Descriptions of research methods

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  • Created by: ssaidi23
  • Created on: 11-04-22 14:58
What is open questionnaire
self completion form with questions which allow respondent to answer in as much detail
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What is a closed questionnaire
self completion form with questions that give a set of responses that respondent can choose from
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What is a web based questionnaire
self completion form which is sent out via the internet or by using a site such as survey monkey
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What are the practical advantages and disadvantages of the 3 questionnaires
+ Easy
+ Cheap
+ Quick to analyse and reach conclusion
- Low response rate
- May misunderstand question (closed)
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What are the ethical advantages and disadvantages of the 3 questionnaires
+ Informed consent given by completing
+ Anonymous
- Questions may be sensitive
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What are the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of the 3 questionnaires
+ Detailed data (open)
+ Reliable
+ Large sample
+ Easy to quantify and analyse (closed)
- Participants may lie
- Lack of rapport
- Someone other than the intended participant may answer
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What is unstructured interview
Conversation between the researcher and participant where the questions are based on responses given
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What is structured interview
A conversation between the researcher and the participant where the questions are set in advance
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What is a group interview
Where the interview can be structured or unstructured but involves more than once participant
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What are the practical advantages and disadvantages of the 3 interviews
+ Allows researcher to build rapport with participants
+ Flexibility (unstructured)
+ Allows for clarification of the questions
- Time
- Cost & training of interviewers
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What are ethical advantages and disadvantages of the 3 interviews
+ Good for sensitive topics
- Questions could cause harm if of sensitive nature/topic
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What are theoretical advantages and disadvantages of the 3 interviews
+ In depth detailed data
+ Reliable (structured)
+ Hard to quantify
- Demand characteristics
- Unreliable (unstructured)
- Small sample
- Peer group influence (group)
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What is overt observation
Where the researcher tells the participants they are being observed and what they are being observed for
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What is covert observation
(covert=cover=undercover)
Where the researcher doesnt tell the participants that they are being observed until the study is over
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What is participant observation
Where the researcher becomes a member of the group they are researching
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What is non-participant observation
Where the researcher watches the group from the outside without taking part
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What are the practical advantages and disadvantages of the 3 observations
+ Flexible
+ Researcher can ask questions (overt)
- Time
- Cost
- Requires a certain skill not all researchers will have
- Some groups can be hard to access
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What are the ethical advantages and disadvantages of the 3 observations
+ No advantages
- Lacks informed consent (overt)
- Privacy can be breached
- Going native (participant)
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What are the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of the 3 observations
+ In depth detailed data
+ Allows for verstehen (empathic understanding of human behaviour/putting yourself in their shoes)
- Hawthorne effect
- Hard to quantify
- Small sample
- Unreliable
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What are lab experiments
A study that takes place in a label where the researcher is able to manipulate and control all the variables
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What are field experiments
Take place in real life settings such as classroom, a work place or high street
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What are the practical advantages and disadvantages of experiments
+ Variables are controlled
- Time
- Cost
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What are the ethical advantages and disadvantages of experiments
- Can cause harm to participants (stress)
- Deception in order to deal with researcher effects
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What are the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of experiments
+ Highly reliable
+ Causation can be determined
- Validity (not normal setting)
- Small sample
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What are official statistics
Numerical data that is produced government of government agencies
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What are unofficial statistics
Numerical data that is collected by charities or other organisations
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Examples of hard statistics
Birth, marriage and death rates
Collected by government
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Examples of soft statistics
Crime statistics and unemployment figures
Collected by organisations
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What are the 6 things official statistics mainly used for
the study of demography, inflation, crime and deviance, unemployment, poverty and suicide
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Who used official statistics for the study of suicide and what is it
Emile Durkheim
Used them to find correlations and casual relations
Identified four different types of suicide, egoistic suicide, anomic suicide, altruistic suicide and fatalistic suicide.
Durkheim used positivist’s methods to conduct his study.
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What do positivists believe
That quantitative data is the most reliable method to gather information as the data is compiled in a standardised way.
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What do interpretivists believe
That official statistics are not valid and qualitative methods should be used.
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What are the practical advantages and disadvantages of statistics
+ Cheap
+ Easy accessible
- May not ask the questions specific to the research
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What are the ethical advantages and disadvantages of statistics
No ethical considerations
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What are the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of statistics
+ Large sample
+ Valid
+ Reliable
- Could be biased to the views of organisation (unofficial)
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What are personal documents
Documents such as personal diaries, letters and other personal correspondence
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What are the practical advantages and disadvantages of personal documents
+ Cheap
- Can be hard to access
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What are the ethical advantages and disadvantages of personal documents
+ No advantages
- Invasion of privacy
- Informed consent
- Confidentiality
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What are the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of personal documents
+ In depth and detailed
- Open to interpretation
- Personal view
- Unreliable
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What are public documents
Government documents that have been released such as OFSTED reports
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What are the practical advantages and disadvantages of public documents
+ Some can be easy to access
+ Cheap
- Can take time to gain access under FOI act
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What are the ethnical advantages and disadvantages of public documents
No ethical considerations
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What are the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of public documents
+ In depth data
- Unreliable
- Open to interpretation
- Biased
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What are historical documents
Original documents that contain important historical information about a person, place or event
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What are the practical advantages and disadvantages of historical documents
+ Cheap
+ Time
+ Can be easy to access
- May not be specific to the research being conducted
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What are the ethical advantages and disadvantages of historical documents
+ No advantages
- Confidentiality
- Invasion of privacy
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What are the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of historical documents
+ In depth data
- Open to interpretation
- Unreliable
- Personal view
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What is prior research
Research that has been carried out in the same area or on the same topic
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What are the practical advantages and disadvantages of prior research
+ Cheap
+ Easy to access
+ Time
- May not be exactly the same in terms of research aims
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What are the ethical advantages and disadvantages of prior research
No ethical considerations
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What are the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of prior research
No theoretical considerations
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What is content analysis
- Formal content analysis is a quantitative approach to analysing mass media content
- involves developing a system of classification to analyse the key features of media sources
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What are the practical advantages and disadvantages of content analysis
+ Cheap
+ Easy to access
- Time
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What are the ethical advantages and disadvantages of content analysis
No ethical considerations
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What are the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of content analysis
+ Reliable
- Open to interpretation
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What is primary data
Collected first hand by the sociologist
Can be quantitative or qualitative
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What is secondary data
material that is already in existence prior to the research
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Advantages and disadvantages of primary data
+ Clear focus on the research purpose
+ More able to interpret and present the data
+ Control over the research sample to be studied
- Time consuming
- Problem of gaining enough funding
- Each method of primary data has its own disadvantages
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Advantages and disadvantages of secondary data
+ Already in existence
+ Cheap
+ Often based on large sample so more representative
- Can be very patchy in coverage
- Qualitative data unlikely to be representative
- The concepts employed and their operationalisation are beyond sociologists control
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