Research Methods- Sociology
Teacher recommended
?- Created by: Phoebe1999
- Created on: 12-02-17 19:51
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- Research Methods
- Types of research
- Primary
- carried out by researcher themselves
- Examples:
- participant observation
- non-participant observation
- lab experiments
- informal interviews
- Surveys
- Secondary
- used by researcher but has already been carried out
- Advantages:
- easily accessible
- Cheap
- Disadvantage
- Could be biased
- Info may be unrepresentative
- Examples
- official statisics
- Expressive documents
- Primary
- Types of data
- Quantitative data
- Untitled
- Qualitative data
- rich in depth info about people's lives
- Quantitative data
- Approaches
- Positivists
- society makes people
- see sociology as a science
- seek to uncover patterns of behaviour
- prefer quantitative data
- Interpretivists
- people make society
- reject view of sociology as a science
- seek to understand people's meanings
- prefer qualitative data
- Triangulation
- the use of two or more research methods of sources of data the compliment each other
- Positivists
- Issues
- Practical
- time and money
- personal skills and characteristic
- subject matter
- access
- Ethical
- Informed consent
- right to withdraw
- confidentiality
- psychological harm
- deception
- Theoretical
- validity
- reliability
- representativeness
- observer effect
- Practical
- Types of Surveys
- Postal questionaire
- Strengths
- cheap
- personal
- Weaknesses
- don't know who's completing it
- unrepresentative
- Strengths
- Self-completion questionnaire
- Strengths
- time to answer properly
- no bias influence
- Weaknesses
- respondent may not respond
- can't ask for help if stuck
- Strengths
- structured interview
- Strengths
- can explain any questions
- make sure all questions answered
- Weaknesses
- may feel intimidated
- interviewer bias
- Strengths
- Unstructured interview
- Strengths
- flexible
- can build rapport
- Weaknesses
- time consuming
- cost
- Strengths
- Focus group
- Strengths
- comfortable with others
- can expand on others ideas
- Weaknesses
- others may dominate
- peer pressure
- Strengths
- Group interview
- Strengths
- high validity
- quick
- weaknesses
- lack of anonymity
- peer pressure
- Strengths
- Longitudinal study
- Strengths
- can build rapport
- more background info
- Weaknesses
- people can withdraw
- time
- Strengths
- Observation
- non-particiapant
- strength
- can study people in natural setting
- weakness
- researcher may not understand
- strength
- participant
- covert- under cover
- overt- open to ppts
- non-particiapant
- Postal questionaire
- Types of research
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