Research Methods - Lessons 1-7 Flashcards
(25 cards)
Positivism
Method of study based on directly observable facts which can be objectively measured so it is possible to identify a cause and effect relationship
What type of data does positivism look at?
Quantitative
What are the features of the positivist approach?
- 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
Disadvantages of positivism
- 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
Advantages of Positivism
- Trends and patterns easily identified
- Can create links between other ideas
- High degree of control in experiments
Interpretevism
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.
What are the features of the interpretivist approach
- 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
Disadvantages of Interpretivism
- 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
What are the main stages of the research process?
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
Reliability
Would produce the same results if repeated on different occasions
How can reliability be achieved?
Can be achieved by Inter-researcher reliability or a test-retest
Validity
Measures whether a test/piece of research measured what it aimed to measure
How can validity be achieved?
Can be achieved by respondent validation
Representativeness
The group of people being researched should represent the entire population so that generalisations can be made
Primary research
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)
What ethics need to be considered when conducting research?
Fully informed consent, Protection from harm, Respect for privacy, Safeguard confidentiality of data, Avoiding deception, Awareness of publication consequences
Secondary sources
Data that has already been collected by sociologists or other organisation. Can be contemporary, historical, quantitative or qualitative. Saves money and time
Official statistics
Secondary data that collects quantitative data by the local or regional government
Disadvantages of official statistics
- 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
Advantages of official statistics
- 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
What are John Scott’s (1990) assessments of secondary sources?
- 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
Longitudinal Studies
A piece of research that is carried out over a long period of time and tracks change over time.
What are the forms of longitudinal studies?
Panel studies
Collected from sampling frames such as postcode address file
Cohort studies
Study people who have the same social characteristics such as age
Advantages of longitudinal studies
- 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
