needed to understand the documents.
  • may be interpreted differently.
202
Q

What are the reliable disadvantages of documents in T&M?

A
  • may not be truthful.
  • lack of information.
  • may not be from the person themselves.
  • cannot be cross checked.
  • subjective.
  • unstandardised.
203
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of documents in T&M?

A
  • may not be truthful.
  • not all surviving documents are available for researchers to use.
204
Q

Do interpretivists favour or reject documents?

A

FAVOUR
- achieves their main goal of validity.
- qualitative data that gives insight into the author’s world-view and meanings.

205
Q

Do positivists favour or reject documents?

A

REJECT
- fail to achieve their main goal of reliability, generalisability and representativeness.
- unstandardised and unreliable.
- difficult to draw generalisability as every person’s diary is unique.
- unrepresentative as only literate groups can write diaries and letters.
- researchers may interpret their own meanings.

206
Q

What are the validity advantages of documents in T&M?

A
  • not written with research in mind therefore may be more authentic.
207
Q

What are the advantages of documents in MIC?

A
  • practical.
  • reliable.
  • validity.
208
Q

What are the disadvantages of documents in MIC?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
  • reliable.
  • validity.
  • representativeness.
209
Q

What are the practical advantages of documents in MIC?

A
  • easily accessible
    ↳ gillborn easily accessed documents from schools for his research on racism and anti-racism in schools.
210
Q

What are the reliable advantages of documents in MIC?

A
  • replicable.
211
Q

What are the validity advantages of documents in MIC?

A
  • can provide important insights into the meanings held by teachers and pupils which can therefore increase validity.
212
Q

What are the practical disadvantages of documents in MIC?

A
  • personal documents may be more difficult to access
    ↳ hey made use of the notes girls passed to each other in class to understand their friendship patterns however the notes were not always easy to obtain.
    ➝ some educational documents are confidential such as teachers’ personal files and pupils’ disciplinary records so sociologists may be unable to gain access to them.
213
Q

What are the ethical disadvantages of documents in MIC?

A

-informed consent may not always be obtained.

214
Q

What are the reliable disadvantages of documents in MIC?

A
  • accidental mistakes or deliberate falsification made when filling in registers can reduce reliability.
215
Q

What are the validity disadvantages of documents in MIC?

A
  • open to different interpretation.
216
Q

What are the representativeness disadvantages of documents in MIC?

A
  • not all data such as racial incidents can be recorded or documented.
  • small sample size.
217
Q

What are the advantages of official statistics in MIC?

A
  • practical.
  • representativeness.
218
Q

What are the disadvantages of official statistics in MIC?

A
  • practical.
  • ethical.
219
Q

What are the practical advantages of official statistics in MIC?

A
  • save time and money
    ↳ government collects statistics on over 30,000 primary and 4,000 secondary schools.
  • allows comparisons between different social groups.
220
Q

What are the representativeness advantages of official statistics in MIC?

A
  • large sample
    ↳ all state schools collect information on pupils’ attendance, ethnicity and gender, the numbers receiving free school meals and so on.
  • covered virtually.
221
Q

What are the practical disadvantages of official statistics in MIC?

A
  • definitions of key concepts may differ from those sociologists use.
222
Q

What are the examples of ethical issues?

A
  • informed consent.
  • confidentiality and privacy.
  • covert methods.
  • vulnerable groups.
  • harmful effects.
223
Q

What are the examples of theoretical issues?

A
  • representativeness.
  • reliability.
  • validity.
224
Q

How is time and money a practical issue?

A
  • different methods require a different amount of time and money and this may influence the sociologist’s choice.
  • large scale surveys may employ dozens of interviews and data inputting staff and cost a great deal of money.
  • small scale project involving a lone researcher using participant observation may be cheaper to carry out but it can take several years to complete.
225
Q

How is requirements of funding bodies a practical issue?

A
  • those funding may require the results to be in a particular from.
  • sociologists will have to use a method capable of producing such data such as questionnaires or structured interviews.
226
Q

How is personal skills and characteristics a practical issue?

A
  • ability may be affected by sociologists different personal skills to use different methods.
227
Q

How is informed consent an ethical issue?

