OCR Sociology - Which methods are used in sociological research?

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Validity
extent to which data is a true picture of the social reality of those being studied so that the research does what it intends to, important to see the meanings/motives they attack to their actions/actions of others, qualatative data is rich and detai
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Reliability
extent to which research can replicated by other sociologists and the same/similar results are obtained, factors relating to his include the sampling technique being transparent (difficult to replicate research if new sample pop. is very different fr
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Representativeness
extent to which sample being researched are a fair reflection of the target population and are typical of those in the target population, positivist sociologists are keen to obtain a representative sample so they can generalize their findings, to obt
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Generalizability
xtent to which it is safe to apply the findings from the research to the target population, in order to do this the sample needs to be both large enough and typical of the target population, positivists seek to make generalizations, but interpretivis
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Questionnaires
-Way of carrying out a social survey, used by positivists to collect large amounts of quantative data in a logical/scientific way that can be considered objective -Questionnaire is a set of standerdized questions, disrubted by hand/mail/internet, de
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Types of questions
-Closed: responses are pre-set -Open: tend to ask how people feel about something, or why they did something
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Attitudinal scale
ask respondents to rank their answers on a numerical/rating scale, the critical issue is the problem of phrases such as strongly agree/disagree when the meaning of "strong" will vary from person to person
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Pilot studies
used before questionnaire research, allow researcher to identify and resolve potential problems regarding the sample/access, method of distribution, wording of the questions, layout of questionnaire, language used, extent to which data obtained is wh
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Advantages of Questionnaires
-Relatively cheap/quick /easy -Pre-coded are easy to anaylse by computer - Completed by resondents themselves, little work invovled -People can complete in own time -Statistical data allow for comparisons in patterns/trends
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Disadvantages of questionnaires
-Socially constructed so reflect the values/interests of the researcher -Sample may end up skewed if the response rate is low, my mean results are not representative of the target population and it then becomes unsafe to make generilizations -Resp
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Advantages Mailed questionnaires
Can be distributed across a wide geogrpahic area (e.g the British Household Panel Survey collects data from 5500 households, or 10300 individuals from 250 areas across the UK)
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Disadvantages of Mailed questionnaires
Needs carefully-worded cover letter explaining purpose of questionnaire and guranteeing anoymity and confidentiality -Resercher can never be sure who has completed it -Response rate is often low, 40% is considered to be reasonable but it can be muc
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What are the 4 kinds of interviews?
-Stuctured interviews: Quantative data, used by positivists who prefer a more structured and scientific approach -Unstructured interviews: Qualitative data, used by interpretivists (find out about experiences/motives attached to people's actions) an
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Structured interviews
involves a set of pre-determined questions, all are closed, although occasionally there is a "catch-all" open question at the end where interviewees are asked if they have anything else they wish to see
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Advantages of structured interviews
-Interviewer has control -Data collected is likely reliable -Less refusals form face-to-face -Questions/procedures are pre-determined -Answers are easy to record/anaylse -Interviewer may be permitted to explain a question if it is unclear
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Disadvantages of structured interviews
-Interviewer effect can occur (interviewee changes their answer in response to interviewers characteristics such as age/ethnicity/gender) -If there is a team of researchers, all use different body language/tone likely to comprimise the study -If mo
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Unstructured interviews
is an open-ended informal interview, the interviwer will know what they want to cover in terms of topics but will allow a "conversation" to develop and give the interviewee some control of the situation
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Advantages of Unstructured interviews
-Can develop a relattionship with the interviewee based on trust, they may reveal more infromation making the data more valid (For this relationship to develop the interviewer needs good personal skills) -Interviewer may achieve verstehen (Max Weber
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Disadvantages of Unstructured interviews
-Interviewer needs to keep the interviewee focused without disrupting conversation flow/imposing own views on them -Cannot be repeated; they are unique encounters, which means the data will be low in reliability -"Conversation" will be guided by th
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what is the differences between Group interviews and focus groups?
A group interview usually covers quite a wide range of topics, whereas a focus group is usually concerned with a specific topic
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Semi-structured interviews
obtain both qualitatuive and quantative data -They are often used when resarchers wish to maximize the advantage of structured and unstructured interviews as well as minimizing their disadvantages
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Observation
Observation is carried out in a natural environment of those being studied, and this type of research is usually used by interpretivist sociologists who want to collect qualitative data from the point of view of those they are studying
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Observation Advantages
Researcher may observe the group in their natural environment and gain detailed, rich data -May gain insight into the group and the meanings they attach to activities -May obtain valid data as a result of the depth of the data -Mya g
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Observation Disadvantages
