research methods

• triangulation

  combines strengths and weaknesses
• qualitative data

  interviews or observations
• reliable research

  can be repeated to get the same results
• evaluating the research

  sociologist research is reviewed and evaluated by other sociologists
• collecting the data

  this is through questionnaires and observations
• analysing the data

  summarising the main findings
• selecting a sample

  rather then studying the whole population researchers select a sample
• hypothesis

  sets out what the researcher intends to investigate
• quantitative data

  surveys or sampling
• social surveys

  collect information about large target population using questionnaires or interviews
• questionnaire gives

  quantitative data
• weber

  status does not go hand in hand with income
• social structure

  makes up society e.g. family
• social stratification

  the way society is structured into categories
• secularisation

  the declining influence of religion in society
• social policies

  plans by a government to adress social problems
• independent variable 


  these aren’t affected by any other variable that studying measures
• statistics are a source of…

  secondary data
• reliable data

  data that another researcher would be able to get by using the exact same methods
• social surveys

  collects information using interviews and questionnaires
• secondary data sources include

  newspapers, diary’s
• dependent variable

  a variable that changes as a result of the independent variable
• ethical considerations

  sociologists must consider issues such as consent and data protection in order to conduct research
• ethnography

  research that involves the study of culture in everyday settings e.g boarding school
• quota sampling

  an interviewer must question an exact number of people from categories such as females
• interactionalism 


  how people interact on a daily basis
• attitude survey

  a social survey that measures respondents views on a particular issue
• trend

  the general direction on something
• theoretical perspective

  an approach such as marxism that provides a set of ideas to explain the social world
• random sampling

  each member of the population has the same chance of being selected for the study
• open question


  allows respondents to put forward their own answers
• closed question

  is a fixed choice question that requires respondent to chose a given answer
• longitudes study

  a research that involves studying the same group of people over a period of time
• focus group

  a type of group interview that focuses on one particular topic