A
  • research participants should be offered the right to refuse to be involved.
  • all relevant aspects of the research should be told so a fully informed decision can be made.
  • consent should be obtained before research as well as intervals.
228
Q

How is subject matter of study a practical issue?

A
  • may be harder to study a particular group or subject by one method than by another
    ↳ might prove difficult for a male sociologist to study an all female group through participant observation.
    ➝ written questionnaires may be useless for studying those who cannot read or write.
229
Q

How is research opportunity a practical issue?

A
  • the opportunity to carry out research may occur unexpectedly meaning it may not be possible to use structured methods such as questionnaires.
  • james patrick (1973) was offered the chance out of the blue to spend time with his gang and with little time to prepare he had to use participant observation.
230
Q

How is confidentiality and privacy an ethical issue?

A
  • the identity of the participants should be kept a secret in order to help prevent possible negative effects on them.
  • participants privacy should be respected.
  • personal information should be kept confidential.
231
Q

How is harmful effects an ethical issue?

A
  • researchers need to be aware of the possible effects of their work on those the study.
232
Q

How is vulnerable groups an ethical issue?

A
  • consent should be obtained of both the child and parent.
  • information should be provided in a way the child can understand.
233
Q

How is covert methods an ethical issue?

A
  • deceiving and lying to people in order to win their trust or obtain information can be unethical.
  • impossible to gain informed consent.
  • justifiable in circumstances where they are gaining access to secretive, dangerous or powerful groups.
234
Q

How is validity an theoretical issue?

A
  • qualitative methods such as participant observation give us a more valid or truthful account of what it is like.
235
Q

What is meant by a valid method?

A

One that produces a true or genuine picture of what something is really like.

236
Q

How is reliability an theoretical issue?

A
  • quantitative methods such as written questionnaires tend to produce more reliable results than qualitative methods.
237
Q

What is meant by a reliable method?

A

One when repeated by another researcher gives the same results.

238
Q

How is representativeness an theoretical issue?

A
  • ensuring samples are representative or typical of the wide population can make our findings generalisable without having to study every single person.
  • large scale quantitative surveys that use sophisticated sampling techniques to select sample are more likely to produce representative data.
239
Q

What is meant by a representative method?

A

refers to whether or not the people studied are a typical cross-section of the group the researcher is interested in.

240
Q

What is meant by hypothesis?

A

A possible explanation that can be tested by collecting evidence to prove it true or false.

241
Q

What are the advantages of a hypothesis?

A
  • gives direction to the research.
  • will give a focus to our questions since their purpose is to gather information that will either confirm or refute the hypothesis.
242
Q

Do positivists favour or reject hypothesis?

A

FAVOUR
- starting point for research.
- seek to discover cause and effect relationships.

243
Q

What are the advantages of a aim?

A
  • more open-ended.
  • not tied to trying to prove a particular hypothesis.
  • free to gather data on anything that appears interesting.
  • can be useful at the start of research as little is known about the topic.
244
Q

Do interpretivists favour or reject aim?

A

FAVOUR
- interested in understanding meanings.
- reduces risks of imposing the researcher’s own possible explanations in the form of a hypothesis.

245
Q

What is the difference between an aim and hypothesis?

A

A hypothesis is a statement about a specific relationship such as A causes B whereas an aim is more general where it identifies what we intend to study and hope to achieve through the research.

246
Q

What is meant by closed-ended questions?

A

Where the respondent must choose from a limited range of possible answers that the researcher has decided in advance such as yes, no or don’t know.

247
Q

What is meant by open-ended questions?

A

Where respondents are free to give whatever answer they wish, in their own words and without pre-selected choices being offered by the researcher.

248
Q

Which issues are studied when laboratory experiments are used?

A
  • teacher expectations.
  • classroom interaction.
  • labelling
  • pupils’ self-concepts.
  • the self-fulfilling prophecy.
249
Q

Which issues are studied when questionnaires are used?

A
  • subject and university choice.
  • bullying and the experience of schooling.
  • achievement an school factors.
  • parental attitudes to education.
250
Q

Which issues are studied when interviews are used?

