sociology- Research methods- Mrs Forde

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  • Created by: Kayley20
  • Created on: 29-05-18 18:32
what is primary data?
this is information collected by sociologists themselves for their own purpose- this purpose may be to obtain a first hand picture of a group or society, or to test a hypothesis
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what are some different methods for gathering primary data?
social surveys- written questionnaire or interview, participant observation, experiments
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what is an advantage of using primary data?
sociologists may be able to gather precisely the information they need to test their hypothesis. However, this can be time consuming and costly
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what is secondary data?
information that has been collected or created by someone else for their own purpose, but which the sociologists can then use
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what are some different methods for gathering secondary data?
official statistics- produced by government, documents- letters, emails etc
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Advantage of using secondary data?
it can be a quick and cheap way of doing research, since someone else has already produced the information
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Disadvantage of using secondary data?
those who produce it may not be interested in the same questions as sociologisys, and so secondary sources may not provide exactly the information that sociologists need
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what is quantitative data?
information in a numerical form such as official statistics on how many girls passed 5 or more GCSES, the percent of marriages ending in divorce or the number of people who are unemployed
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what is qualitative data?
This gives us a feel for what something is like- for example, what it feels like to get good GCSE results or for ones marriage to end in divorce- participant observation, in depth interviews
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what are the 5 practical issues?
time and money, requirements of funding bodies, personal skills and characteristics, subject matter and research opportunity
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how is time and money a practical issue?
large scale surveys may employ dozens of interviewers a data inputting staff and cost a great deal of money. A small scale project may involve a lone researcher using participant observation which may be cheaper but takes longer to complete
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why is requirements of funding bodies a practical issue?
research institutes, businesses and other organisations that provide the funding for research may require the results to be in a particular form
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why is personal skills and characteristics a practical issue?
every1 has different personal skills which may affect their ability to use different methods. For example, participant observation requires the ability to mix easily with others and observation skills which not everyone will have
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why is subject matter an practical issue?
may be harder to study a particular group or subject by one method than by another. It might prove difficult for a male sociologist to study an all female group by means of participant observation
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why is research opportunity a practical issue?
the opportunity to carry out research occurs unexpectedly meaning it may not be possible to use structured methods such as questionnaires which takes longer to prepare.
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what are the 5 ethical issues?
informed consent, confidentiality and privacy, harm to research participants, vulnerable groups, covert research
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why is infomrd consent an ethical issue?
p's should be offered the right to refuse to be involved, and the researcher should also tell them about all relevant aspects of the research so they can make a fully informed decision
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why is confidentiality and privacy an ethical issue?
researchers should keep the identity of research participants secret in order to help prevent possible negative effects on them. Researchers should also respect their privacy
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why is harm to research participants an ethical issue?
researchers need to be aware of the possible effects of their work on those who they study- researchers should anticipate and prevent such harm whenever possible
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why is vulnerable groups an ethical issue?
when studying children in schools- children and parents should have informed consent
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how is covert researhc an ethical issue?
covert researhc is when the reseachers identity and resech prupose are hidden fro the people being studied menaing the p's are deceived
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what are the 4 theoretical issues?
validity, reliability, representativeness and methodological perspective
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what is a valid method?
a valid method is one that produces a true or genuine picture of what something is really like. It allows the researcher to get closer to the truth- such as participant observation
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what is a replica?
a replica is an exact copy of something, so a reliable method is one which when repeated by another researcher gives the same results.
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what are some different methods for gathering primary data?

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social surveys- written questionnaire or interview, participant observation, experiments

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what is an advantage of using primary data?

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what is secondary data?

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what are some different methods for gathering secondary data?

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