research methods

Question 1

what is primary data?

Answer 1

information collected by sociologists themselves for their own purposes

Question 2

what is a positive of primary data?

Answer 2

the researcher gathers the info needed to test their hypothesis

Question 3

what is a con of primary data?

Answer 3

costly and time consuming

Question 4

what is secondary data?

Answer 4

information collected by someone else

Question 5

examples of secondary data

Answer 5

statistics produced by gov, documents

Question 6

pros of secondary data

Answer 6

quick and cheap

Question 7

cons of secondary data

Answer 7

may not provide exact information needed

Question 8

factor influencing choice of methods?

Answer 8

time and money, requirements of funding bodies, personal skills and characteristics, subject matter, research opportunity

Question 9

what is requirements of funding bodies?

Answer 9

research institutes, businesses and other orgs that provide funding fr research

Question 10

what does personal skills and characteristics refer to?

Answer 10

each sociologist possesses different characteristics, may affect ability to carry out different types of research

Question 11

why does subject matter affect choice of methods?

Answer 11

it may be harder to study a particular group or subject

Question 12

why does research opportunity effect choice of methods?

Answer 12

sometimes an opportunity to carry out research happens unexpectedly

Question 13

what is quantitative data?

Answer 13

numerical information

Question 14

examples of quantitative data?

Answer 14

polls, market research, official statistics

Question 15

what is qualitative data?

Answer 15

rich descriptions of experiences, gives a feel for what something is like

Question 16

examples of qualitative data

Answer 16

emotions and feelings

Question 17

what are ethical issues?

Answer 17

moral issues of right and wrong

Question 18

how might ethical issues be raised in research?

Answer 18

methods sociologists uses to study people

Question 19

who sets out ethical guidelines for research?

Answer 19

the british sociological association

Question 20

what is informed consent?

Answer 20

research participants should be given rights to refuse

Question 21

how does a participant make an informed decision?

Answer 21

researcher should tell them all the relative parts of the research

Question 22

when should consent for research be obtained?

Answer 22

before the research begins

Question 23

what is confidentiality and privacy in research?

Answer 23

identity of participants should be kept secret to prevent possible negative effects

Question 24

what is harm to participants ion research?

Answer 24

researchers need to be aware of possible effects on participants

Question 25

what could harm to participants include?

Answer 25

police intervention, harm to employment aspects, social exclusion, psychological damage

Question 26

what should sociologists do with vulnerable groups?

Answer 26

take specialist care

Question 27

what comes under vulnerable groups?

Answer 27

age, disability, physical/ mental health

Question 28

what is covert research?

Answer 28

when researchers identity and purposes are hidden from participants

Question 29

what is validity in research?

Answer 29

research that reveals a true picture rich in information

Question 30

what is reliability in research?

Answer 30

the extent to which, if to e repeated, it would produce the same results

Question 31

what is representativeness?

Answer 31

wether or not the people in the study are a typical cross section of the group we are interested in

Question 32

what is the methodological perspective?

Answer 32

the view of what society is and how we should study it

Question 33

what could the methodological perspective of a sociologist effect in their research?

Answer 33

their choice of methods

Question 34

what data to positivists prefer?

Answer 34

quantitative

Question 35

what do positivists seek to discover?

Answer 35

patterns of behaviour

Question 36

how do positivists seek sociology?

Answer 36

as a science

Question 37

what data do interpretivists prefer?

Answer 37

qualitative

Question 38

what do interpretivists seek up understand?

Answer 38

society’s meaning

Question 39

what view to interpretivists reject?

Answer 39

sociology can model itself on natural sciences

Question 40

what are interpretivists focused on?

Answer 40

beliefs, values, actions behaviours and societal relationships

Question 41

what is a hypothesis?

Answer 41

a statement that can be tested to be proved true or false

Question 42

what are the two types of hypotheses?

Answer 42

directional and non directional

Question 43

what is discarding a hypothesis?

Answer 43

when you have evidence to prove hypothesis is false

Question 44

what do you do after discarding a hypothesis?

Answer 44

you generate a new one

Question 45

advantages of a hypothesis

Answer 45

provides structure for research allows focus on questions

Question 46

hypothesis vs aim

Answer 46

hypothesis specifies relationships between variables, but the aim is more general

Question 47

aim advantage

Answer 47

more open ended instead of being fixed to a set of variables

Question 48

do interpretivists favour aim or hypothesis

Answer 48

broad aim