Part A *

• Sociological problems

  something that sociologists determine as normal (eg. marriage) or deviant (eg. divorce)
• Social problems

  things in society that cause misery, anxiety, or pain
• Secondary data types

  • official - numerical data collected by the Government
  • unofficial - quantitative data collected by NGOs
  • media products - data collected from TV, news, radio etc.
• Data types

  • investigator - multiple researchers involved
  • theory - varied theoretical perspectives used
  • methodological - varied methodologies used to approach the same topic
• Quota sampling

  breaks down society into sub-sections to gather specific data

  • pros - cheap, representative
  • cons - bias in selection process
• Stratified sampling

  divided population into small groups (strata)

  • pros - precise estimates, quick
  • cons - difficult to analyse, time-consuming
• factors influencing research

  • cost
  • time
  • subject matter (research topic)
• sampling types

  • snowball
  • volunteer
  • opportunity
  • systematic
  • random
  • stratified
  • quota
  • purposive
• Venkatesh

  gaining a gatekeepers trust will allow a researcher to gain reliable knowledge