terms Flashcards
(15 cards)
qualitative
research that looks at ideas feelings and meanings, data consists of words, stories, pictures.
quantitative
research that measures things using numbers, stats, percentages or amounts.
participant observation
method where researcher joins a certain group to observe their behaviour, to understand what life is like for such group by experiencing.
covert
they are unaware they’re being studied
overt
they are aware they’re being studied
observation
js watching people or groups to study their behaviour, to understand without directly interacting.
census study
done every 10 years for total population of country, structured questionnaire used to find out facts about family, house size, car ownership and how they changed over 10 years. establishes trends. these stats can help w future needs like house or road buildings
cohort studies
group of people born at the same time are studied over a period of years to see how diff social and economic backgrounds affect their lives, education, achievements etc. demonstrated influences of various social factors.
primary data
surveys, questionnaires, formal interviews, case studies, participant observation, gov stats, informal unstructured interviews.
secondary data
analysis of gov stats, analysis of other sociologists research, study of official documents, analysis of media reports.
qualitative examples
informal unstructured interviews, participant observation, analysis of media and diaries, autobiographies.
quantitative examples
surveys using questionnaires closed questions, case studies, analysis of stats, study of other documents and records.
reliability
will the findings be the same if the study is repeated and can be repeated
validity
how accurate and trustworthy, make sure it measures what its meant to
longitudinal studies
research following the same people over a long period of time to see how things change/develop
