Research methods

• Representativeness

  The extent to which the sample being researched are a fair reflection of the target population and are typical of those in the target population
• Types of data:

  • primary data
  • secondary data
  • quantitave data
  • qualititive data
• Primary data is data that is gathered first hand by the sociologist
• Secondary data is data that has already been collected by others but is available to sociologists
• Stages in the research process

  • choice of topic
  • funding
  • the relationship between sociology and social policy
  • how much money will affect research
  • how much time will affect research
  • access to participants
  • key issues and concepts- ethics
• Choice of topic

  All sociologists tend to be interested in contemporary issues and debates so they research topics they are interested in and that fits in with their ideas
• Funding

  • The economic and social research council -might fund if research help economy
  • The sutton trust -fund for education
  • The rowntree foundation -fund for poverty
  • Some universitys
  • The fawcett society -fund for women issues
  • The runnymede trust -fund for ethnicity
• The relationship between sociology and social policy

  Your hoping governments will act on your sociological research and it will make a difference
• How much money will affect research

  • lots of funding -primary research
  • less funding - may have to stick to secondary research
• How much time will affect research

  • lots of time -unstructured interviews, open ended questionnaires and observation
  • lack of time -structured interviews and closed questions
• Triangulation - more than one method being used, perhaps one method to gain qualitative data and another to get quantitative data.
• Reflexivity is the act of a researcher consistently reflecting on the extent to which they themselves are impacting the research and findings.