SOCIAL SURVEY Flashcards
What is the social survey?
Involves the systematic collection of mainly quantitative data from a fairly large number of people.
What are longitudinal surveys?
They study the same group of people over a long period of time.
What is a strength and a weakness of longitudinal surveys?
Strength: Clear image of changes in attitudes and behaviour over a number of years.
Weak: Expensive and respondents may drop out or the researchers may loose track of them over time.
What are closed questionnaires? And what are open questionnaires?
Closed = a question accompanied by a choice of answers. Open = open-ended questions.
How are samples a strength in questionnaires?
Larger and more representative samples.
Why are questionnaires seen as a weak method of research?
Suffer from a low response rate and data tends to be low in validity.
What are interviews particularly useful for?
When studying areas that are not accessible to sociological study when using other methods.
What are structured interviews?
Researcher reading out a list of closed questions.
Why are structured interviews considered a strong research method?
Positivists regard them as scientific and they are conducted quite quickly which increases possibility of getting a representative sample.
How might the reliability of structured interviews be questioned?
Due to demand characteristics and closed questions may suffer from the imposition problem.
Why are questionnaires easier to conduct?
Less time consuming and cheaper than other methods.
What do positivists see questionnaires as?
Objective and scientific as they are high in reliability.
What is the issue with responding to questionnaires?
Respondents may interpret questions in the wrong way.
What can sociologists use longitudinal studies to do? (regarding social policy)
Compare data and spot patterns and trends.
What is the issue with quantitative data?
Although patterns and trends can be identified, reasons behind them are merely assumed.
