METHODS

• Access to a sample

  many situations where a researcher may be unable to observe

  need to locate the appropriate participants

  issues of access
• where does funding come from for research?

  research institutes, businesses or government
• what is quantitative data?

  information in numerical form
• what is qualitative data?


  non-numerical information, based on words pictures or observation/understanding
• who prefers positivist methods?

  functionalists, feminists and marxists

  (structural theories)
• who prefers interpretivist methodology?

  interactionists and postmodernists

  social action theories
• What methods do positivists prefer?

  quantitative methods
• what methods do interpretivists prefer?

  qualitative methods
• What practical factors influence the choice of method?

  Time and Money

  requirements of the funders

  researcher skills

  subject choice

  research opportunity
• what ethical factors influence choice of method?

  informed consent

  confidentiality/anonymity

  protection from harm

  effects on wider society

  covert research

  legality
• What theoretical factors influence choice of method?

  validity

  reliability

  representativeness
• What is primary data?

  data collected first hand for purpose of the research
• what is secondary data?

  data that someone else has collected for their own purposes
• What factors influence the choice of topic?

  societies values

  practical factors

  funding bodies

  sociologists perspective
• What is reliability?

  retesting to verify what you found is accurate and would produce the same results again

  preferred by Positivist
• what factors compromise reliability?

  availability

  researcher behaviour
• What is representativeness?

  asking a sample that is broad enough to represent the group you are trying to study
• What is validity?

  discovering honest and authentically true meanings behind human actions

  preferred by interpretivists
• How can validity be compromised during analysis?

  interpreting something wrong

  overt bias - selecting sections that support their view

  subconsciously selecting the wrong things