Sociology- Reserch Methods

Question 1

Quantitive data

Answer 1

focuses on numeric and unchanging data and detailed

Question 2

Qualitative data

Answer 2

Descriptions of peoples feelings about a particular subject or observation made

Question 3

Primary data

Answer 3

Information that is collected first hand

Question 4

Secondary data

Answer 4

Information that already exists and have been done by someone else

Question 5

Validity

Answer 5

Produces a true picture of what something is really like

Question 6

Reliability

Answer 6

When repeated by another researcher, gets the same results

Question 7

Representativeness

Answer 7

Refers to weather the people they study are typical of the group they are interested in

Question 8

Positivists

Answer 8

Prefer quantitative data, sociology is a science

Question 9

Interpretivists

Answer 9

Prefer qualitative data and don’t see sociology as a science

Question 10

Snowball sampling

Answer 10

Involves contacting a number of key individuals

Question 11

Quasi random sampling

Answer 11

Where every nth person in the sampling frame is selected

Question 12

Advantages of questionaires
Practical

Answer 12

-quick and cheap means of gathering large amounts of data
-returned themselves
-easy to quantify

Question 13

Advantages of questionnaires
Ethical

Answer 13

-few ethical problems
-interviewed could ask intrusive questions
-still should gain consent

Question 14

Advantages of questionnaires
Theoretical

Answer 14

-detachment and unbiased

Question 15

Disadvantages of questionnaires
Practical

Answer 15

-the data can be limited
-won’t return long survey
-might have to offer incentive like prize draw
-might not receive survey

Question 16

Disadvantages of questionnaires
Low response rate

Answer 16

-major problem
-study sent out 100,000 but only 4.5% were returned
-too complex can only be done by well educated
-different people might not be able to return therefore unrepresentative e.g full time work

Question 17

Disadvantages of questionaires
Snapshots

Answer 17

-only accurate at one moment
-fail to produce a valid picture
-do not capture attitude and behaviour changes

Question 18

Disadvantages of questionnaires
Right answerism

Answer 18

-invalid as they might not understand, lie or forget

Question 19

Advantages Official statistics
Practical

Answer 19

-huge amounts of data
-free
-state conducted surveys
-conducted often so can recognise patterns and trends shows cause and effect

Question 20

Disadvantages official statistics
Practical

Answer 20

-for governments purpose not sociologists
-not always on what you want to study
-definitions may differ from those collecting data and sociologists

Question 21

Advantages official statistics
Theoretical

Answer 21

-generally seen as reliable
-as they have to follow procedure

Question 22

Disadvantages official statistics
Theoretical

Answer 22

-not totally reliable
-can be errors and members of public may fill data in wrong

Question 23

Types of documents?

Answer 23

-public docs
-personal docs
-historical doc

Question 24

Disadvantages of documents
Theoretical

Answer 24

-could be false
-no proof of whose it is
-e.g hitler diaries were later proven to be fakes

Question 25

Disadvantages of documents Theoretical

Answer 25

-may need special skills to understand e.g language barrier -can be interpreted differently

Question 26

Advantages of documents

Answer 26

-rich qualitative data -extra check on other data -cheap as someone else collected information

Question 27

Advantages of Lab experiments Theoretical

Answer 27

-very reliable as you can specify steps and manipulate variables -very detached method

Question 28

Disadvantages of lab experiments Practical

Answer 28

-can’t be used to study past -usually only small samples,reducing representativeness

Question 29

Disadvantages of lab experiments Ethical

Answer 29

-lack of informed consent -deception (milgrim electric shocks) -Harm (in milgrims study some had seizures) -however milgrims study had 74% of participants said they’d learnt somthing of value

Question 30

Disadvantages of lab experiments Hawthorne effect

Answer 30

Mayo -if people know that they’re in an experiment they may behave differently -act how they think they want the researcher wants them to act

Question 31

Field experiments

Answer 31

Rosenhan -12 patents into mental hospital each hearing voices -each was admitted with schizophrenic -then once in acted normal -hospital staff kept treating them as they were ill -it was the label not the behavior -less control but more valid -can be seen as unethical

Question 32

Types of interviews

Answer 32

-structured -unstructured -semi structured -group interviews

Question 33

Advantages Group interview

Answer 33

-might feel more comfortable in front of others -can stimulate each others thinking

Question 34

Disadvantages group interviews

Answer 34

-one or two may dominate interview -peer pressure could lead to participants not saying the truth

Question 35

Advantages structured interviews Practical

Answer 35

-quantifiable -easy to gather stright forward data - fairly cheap

Question 36

Advantages structured interviews

Answer 36

-reliable as it’s easy to control and done in set way -similar results -easy to compare similarities and differences

Question 37

Disadvantage structured interviews Valid

Answer 37

-closed ended questions -therefore answers might not be what interviewee wants to say therefore invalid -little freedom to explain question

Question 38

Disadvantages of all interviews Social desirability

Answer 38

-people often seek to win approval

Question 39

Disadvantages of all interviews Interviewer bias

Answer 39

-can be asked leading questions -less likley in structured interview -facial expressions or tone -difficulty to detach e.g Oakley and her mother

Question 40

Types of observation:

Answer 40

-Overt (known) -covert (undercover) -participation (takes part) -non participation (observe not involved s.g two way mirror)

Question 41

Disadvantages of participant observation Getting in

Answer 41

-depended on personal skills -connections or chance -getting accepted my be difficult due to features

Question 42

Disadvantages of participant observation Getting out

Answer 42

Patrick -had to halt and leave due to violence -re-entering norms afterward can be difficult -loyalty could prevent details being shared

Question 43

Disadvantages with overt observation

Answer 43

-a group may refuse the researcher permission -Hawthorne effect

Question 44

Disadvantages with covert observation

Answer 44

-require researcher to keep up act -cannot openly take notes -immoral to decive people -could stay loyal to group (bias)

Question 45

Advantages participant observation Theoretical

Answer 45

-valid as it what they naturally do -rich qualitative data -‘verstehan’

Question 46

Advantages participant observation Practical

Answer 46

-can be only viable method especially deviant -this is mainly where they wouldn’t accept outsider

Question 47

Disadvantages participant observation Practical

Answer 47

-time consuming -has to be trained -can be stressful and demanding -personal characteristics could be required

Question 48

Disadvantages participant observation Representativeness

Answer 48

-ussually small sample size -not useful for making generalisations