primary methods

• structured or formal, semistructured
• unstructured or informal
• open ended or closed questions
• unstructured interviews with open ended questions time consuming, flexible & more likely used for sensitive subjects
• group interviews where respondents likely to be nervours on thier own, such as in schools, but peer pressure may be present, so individual may work
• when researcher returns to same group repeatedly it is longtitudinal

evaluation

• recieve data instantly - no waiting time
• unstructured = flexible, allow clarification+exploration, establish rapport
• unrealiable, social desirability, interviewer effect, hawthorne, time consuming because tons qualitative data
• structured interviews quick to conduct
• large representaive sample can be targetted, comparison ebwteen groups.
• closed questions fail to cater for all possibilities - superficial quantifyable data

exam

• refer to advantages/problems a named sociologist found when using certain methods

• asking respondents to write down anwers to a series of questions
• paper/electronic
• usually brief/closed questions, some open ended
• post/email/hand out in environment
• anonymous or named volunteers

evaluation

• clear, but unloaded questions hard to write - can be lengthy process
• postage expensive+low return rate. Those who return may be untypical of whole sample
• asking all respondents same questions enables comparison between groups - positivist approach
• closed questions inflexible and answers superficial
• sensitive topics may be explored if anonymity is assured; i.e self reports where respondents tick offences they have committed 

• watching, listening and recording behaviour
• can be done openly(overt) or without consent(covert)
• observer may be participating or watching from sidelines(non-participant)
• may involve careful recording of specific details of behaviour from checklist(structured observation) over short period of time.
• sociologists may listen to conversations and absorb general impressions of attitudes, motives, and actions over longer period of time - ethnographic or case studies

evaluation

• watching actions is better than asking someone what they do, but hawthorne effect may be present
• covert observation unethical and dangerous if caught
• ethnographers need to devote several years to achieve real empathy with group(verstehen)
• not all groups accessible and willing to be observed - permission from a gatekeeper. Covert participant may only be possible with appropriate appearance and native costume
• long participant observation - risk of going native
• recording data difficult if observation is participant or covert. Writing down later poses problems of memory, selectivity and bias.

• setting up artificial environment involving the experiment group in situation they otherwise would not be
• hypothesis they wish to test by operationalising relevant concepts(i.e ability to concentrate) as types of behaviour they can measure scientifically
• experiment group subjected to stimuli then compared with another group not subjected to stimulus. Other variables removed if possible
• multiple groups may be subjected to different stimuli or conditions, then compared to establish cause and effect
• before hypothesis confirmed, experiment should be repeated many times to demonstrate results not reached by chance/anomaly
• field experiments in environments where participants already situated, hopsitals, streets, unlikely aware of study.
• lab experiments = researchers inviting volunteers to pre-arranged setting where conditions easier to control. volunteers may not know hypothesis

exam tip

• ensure you can clearly describe the scientific or hypothicodeductive method used in experiments

evaluation

• experiments appeal to positivists - designed to exclude extraneous variable more effectively than if researcher observed natural events.
• complexity of every day social life cannot be replicated in an experimental situation. lacks ecological validity
• if people know experiment taking place, may act differently. unethical to experiment without fully informed consent
• impossible to exclude certain variables in field experiments
• individual differences and varying responses to different researchers mean conclusions less reliable than in natural sciences
• permission to experiment in certain situations may be refused
• despite objectivity of the method, researchers expectation of certain outcomes may distort his or her perception of outcomes.