Research Methods

• Surveys/questionnaires - Practical strengths


  - Easy to collect large amounts of data

  - Data can be easy to analyse so that correlations can be found

  - Cheap to carry out
• Surveys/questionnaires - Practical weaknesses


  Big surveys can be time consuming to analyse
• Surveys/questionnaires - Ethical strengths


  - Easy to keep respondents' identities secret

  - Respondents are giving consent by filling in the questionnaire in the first place
• Surveys/questionnaires - Ethical weaknesses


  Not useful for researching sensitive topics
• Surveys/questionnaires - Theoretical strengths


  - Positivists love questionnaires because differences in answers reflect real differences between people

  - Bigger samples = easier to generalise
• Surveys/questionnaires - Theoretical weaknesses


  - Lack validity because they don't explain meanings behind behaviour or opinions

  - Some people may also lie
• Documents - Practical strengths


  - Can be used in conjunction with other methods such as questionnaires to supplement data

  
  

  - Useful if researcher can't collect first hand data e.g. due to financial or distance issues

  
  

  - Data from earlier research may save time
• Documents - Practical weaknesses


  - Can be time consuming to analyse

  - Historical documents may be difficult to analyse as meanings change over time
• Documents - Ethical strengths


  No ethical issues with historical or public documents
• Documents - Ethical weaknesses


  - There may be issues with publishing content from letters or diaries, especially if the author is deceased

  - The right to anonymity should be respected
• Documents - Theoretical strengths


  - Diaries offer a personal insight into behaviours and experiences, providing rich qualitative data

  
  

  - Diaries are more valid as they aren't intended for public reading

  
  

  - Documents often reflect interesting but atypical examples e.g. gang members
• Documents - Theoretical weaknesses


  - Historical documents may be neither accurate nor representative

  
  

  - Tend to be very personal so won't be representative enough for generalisation

  
  

  - No way of knowing how honest people have been and therefore how valid or biased the document is
• Structured interviews - Practical strengths


  - Quick and cheap to train interviewers (as there are only set questions)

  
  

  - Easy to analyse results and quantify them

  
  

  - Can cover high amounts of people
• Structured interviews - Practical weaknesses


  - Inflexible

  - Unsuitable for investigating unfamiliar topics
• Structured interviews - Ethical strengths


  - Participants consented beforehand

  - Factual questions, so unlikely to divulge into sensitive topics
• Structured interviews - Ethical weaknesses


  Unsuitable for sensitive topics
• Structured interviews - Theoretical strengths


  - Reliable due to the ease of standardising results

  
  

  - Higher representativeness

  
  

  - Positivists favour this because it is seen as objective and scientific
• Structured interviews - Theoretical weaknesses


  Data lacks depth as interviewees cannot expand on their answers
• Unstructured interviews - Practical strengths


  - Allows for interviewer to build rapport

  - Flexible

  - Useful for new topics of research (open ended and exploratory questions).
• Unstructured interviews - Practical weaknesses


  - Can be time consuming (as they are usually used in longitudinal studies)

  - Large amount of data to sort through after the study
• Unstructured interviews - Ethical strengths


  - Participants can pull out whenever they want

  - Useful for sensitive topics
• Unstructured interviews - Ethical weaknesses


  - Quotes used in a findings report means it's harder for participants to maintain confidentiality

  - Psychological harm can be caused if sensitive questions are asked
• Unstructured interviews - Theoretical strengths


  - Provides depth as answers tend to be rich in detail

  - Valid as the flexibility of questions allows for more truthful answers
• Unstructured interviews - Theoretical weaknesses


  - Small sample size = lack of representativeness

  
  

  - Low reliability (due to lack of standardised questions)

  
  

  - Interviewer bias more likely
• Group interviews - Practical strengths


  More time efficient
• Group interviews - Practical weaknesses


  None
• Group interviews - Ethical strengths


  None
• Group interviews - Ethical weaknesses


  There may be access issues e.g. in schools where they may not allow their students to be taken out of lessons
• Group interviews - Theoretical strengths


  Participants may feel more comfortable to open up when around others, increasing validity
• Group interviews - Theoretical weaknesses


  Alternatively peer pressure might make participants not say what they really want to say, increasing invalidity
• (Covert) Participant observation - Practical strengths


  Access is easily gained due to not having to ask permission
• (Covert) Participant observation - Practical weaknesses


  Cannot use any other methods
• (Covert) Participant observation - Ethical strengths


  None
• (Covert) Participant observation - Ethical weaknesses


  - The researcher is under a lot of psychological stress as they have to constantly maintain a front without accidentally exposing themselves

  
  

  - Participants cannot give informed consent

  
  

  - Researcher may have to engage in illegal activity to not blow their cover
• (Covert) Participant observation - Theoretical strengths


  No Hawthorne effect
• (Covert) Participant observation - Theoretical weaknesses


  None