A
  • pupil subcultures.
  • pupils’ experience of health and sex education.
  • class, ethinicity and language.
  • gender identity and the male gaze.
  • class and parental choice of schools.
251
Q

Which issues are studied when observations are used?

A
  • gender and classroom behaviour.
  • teacher expectations and labelling.
  • speech codes in the classroom.
  • pupil subcultures.
  • teacher and pupil racism.
  • the hidden curriculum.
252
Q

What is meant by anthropology?

A

The study of humans, past and present.

253
Q

What is meant by attrition rate?

A

The percentage of respondents who drop out of a research study during the course of that study.

254
Q

What is meant by bias?

A

Where someone’s personal, subjective feelings or thoughts affect one’s judgement.

255
Q

What is meant by case study?

A

Researching a single case or example of something using multiple methods such as researching a school.

256
Q

What is meant by closed questions?

A

Questions which have a limited range of answers attached to them such as yes or no.

257
Q

What is meant by confidentiality?

A

The idea that the information respondents give to the researcher in the research is kept private.

258
Q

What is meant by dependant variables?

A

The object under study in an experiment.

259
Q

What is meant by independent variables?

A

What the researcher varies to see how they affect the dependent variable.

260
Q

What is meant by ethnography?

A

An in-depth study of the way of life of a group of people in their natural setting.

261
Q

What is meant by ethnography?

A

What is meant by ethnography?An in-depth study of the way of life of a group of people in their natural setting.

262
Q

What is meant by ethics?

A

Taking into consideration how the research impacts on those involved with the research process.

263
Q

What is meant by extraneous variables?

A

Undesirable variables which are not of interest to the researcher but might interfere with the results of the experiment.

264
Q

What is meant by field diary?

A

A notebook in which a researcher records observation during the research process.

265
Q

What is meant by field experiments?

A

Experiments which take place in a real-life setting such as a classroom, the workplace or even the high street.

266
Q

What is meant by focus groups?

A

A type of group interview in which respondents are asked to discuss certain topics.

267
Q

What is meant by formal content analysis?

A

A quantitative approach to analysing mass media content which involves developing a system of classification to analyse the key features of media sources and then simply counting how many times these features occur in a given text.

268
Q

What is meant by going native?

A

Where a researcher becomes biased or sympathetic towards the group he is studying, such that he or she loses their objectivity.

269
Q

What is meant by group interviews?

A

Where an interviewer interviews two or more respondents at a time.

270
Q

What is meant by hawthorne effect?

A

Where respondents alter their behaviour because they know they are being observed.

271
Q

What is meant by imposition problem?

A

Where respondents may not be able to express their true feelings about the topic under investigation because the questions which have been pre-chosen by the researcher limits what they are able to say.

272
Q

What is meant by informed consent?

A

Where the respondent agrees to take part in a research study with full awareness that research is taking place, what the purpose of the research is and what the researcher intends to do with the results.

273
Q

What is meant by interpretivism?

A

An approach to social research which tries to understand human action through the eyes of those acting.

274
Q

What is meant by interviews?

A

A method of gathering information by asking questions orally, either face to face or by telephone.

275
Q

What is meant by interviewer bias?

A

Where the values and beliefs of the researcher influence the responses of the interviewee.

276
Q

What is meant by laboratory experiments?

A

Experiments which take place in an artificial, controlled environment, such as a laboratory.

277
Q

What is meant by leading questions?

A

Questions which subtly prompt a respondent to provide a particular answer when interviewed.

278
Q

What is meant by life documents?

A

Written or audio-visual sources created by individuals which record details of their experiences and social actions.

279
Q

What is meant by longitudinal studies?

A

A study of a sample of people in which information is collected from the same people at intervals over a long period of time.

280
Q

What is meant by likert scale?

A

Used to measure strength of opinion or feeling about a statement in social surveys.
[respondents might be asked whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with a particular statement]

281
Q

What is meant by multistage sampling?

A

A researcher selects a sample by using combinations of different sampling methods.

282
Q

What is meant by objective knowledge?

A

Where knowledge which is free of the biases, opinions and values of the researcher, it reflects what is really ‘out there’ in the social world.

283
Q

What is meant by official statistics?

