Research Methods - Sociology

• Carrying out Sociological research?

  Choose a topic

  Create hypothesis

  Conduct research

  Adopt a Methodology (perspective, research and data)

  Analyse data

  Observe hypothesis and evaluate
• What is the Aim of research methods/ creating studies?

  • To gather information - including stats or sociological facts such as attitudes towards marriage
  • To make correlations - explore relationships between certain phenomena
• What are different types of data?

  Quantitative data - statistical data

  Qualitative data - non-numerical data

  Primary data - Collected directly by the researchers

  Secondary data- Sources which are used by sociologists but have been collected by other researchers
• Evaluating data examples?

  • Reliability - Consistency in measurement over time
  • Validity - How far it gives a true picture of what is being studied
  • Representativeness - Does sample represent the target population being studied?
  • Generalisability - Can the findings be generalised beyond the research setting
  • Objectivity - attempt to ensure their own values and beliefs don’t influence the research and its findings
• What are practical issues of research?

  • Values - researchers values may impact the reasearch
  • Funding and timing - lack of funding limits the amount of time and detail the investigation has
  • Academic specialism and career progression - some researchers might be more concerned with furthering their career than the actual study
  • Ethical issues
• What are research ethics?

  • Choice of Topic - Needs to be careful that the topic choice doesn’t confirm peoples’ prejudices to certain people
  • Choice of Group - Difficulty in gaining access to certain groups. Often the least powerful in society are the staple of sociological research
  • Effects of people being studied - Pyschological and social effects of participants‘ needs to be considered.
• What are other research ethics?

  • Effects on Society- Participants may not wish information to be discussed or shared.
  • Issues of legality and Immorality - Sociologists may be drawn into situations where they commit crime or deviant acts (Tearoom trade Laud Humphrey’s)
• Humphrey’s (1970) - Tearoom trade

  • Humphrey’s stationed himself in ‘tearooms’ and offered to serve as watchqueens - a individual who keeps watch and coughs when a police or a stranger passed by
  • He was the role of watch queen for homosexuals to commit indecent acts in public which was illegal
  • Humphrey’s wanted to gain a objective understanding of who these men are and what motivates them to seek sexual gratification
• Positivism

  • Assumes that society has objective social facts
  • society’s exerts influence on its members
  • Quantitative data
  • Objectivity
• Interpretivism

  • Reality is constructed through the meanings created by individuals
  • Our actions are the result of our own meanings not external forces
  • Qualitative data
  • Subjective meaning
• Bandura (1963) - Bobo Doll experiment

  • Children observed behaviour of an adult towards a bobo doll and research shows that the children were mimicking the aggressive behaviour being presented
  • This can cause psychological harm to the children and has been criticised by sociologists
• What is random Sampling/Picking at random

  • An example would be drawing names out of a hat or using a random generator
  • This is easy because it is quick and can be performed by a computer
  • However you can end up with an unrepresentative sample
• What is Systematic sampling?

  • Every nth person from a list
  • An example would be picking every 10th person on a list
  • it is very quick and easy to carry out
  • However this method can be unrepresentative depending on how the list is organised
• Stratified Sampling

  • 50% males , 50% females
  • This method attempts to make the sample as representative as possible
  • Sample would be divided into a number of smaller groups and individuals are drawn from random from these groups
• Volunteer Sampling


  • Where participants choose to join the research.
  • Participant research doesn’t generate a representative sample, so wouldnt be the preferred choice as the generalisability decreases
• Snowball Sampling

  • Begino with one person, ask them to suggest someone else to interview
  • Researchers might find a few participants, and ask them to find more participants and so on
  • This is useful when a sample is difficult to obtain, snowball would be an efficient method to use
• Quantitative Research Methods

  • Case studies - highly detailed study of situations/individuals
  • Experiments - tend to not be carried out
  • Hard to create normal life in an artificial setting/ many ethical issues/ experiment may influence the behaviour being observed
  • Comparative research
• Non -participant observation

  • The researcher observes the group or event without taking part in it. For example, they may use a two-way mirror to observe children playing.
• Participant Observation

  • The researcher actually takes part in an event or the everyday life of the group while observing it.
• Overt Observation

  • the researcher makes their true identity and purpose known to those being studied
• Covert Observation

  • the study is carried out ‘under cover’. The researcher’s identity and purpose are concealed.
• Two main issues when conducting a participant observation study?


  • Getting in, staying in and getting out of the group being studied
  • Whether to use overt and covert observation
• Covert Participant Observation

  Laud Humphries (1975)

  • studied homosexual activity in public toilets. He pretended to be a gay voyeur.
  • he was able to gain access and a true insight into the homosexual activity in public toilets however, there are many issues
  • deception
  • consent
  • immoral or illegal activity
• Covert Participant Observation

  • Amy Flowers (1998) got a job as a telephone sex line worker and studied the ways in which the women learned to mask their feelings and emotions when talking to clients. Neither employees nor managers knew about her research.
  • lack of confidentiality
  • lack of consent
  • deception
• Getting in - Patrick (1973)

  James Patrick (1973) was able to join a Glasgow gang because he looked quite young and knew one of its members having taught him in a young offenders institution.

