definitions

• Primary?


  Collected by sociologists themselves
• Secondary?


  Information used from sources that already exist
• Sample?


  a smaller sub-group drawn from the wider group under investigation
• Reliability?


  producing the same results when repeated using identical methods and procedures
• Validity?


  Research method able to gather a true and genuine picture of the issue under investigatoin
• Practical?


  Issues impacting how research will be done - time, money, access to participants, skills needed
• Ethical?


  Moral issues of right and wrong and whether research may result in harm
• Positivism?


  Sociology should model its approach on the natural sciences to produce objective, true, scientific knowledge of society
• Interpretivism?


  Scientific approach is inappropriate for the study of humans. We need to understand society by interpreting meanings of actions
• Positivists prefer?


  Quantitative methods

  • experiments
  • questionnaires
  • structured interviews
  • analysis of official statistics
• Interpretivists prefer?


  Qualitative methods

  • unstructured interviews
  • participant observation
  • analysis of personal documents
• Practical factors?


  • Time
  • money
  • Requirements of funding bodies
  • personal skills
  • subject matter of the study
  • access
• Ethical factors?

  • informed consent
  • confidentiality and privacy
  • harmful effects
  • vulnerable groups
  • covert methods
• Theoretical factors?


  • reliability
  • validity
  • representativeness
• Covert observation?

  When the researcher's methods and motives are hidden and subjects don't know they're being observed
• Overt observation?

  When the researcher's subjects consent and are aware that they are being studied
• Participant observation?

  When the researcher assimilates into and joins in the actions of the subjects being studied
• Non-participant observation?

  When the researcher observes from afar and does not directly engage with the subject
• Structured observation?

  When the researcher looks for certain behaviours and puts these into categories
• Unstructured observation?

  When the researcher gathers information in all and any ways they can without specific aim