sociology - research methods (case studies) - Flashcards in A Level and IB Sociology

Example of a lab experiment - ethical problems of lack of informed consent, deception and harm

Milgram's (1974) experiment into obedience to authority - lied to the participants about the research purpose, and was thought to have harmed them as many experienced anxiety, stress and even seizures

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example of a lab experiment - Hawthorne effect

Mayo's study at the Western Electric Company to research how conditions affect working productivity - he altered different variables, finding output improved, but continued to improve when conditions were worsened, showing the effect

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Example of field experiment - high validity, but has ethical problems due to lack of informed consent

Rosenhan's pseudopatient experiment (1973)
conducted to determine the validity of psychiatric diagnosis - researchers diagnosed with psychiatric disorders after pretending they had hallucinations and heard voices and acted normally after but workers treat

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Example of a comparative experiment - ability to compare and establish cause-and-effect relationships

Durkheim's study of suicide (1897) and the difference of Protestant and Catholics suicide rates - C had high levels of integration than P, so predicted the P would have higher suicide rates, he was right

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disadvantage example of questionnaire - low response rate

Hite's study of love in America sent out 100,000 questionnaires, only 4.5% were returned

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disadvantage - average response rate for postal questionnaires

10%

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Questionaires being unrepresentative

Schofield (1965) asked if the girl was a virgin for research, and she replied "no, not yet"

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advantage for group interviews

Willis' 'learning to labour' study (education topic) on the lads counter culture, he was able to get more valid observations as the boys felt more at ease in a group than being one-to-one

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practical advantages structured interviews - response rate

Young and Willmott approached 933 people in their initial sample, to research family structure in East London, and only 54 refused as it was a face-to-face interaction

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advantage of unstructured interviews - sensitivity and rapport

Dobash and Dobash studied domestic violence in women, able to gain more detailed results as they gained the women trust and interviewers were women

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disadvantage of unstructured interviews - invalidity

Oakley interviewed women about childbirth and maternity, but she found it hard to be detached and neutral as a mum

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disadvantage of unstructured interviews - unrepresentative

Becker studied the 'ideal pupil' (education) but only interviewed 60 teachers from the same area (Chicago), so it was a small sample and was unrepresentative

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disadvantage of interviews as a social interaction - status and power inequalities

Rich found that when adults interview children, the child feels the need to please the interviewer, thus affecting their answers and validity

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improving validity of interviews

Kinsey studied sexual behaviour, she asked questions rapidly so it would give the interviewees little time to think, sh also did a follow up 18 months ago

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getting in covert participant observation - making contact

Patrick (1973) was able to join a gang in Glasgow because he looked young and knew one of the gang members

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getting in covert participant observation - acceptance

Griffin (1962), a white man, had to take medication and use sun lamp treatments to change his skin colour to pass as black to be able to experience the impact of white racism first hand

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staying in covert participant observation - 'going native'

Punch's (1979) study of Amsterdam Police, he was accused of 'going native' as he began to act as a policeman by chasing and holding suspects, this meant that he relied on his memory to note down observations, but may not find things notable due not as w

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getting out of covert participant observation

leaving can be abrupt, e.g., Patrick did as he was disgusted + sickened by the actions + violence of the criminal gang
others may find that loyalty to the group prevents them from revealing all of their research, e.g., for fear of prosecution of a gang

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practical disadvantage of covert observation

Ditton (1977) studied theft among bread deliverymen, and he had to record his aberrations in toilets on toilet paper and also had to rely on is memory, this could have affected the validity and the participants eventually got suspicious

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example of overt participant observation

Whyte studied group of poor, inner city males in Chicago. even though he was older than the young gang members, he was accepted by them as he gained the cooperation of the gang leader. he even learnt Italian (their L1) to observe them in their natural set

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examples of official statistics

the census
crime survey of England and Wales
league tables (education topic)

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example of a public document

Black Report (1980) was a gov't report into the UK healthcare system, it concluded that inequalities in healthcare were due to other variables (not failings of NHS), e.g., diet, employment, income, housing

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Example of personal document

Thomas and Znaniecki (1919) used personal letters from Polish immigrants (alongside public documents like records) to study immigration and social change.

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example of a historical document

Laslett used Church parish records to study family structure in pre-industrial Britain

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scott's criteria for analysing documents - authenticity

Hitlers diaries were later proven to be fake

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scott's criteria for analysing documents - credibility

Thomas and Znaniecki's Polish immigrants may have lied or exaggerated their experiences in their letters, e.g., said life was better than it was to their friends and family

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scott's criteria for analysing documents - representativeness

certain groups may not produce personal documents so may be unrepresented, e.g., the illiterate are unlikely to keep diaries

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scott's criteria for analysing documents - meaning

Thomas and Znaniecki later admitted that some of their conclusions and interpretations weren't always from the documents

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