  • he didn’t use a real identity but he had a teacher-student relationship with a gang member
  • he gained access
  • bias / lack of objectivity and impartiality as he had a relationship with a member
  • partaking in illegal activity is unethical
• Getting in - Fairhurst (1977)


  Eileen Fairhurst (1977) found herself hospitalised by back trouble and used the opportunity to conduct a study on being a patient.

  • the hospital was unaware she was conducting a study
  • easy access due to her circumstances
  • deception - deceiving the hospital workers
  • consent - she didn’t receive consent for the study
  • confidentiality (breach of doctor-patient confidentiality)
• Getting in - Thornton (1995) 


  Sarah Thornton (1995) did with her Kate in her study of the clubbing and the rave scene. Sometimes, though, the researcher’s age, gender, class or ethnicity may prove an obstacle. Thornton found her age and nationality a barrier.

  • covert - people were unaware of her identity and purpose
  • she wasn’t completely successful in gaining access
  • she didn’t match the characteristics required to be accepted into the community she was studying
  • due to drug use and excess alcohol consumption harm could be caused
  • illegal activities in the rave scene
  • deception
  • confidentiality
• Staying in - Punch (1979)


  Punch (1979) found that in striving to be accepted by the tightly-knit patrol group he was studying, over-identified with them, even acting as a ‘policeman’ himself – chasing and holding suspects, searching houses, cars and people and shouting at people who abused his police ‘colleagues’.
• Getting out - Patrick (1973)


  • Patrick (1973) was sickened by the violence he abandoned the study abruptly.
• Overt Participant Observation -Mirza and Raey (2000)?


  Mirza and Reay (2000) studied two African-Caribbean ‘supplementary’ schools, run by the African-Caribbean-origin Participant observation 3 community for their children. The researchers attended and observed the classes (as well as using in-depth interviews)

  • impartial and objective
  • the knowledge that they were being observed could give rise
• Overt Participant Observation- Stephen Lyng (1990)


  studied ‘high risk groups (sky divers and motorcyclists) to find out why they took part in these activities. Lyng never hid the fact he was an academic but joined in with all the dangerous activities.

  • high risk / dangerous activity could cause harm (ethical issue)
  • no deceit
  • building rapport
• Overt Participant - Getting in Polsky (1971)


  Polsky (1971) - who was a good pool player himself, found his skill useful in gaining entry to the world of the poolroom hustler.

  • immoral / illegal - he earns money throughout the experiment
• Getting In- Venkatesh (2009)

  How was Venkatesh able to gain access to the “Black Kings”?

  • the gang leader knew he was a researcher easy access
  • he may have participated in illegal / immoral activity
  • deceit - other gang members didn’t know he was a researcher
  • he was able to gain access and a true insight into the gang activity
  • ethical issue of harm as gangs are often violent
• Getting in - Liewbow (1967)

  Elliot Liebow (1967) Succeeded in gaining acceptance by a black street-corner gang in Washington DC.

  • illegal / immoral activity
  • Breaking segregation laws
• Getting in - Howard Griffin (1962)


  • Howard Griffin (1962) was a white man who in 1959 used medication and sun lamp treatments to change the colour of his skin and pass as a black man. He then travelled around the deep south of the USA experiencing first hand the impact of white racism.
• Staying in - Downey’s and Rock (2011)


  • Downes and Rock (2011) ‘Participant-observers try to perform a most intricate feat. They are required to reach the probably unattainable state of one who is both insider and outsider, a person who sees a social world from within it in the manner of a member, yet who also stands apart andanalyses it in the manner of a stranger.’
• Staying in- Whyte (1955)


  • found that when he returned to Harvard University after his research, he was tongue-tied and unable to communicate with fellow academics.
• Practical Issues

  Reduces the risk of altering people’s behaviour. Humphreys (1970) ‘There is only one way to watch highly discreditable behaviour and that is to pretend to be in the same boat with those engaging in it.’

  A chance of your cover being blown – See Patrick (1973) on pg. 139 Unable to take notes openly – Ditton (1977) studying theft among bread deliverymen, had to use toilets as a place for recording their observations. This eventually aroused suspicion.
• Ethical Issues

  • Deception in covert participant observations breaches the ethical code of informed consent
  • Researcher may have to participate in immoral or illegal activities – Humphreys (1970) and Patrick (1973) Researcher may witness activities, they may have a legal or moral duty to report or to intervene. Venkatesh (2009) The ‘Black Kings’ were a gang who sold crack cocaine.
• Advantages and disadvantages of participant observation - Theoretical disadvantage

  • low degree of reliability. It would be almost impossible for another researcher to repeat given that a participant observation study relies on the personal skills and characteristics of the lone researcher
  • low degree of representativeness. The groups used in participant observation studies are usually unrepresentative, because they are accessed through snowball sampling and thus haphazardly selected.