A

Numerical information collected and used by the government and its agencies to make decisions about society and the economy.
[UK National Census, police recorded crime and data on educational achievement]

284
Q

What is meant by open-ended questions?

A

Questions for which there are no set answers.

285
Q

What is meant by personal documents?

A

First-hand accounts of social events and personal experiences, which generally include the writer’s feelings and attitudes about the events they think are personally significant.

286
Q

What is meant by pilot study?

A

A test study carried out before the main research study and on a smaller scale, to uncover and iron potential problems which may occur in the main programme of research.

287
Q

What is meant by positivism?

A

An approach to social research which aims to be as close to the natural sciences as possible.

288
Q

What is meant by quota sampling?

A

Where researchers will be told to ensure the sample fits with certain quotas.

289
Q

What is meant by random sampling?

A

Everyone in the population has the same chance of getting chosen.
[names picked out of a hat]

290
Q

What is meant by rapport?

A

A close and harmonious relationship between researcher and respondents.

291
Q

What is meant by reliability?

A

Where if someone else repeats the same research with the same population then they should achieve the same results.

292
Q

What is meant by representativeness?

A

Where the research sample reflects the characteristics of the wider target population that is being studied.

293
Q

What is meant by sampling?

A

The process of selection a section of the population to take part in social research.

294
Q

What is meant by sampling frame?

A

A list from which a sample will be drawn.

295
Q

What is meant by semi-strcutures interviews?

A

Researchers have a predetermined list of questions to ask respondents, but are free to ask further, differentiated questions based on the responses given.

296
Q

What is meant by snowball sampling?

A

Researchers might find a few participants, and then ask them to find participants themselves and so on.

297
Q

What is meant by social surveys?

A

Typically questionnaires designed to collect information from large numbers of people in standardised form.

298
Q

What is meant by structured interviews?

A

The interviewer asks the interviewee the same questions in the same way to different respondents.

299
Q

What is meant by unstructured interviews?

A

A guided conversation and typically involve the researcher asking open-questions which generate qualitative data.

300
Q

What is meant by validity?

A

Research is valid if it provides a true picture of what is really ‘out there’ in the world.

301
Q

What are the disadvantages of using student samples?

A
  • social class may determine their responses to being researched
    ↳ middle class students are more likely to display pro-school attitudes than working class.
  • studying them in peer group may be difficult.
  • boys and working class may see education in negative light impactibing validity.
  • peer groups may restrict individuals from discussing their experiences of education for fear of ridicule.
  • need protection as classed as vulnerable
    ↳ dbs checks and parental consent will be needed.
  • may not take it seriously.
  • working class may see researcher as a teacher in disguise due to being middle class.
  • may behave differently due to presence of researcher
    ↳ middle class may show off whereas as working class may play up.
302
Q

What are the disadvantages of using parent samples?

A
  • working class parents may view researcher with suspicion.
  • may be sensitive about their child’s education so may object to research disrupting their child’s education.
  • middle class are more likely to talk about their child’s education and involvement in positive terms.
  • working class are less likely to discuss their involvement and blame the school for the child’s problems.
  • difficult to observe parental interactions with children as they often take place behind closed doors.
  • minority ethnic parents may have limited english skills influencing the way questions are asked and understood.
  • can be problematic as they may feel judged.
303
Q

What are the disadvantages of using teacher samples?

A
  • good at impression management
    ↳ more likely to alter behaviour to give off a good impression.
  • less likely to admit to behaviours such as discrimination as there would be consequences.
  • may say what they believe researcher wants to hear as they may see them a fellow professionals due to less social differences.
  • difficult to access teachers
    ↳ head teachers may be reluctant on allowing members of staff discussing negative practices towards students.
304
Q

What are the ethical advantages of official statistics in T&M?

A
  • anonymous.
  • confidential.
305
Q

What are the ethical disadvantages of official statistics in T&M?

A
  • can lead to social harm such as elage tables putting a lot of pressure on students and teachers.
306
Q

What are the ethical disadvantages of documents in T&M?

A
  • lack infromed consent.
307
Q

What are the validity advantages of documents in T&M?

A
  • authentic.

sociology. (4 decks)

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