Choosing a method

• Primary data

  • Data collected directly by the researcher
  • Advantages - you decide what you ask, more specific for your aim
  • Disadvantages - time consuming and expensive
• Secondary data

  • Used by the researcher but collected or created by other people
  • Advantages - quicker and cheaper
  • Disadvantages - might be outdated or unreliable
• Reliability

  • The research is reliable if it can be repeated and gets the same results
• Validity

  • The research is valid if it can give a true or accurate picture of what is being studied
• Generalisability

  • The extent to which research can be generalised to fit the whole of society
• Representativeness

  • The extent in which research represents a wider cross section of a society
• Longitudinal studies

  • Done over an extended time period, typically months or years
  • Advantages - can compare research over time and can measure difficult concepts like social mobility
  • Disadvantages - could loose contact with sample and time consuming
• Random sampling

  • When everyone within the sampling frame has a chance of being sampled
  • A - Not biased, more representative and easy to carry out
  • D - Could get a skewed sample and hard to carry out if you don't already have a list of possible names
• Stratified sampling

  • Sampling frame can be divided into groups then you take % sample from each group
  • A - Most representative of sample frame
  • D - complex and time consuming
• Systematic sampling

  • When there is a regular pattern, for example choosing every 10th person in your sample frame for your sample
  • A - reduces bias, more representative and easy
  • D - Hard if you don't already have a list of names
• Cluster sampling

  • The population is spread out over a large area, like the whole of Britain for the census
  • A - less time consuming
  • D - Doesn't take subcultures into account
• Snowball sampling

  • Finding one respondent and getting them to put you in touch with one or several more respondents
  • A - Good for reaching people who don't want to be sampled and less work
  • D - Might be hard to find someone willing enough and not representative as its just people the first person knows