Research Methods

• why do sociologists conduct research?

  to make their research more valid

  to use methods that are reliable

  to use a representative sample and make their results generalisable

  to be objective and avoid bias
• what are sociologists main aim in conducting research?

  explain social phenomena (e.g increase in crime rates amongst a certain group)

  want to achieve the best explanation possible
• types of research
• what is primary data

  first hand collected data through personal experiences or evidence
• advantages of primary data

  its up to date and recent

  can be as reliable as possible

  valid results

  enables accurate trends to be seen
• disadvantages of primary data

  
  

  can't always get access

  can have researcher bias

  expensive

  time consuming

  can be dangerous
• examples of primary data

  focus groups

  observations

  surveys

  interviews
• what is secondary data

  the information already exists
• advantages of secondary data

  quick and easy to collect

  study past events, compare to the present

  saves money

  doesn't need to be professional

  another perspective
• disadvantages of secondary data

  may not have validity

  methods may not be reliable

  may not be authentic information
• secondary data examples

  newspaper

  diaries

  government statistics

  ethnographic published research

  online data base
• what is qualitative data?

  is a contextual data that is often presented in written verbal or visual formats and therefore open to interpretation. it offers researchers more of an insight (verstehen) into the lives of others
• advantages of qualitative data

  can gain valid results but not gained from reliable methods

  detailed description of behaviour

  compare viewpoints across time and revealing changes in social attitudes

  rapport (build of trust)
• disadvantages of qualitative data

  unreliable( difficult to repeat)

  not representative ( small scale)

  subjective

  open to interpretation
• examples of qualitative methods

  • participant observation
  • unstructured interviews
  • questionnaires with open questions
  • personal documents
  • case studies

  ethnographic approaches
• what is quantitative data?

  is data that is able to be presented in numerical form and is more objective in nature. it can be analysed and conclusions drawn are likely to be reliable.
• advantages of quantitative data

  reliable

  establish cause and effect relationships - (easy to analyse)

  large sample ( generalisable)

  objective no influenced results

  allows for testing of a hypothesis
• disadvantages of quantitative data

  not valid

  unable to see the causes

  can be politically biased

  data can be manipulated

  lacks verstehen
• examples of quantitative methods

  experiments

  questionnaires with closed questions

  structured interviews

  official statistics

  content analysis

  non-participant structured observations
• evaluative concepts
• what is ethics?

  Moral principles or values that guide behaviour. it is beliefs about what is right and wrong. in terms of research ethics are the moral principles which guide research
• researchers may find their research rejected if they ignore ethical guidelines.
• participants in studies should have given fully-informed consent. this makes covert studies questionable

  no participants should be harmed, either physically or through being distressed

  participants confidentially should be respected, so in any publications there should be no details that identify them

  sociologists should not break the law or be present when others are doing so
• reliability (consistency and repeatability of the method)

  positivists argue the research would follow the same procedure despite the circumstances. the consistency is an advantage because it allows comparisons of the results, allowing the researcher to find trends and patterns. this allows social factors to be drawn . Positivists find this important as they feel humans are predictable and thus patterns and trends will be generalisable.
• positivists use social surveys, questionnaires and other forms of structured investigation for the need of reliability in research techniques. positivists consider participant observation and unstructured interviews unreliable because they cannot be repeated or checked bias. they results are never comparable, thus patterns and trends cannot be found. without this comparability the results are meaningless.
• validity refers to the question of how authentic and accurate the data produced is. the aim of any research method is to 'get to the truth' of a social phenomenon and to generate accurate data.
• interpretivists believe the question of validity has to be answered by using methods such as participant observation or unstructured interviews. positivits methods that are favoured are rejected because they don't step into the meaning of each person you are studying. this lack of interaction means that the results lack depth, empathy and verstehen.
• Representative (sample)

  positivists believe this must be representative, or typical of the whole group

  to be representative, the characteristics of the sample need to be the same as for the whole membership of that phenomenon

  the researcher can make generalisation with a representative sample -

  (e.g they claim what is true for a smaller sample group is likely to be true for the whole group)

  interpretivits don't believe humans are predictable and can never be generalised so they do not strive for representativeness, instead prioritising fit for purpose sampling such as purposive sampling.
• practical issues

  time: ethnography is the most time consuming method while structured observation is quicker. to obtain representative sample interviewers need to approach a wide range of people. time lags, are also significant

  cost: postage and travel may be costly and is loss of earning power if a study takes many months

  access: may be difficult to get permission
• positivists

  see the process of studying society as a science, repeating research, generating statistics, numbers, trends, ratios and comparisons that are in reliability and objectivity. these findings can be turned into laws. can remain value free and objective. society can then be understood, predicted and controlled.
• positivists(reliability)


  to do research consistently, however many times the research is repeated. if the question means different things to different people then it is not reliable as it can be interpreted differently and generates inconsistent answers. all completed questionnaires or interviews must be the same. a reliable method is a repeatable method that gives results that can be compared
• interpretivist( anti-positivists)


  argue that the study of society as a science is not possible as the things in it (people) are not identical and cannot be treated the same. to assume that they all behave in a similar manner like pieces of coal or certain chemicals is fundamentally wrong. humans have emotions and passions which make them individually different. a different approach is needed to gain a 'true' understanding; to discover an individual's meanings experiences and reasons for behaviour, an in-depth enquiry as to why individuals behaved as they did. produces valid findings
• interpretivist(validity)


  the ability to find out what the researcher was supposed to find out; to produce the information that is required. (the truth) researchers will interpret the findings in different ways so that the conclusions may be subjective. this is unavoidable, claim anti-positivists. the real aim should be to experience the social world of the people you are studying; to develop empathy with them and put yourself in their 'shoes' (verstehen)
• interpretivists( qualitative methods) 


  the research focuses on interpreting meaning and feelings and is expressed in words rather then numbers
• positivists(quantitative methods)


  the research focuses on measurement and the collection of numerical data that reflect their belief in a scientific approach. by using scientific quantitative data the researcher can generate cause and effect relationships
• factors that influence a research topic

  researchers theoretical perspective e.g positivists or interpretivits

  societal values

  funding body (who is paying)

  accessibility of research participants e.g can you access them?

  can you get hold of statistics?
• designing research 


  aim: creating a single research question to focus their research- should be value free

  hypothesis: a statement which makes a predication- it usually a relationship between two factors

  operationalisation: vague concepts need to be measurable. can't research something if you can't measure it. measuring the concept with something else liked to it is called an indicator

  detecting bias: by conducting a pilot study and respondent validation
• sampling 


  where every possible participant has an equal chance of being chosen:

  • random sampling
  • systematic
  • stratified

  market researcher :

  • quota sampling

  others:

  snowball

  volunteer opportunity
• sampling 2


  systematic sampling: every nth on the list
• stratified sampling: divided on known criteria but you have to know the % of characteristics in population