research methods- education

• what is primary data?

  information collected by sociologists themselves for their purposes. e.g questionnaires, interviews and observations.
• what is a strength of primary data

  sociologists may be able to gather precise information they need to test their hypothesis.
• weaknesses of primary data

  be costly and time consuming
• what is secondary data?

  information that has been collected or created by someone else for their own purpose, but sociologists can then use. for example, official stats and documents
• what is quantitative data?

  information in a numerical form. E.g official stats on how many girls passed five or more GCSEs.
• what is qualitative data?


  non-numerical data, usually comes in the form of words and images. E.g what it feels like getting good GCSE results.
• what are the practical issues of research methods

  time and money

  requirements of funding bodies

  personal skills and characteristics

  subject matter

  research opportunity
• how is time and money a practical issue

  Different methods require different amount of time and money and this may influence the sociologists choice.

  Time available- some methods are more suitable if sociologists only have a limited time period in which to carry out the research

  cost- some methods can be expensive; e.g unstructured interviews and observations can be more costly than postal questionnaires and secondary data.
• how are requirements of funding bodies a practical issue?

  research institutes that provide the funding for research may require the results to be in a particular form. This means that sociologists will have to use a method capable of producing such data, e.g questionnaires or structured interviews.
• how are personal skills and characteristics practical issues?

  Each sociologists have different personal skills and this may affect their ability to use different methods. pps observations require the ability to mix in with others and being able to observe and recall.

  depth interviews require to have the ability to establish a relationship of trust and empathy with the interviewee.

  not all sociologists have these qualities and may have difficulties using these methods
• how is subject matter a practical issue

  It may be harder to study a particular group or subject by one method than another. If it is sensitive or potentially embarrassing then it may rule out face to face methods.
• how is the research opportunity a practical issue

  sometimes the opportunity to carry out research occurs unexpectedly, so it may not be possible to use structured methods such as questionnaires and structured interviews as they take long to prepare. however, the researcher might have been able to set up the research opportunity carefully before and have plenty of time to select their methods.
• what are the ethical issues of research methods?

  informed consent

  confidentiality and privacy

  harm to pps

  vulnerable groups

  covert reseach
• how is informed consent an ethical issue

  pps should be offered the right to refuse to be involved. researcher should tell them about relevant aspects so a fully informed decision can be made. consent should be obtained before the research begins.
• how is confidentiality and privacy an ethical issue.

  Researchers should keep the identity of pps secret to prevent negative effects on them. The pps privacy should be respected, and personal information should be kept confidential.
• how is harm to pps an ethical issue

  researchers need to be aware of the possible effects of their work on the pps. researchers should anticipate and prevent harm.
• how is vulnerable groups an ethical issue

  Care should be taken when pps are vulnerable because of their age, disability, physical/mental health.

  E.g. studying children, consent from both the children and parents should be obtained, and provide information children understand
• how is covert research an ethical issue?

  covert research is when the reseachers identity and research purpose are hidden from the pps, which can lead to ethical problems; decieving of pps to gain information.