Need to gain access coudl take time, some sociologists gain access through a person already involved in the group or by an introduction from a "gatekeeper" -Time and place of the observation will be fixed -Research may take a long time and costs ma
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The Hawthorne effect
is where those who are being studied behave differently as a result of knowing they are being researched
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What needs to happen for Participant observation?
In order to carry out participant observation, the social characteristics of the researcher (gender/age/ethnicity/class) need to be close to those of the group, especially if the observation is to be covert
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Structured observation
This is a systematic observation which generates quantative data and is usually used when the researcher knows what they are looking for and wants tor ecord the frequency of what is being studied
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Overt participant observation Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages: -Researcher will be able to ask questions when appropriate, Barker (1984) did this when she studied the religious sect known as the moonies Disadvantages: -Hawthorne effect may change the behaviour of th
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Content analysis
Method of collecting quantative and qualitative data, it is primarily used to analyse the mass media and historical documents
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Formal content analysis
Statisical excercise in which previously identified categories are counted and "ticked off" on a pre-coded grid, sociologists have used this to look at sex roles in children books
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Audience analysis
way of finding out the audience response to media content, and it enables the researcher to check their own interpretations against those of the audience, and doing this overcomes the other approaches that the audience are passive recipients of media
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Content analysis Advantages
It is cheap; news coverage can be accessed at little or no cost from TV broadcasts, the internet and the newspapers/internet -Allows researchers to make comparisons, by quantifying results they can compare news reporting or represenati
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Content analysis disadvantages
Coding categories are socially constructed; they are subjective so may be affected by the researcher's political biases which will influence findings -Possible to misinterpret the meaning -Problem of understanding what messages rea
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Official Statistics
generally derived from comuplsory registration such as births and deaths, or large-scale government surveys such as the Labour Force Survey, and they usually cover all aspects of social life including education, employment, crime and health -Positiv
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Official Statistics Advantages
Easy to access from free government websites -Up to date, many are collected annually or biennially -Frequency of collection enables comparisons to be made year on year -Comparisons can be made between social groups -Patterns an
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Official Statistics disadvantages
-Based on questionnaires designed by the government; consequently questions may not be those a sociologist would choose to ask -Concepts have been operationalized by the government, so may reflect their priorities -No chance to prompt and probe res
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Mixed Methods
Positivists/Interpretivists have different views as to the best type of data to collect, but different methods are based on different sets of assumptions and there is no one true method that can be said to be the most "advantageous" in identifying th
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Facilitation
use of a method at the start of research to help formulate the research question or hypothesis which the rest of the research will then be based on
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Triangulation
use of more than one method, usually one or more that collects the quantitative/qualitative data to: Cross check data for accuracy, re-examine the data, cross check the data for consistency, counter the bias of the data of a single method and increas
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Mixed Methods advantages
-Increases the accuracy of the research data -Improves validity (if someone has been economical with the truth or even lied in response to a question, an unstructured observation or interview can reveal what they really think)
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Mixed Methods disadvantages
-Assumes there is a "truth" to be found -Different results could emerge from the different methods being used -Researchers may interpret results of the methods used in different ways -Even if the combination of methods being used seem to come to s
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Methdological Pluralism
refers to a mixed methods approach where methods are combined to provide a fuller and more detailed picture of a topic under investigation, often one method is used first and the results of this inform the way other methods are used, it is a strategy
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extent to which research can replicated by other sociologists and the same/similar results are obtained, factors relating to his include the sampling technique being transparent (difficult to replicate research if new sample pop. is very different fr

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Reliability

Card 3

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extent to which sample being researched are a fair reflection of the target population and are typical of those in the target population, positivist sociologists are keen to obtain a representative sample so they can generalize their findings, to obt

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Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

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xtent to which it is safe to apply the findings from the research to the target population, in order to do this the sample needs to be both large enough and typical of the target population, positivists seek to make generalizations, but interpretivis

Back

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Card 5

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-Way of carrying out a social survey, used by positivists to collect large amounts of quantative data in a logical/scientific way that can be considered objective -Questionnaire is a set of standerdized questions, disrubted by hand/mail/internet, de

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