Research Methods - Lessons 1-7

Question 1

Positivism

Answer 1

Method of study based on directly observable facts which can be objectively measured so it is possible to identify a cause and effect relationship

Question 2

What type of data does positivism look at?

Answer 2

Quantitative

Question 3

What are the features of the positivist approach?

Answer 3

• Social facts, values customs, beliefs and institutions of society that can be measured objectively and can be quantified
• Correlations can be calculated to find cause and effect relationships
• Causation can be deducted from a strong correlation between two variables
• Statistical data can be gained through quantitative research methods

Question 4

Disadvantages of positivism

Answer 4

• Sociology cannot be studied the same as the natural sciences and laws of causation on the natural world aren’t the same as the social world
• Doesn’t tell us what the data means, no context.
• Doesn’t take into account other variables such as free will and the subjective experience of individuals, so lab experiments aren’t reliable
• May cause ethical issues in research

Question 5

Advantages of Positivism

Answer 5

• Trends and patterns easily identified
• Can create links between other ideas
• High degree of control in experiments

Question 6

Interpretevism

Answer 6

Focuses on qualitative, rich and detailed data collection which would be high quality and focusing on meaning. It places a focus on “verstehen” which is understanding.

Question 7

What are the features of the interpretivist approach

Answer 7

• Advocates for qualitative data collection as sociology is about the interpretation of social action and quantitative data cannot show this.
• Rejects the use of positivist methods as there is meaning attached to how humans respond to the social world
• Importance of a rapport to increase validity and are reflective
• Uses reflexivity and examines themself and the researcher and their relationship
• Uses participant observation, unstructured interviews and personal documents

Question 8

Disadvantages of Interpretivism

Answer 8

• Focuses on small samples so hard to generalise and not representative
• Qualitative data can be unreliable
• May be hard to understand people in some cases

Question 9

What are the main stages of the research process?

Answer 9

1) Identifying area of interest
2) Doing background research
3) Creating a research question or hypothesis
4) Choosing research method
5) Planning research in detail
6) Conducting a pilot study
7) Revising research methods after gaining insight from pilot
8) Carrying out main research
9) Analysing results
10) Reaching conclusion from research

Question 10

Reliability

Answer 10

Would produce the same results if repeated on different occasions

Question 11

How can reliability be achieved?

Answer 11

Can be achieved by Inter-researcher reliability or a test-retest

Question 12

Validity

Answer 12

Measures whether a test/piece of research measured what it aimed to measure

Question 13

How can validity be achieved?

Answer 13

Can be achieved by respondent validation

Question 14

Representativeness

Answer 14

The group of people being researched should represent the entire population so that generalisations can be made

Question 15

Primary research

Answer 15

Information or data that is collected by the researcher themselves and includes both quantitative data (structured questionnaires, interviews and experiments) and qualitative data (participant observation and unstructured interviews)

Question 16

What ethics need to be considered when conducting research?

Answer 16

Fully informed consent, Protection from harm, Respect for privacy, Safeguard confidentiality of data, Avoiding deception, Awareness of publication consequences

Question 17

Secondary sources

Answer 17

Data that has already been collected by sociologists or other organisation. Can be contemporary, historical, quantitative or qualitative. Saves money and time

Question 18

Official statistics

Answer 18

Secondary data that collects quantitative data by the local or regional government

Question 19

Disadvantages of official statistics

Answer 19

• May not be valid and could lack information (unreported crimes) or could have restricted access
• Open to misuse and can be manipulated or have political bias
• Can be easily misinterpreted making it inaccurate
• Lack context and don’t explain reasons for trends/patterns

Question 20

Advantages of official statistics

Answer 20

• Readily available and for everyone to access and use if published
• Representative samples are used to collect official statistics from larger samples. More funding.
• Government surveys are well planned, organised, detailed and involve additional research, reliable
• Some surveys are conducted regularly giving it high temporal validity
• Patterns and trends are easy to identify, useful for large amounts of data
• Research be used again and again with different variables over a long period of time

Question 21

What are John Scott’s (1990) assessments of secondary sources?

Answer 21

• Authenticity, Soundness and Authorship. Whether its genuine complete and reliable and who wrote it
• Credibility. The amount of distortion in a document, or inaccuracy.
• Representativeness, Survival, Availability
• Meaning

Question 22

Longitudinal Studies

Answer 22

A piece of research that is carried out over a long period of time and tracks change over time.

Question 23

What are the forms of longitudinal studies?

Answer 23

Panel studies
Collected from sampling frames such as postcode address file
Cohort studies
Study people who have the same social characteristics such as age

Question 24

Advantages of longitudinal studies

Answer 24

• Easily comparable as its the same sample and contains a lot of data
• Tracks changes over time and since it lasts longer there is more “verstehen” due to relationships form
• Measures a lot of things overtime in depth and can use mixed methods approach

Question 25

Disadvantages of longitudinal studies

Answer 25

- Hard to find people to stay for the duration of the study so sample decreases and less representative - Hard to get funding as it lasts long so will be expensive - Only small snapshots of what's happening at that time so things might be missed - Demand characteristics