Topic 4:sociological research methods

• Reliability


  Research that can be repeated and compared in other situations and contexts
• Validity


  Results paint a true picture of society, they are an accurate representation of reality
• Representativeness


  The group being studied (the sample) truly represents the target population
• Strengths of covert participant observations


  • The researcher observes every aspect of social life from the participants point of view, making the research very valid
  • Avoids the Hawthorne effect, as the group does not know they are being observed they behave naturally, increasing validity
  • Is often the only way of gaining important research about criminal or vulnerable groups of people
• Weaknesses of covert participant observations


  • Practical issues such as getting access to a gatekeeper may be difficult to overcome
  • Researchers might find themselves in danger or involved in criminal behaviour
  • The researcher may go native, being so influenced by the views of the group they are studying that their findings are biased and less valid
• Ethics


  Based upon the idea of what is right and wrong and standards of behaviour in research carried out by sociologists
• Ethical principles


  • Informed consent
  • Right to withdraw
  • Confidentiality and anonymity
• Strengths of overt participant observations


  • The researcher observes every aspect of social life from the participants point of view, making the research very valid
  • Trust can be built up allowing the researcher to find out a great deal of detail
  • The researcher can record information as they go rather than relying on their memory which reduces mistakes being made
• Weaknesses of overt participant observations


  • Hawthorne Effect: The researchers presence may make the group change their behaviour making the research less valid
  • The researcher can become very involved in the lives of the group they are observing, making them biased
  • The research is not reliable as each group being observed is unique
• Strengths of quantitative data

  • You can collect a large amount of data from a large sample
  • The data is easy to graph so patterns and trends can be seen and comparisons easily made
  • The data is very reliable, the study can easily be repeated
• Weaknesses of quantitative data


  • Lacks detailed information so hard to get a full picture
  • It is low in validity, the sociologist will not gain a true picture of society
  • Links between statistics do not always prove a cause
• Strengths of qualitative data


  • The research collected is very detailed and enables the researcher to get a full understanding
  • The detailed data collected in the respondents own words, means the information is very valid
  • The detailed data collected can help researches design further research questions
• Weaknesses of qualitative data


  • Qualitative data is time consuming and therefore expensive to collect
  • A small sample will not represent the target population, it will not be representative or fair
  • Often low in reliability, it is difficult to repeat a study
• Strengths of secondary data


  • It is already available meaning it is cheap and easy to collect
  • Content analysis has been a very useful method to study the media
• Weaknesses of secondary data


  • The data was collected by another group or organisation so may not be in the form needed by the sociologist
  • It may be hard to compare statistics or data collected in the past with that today
  • The data may have been collected in a biased way by the group or organisation who collected it
• Strengths of structured interviews


  • As all respondents answered the same questions, it is easier to collate results into statistics
  • The interviewer is able to explain the meaning of the questions and can encourage respondents to explain in more detail
  • The list of questions means the interview can be repeated with other groups in other locations
• Weaknesses of structured interviews


  • Interviews are time consuming and expensive as the interviewers have to be trained and paid
  • There is a risk of the interviewer biasing the research
• Strengths of unstructured interviews


  • The interviewer develops a strong rapport with the respondent as the discussion develops
  • The respondent is free to talk in their own words without being questioned
  • Unstructured interviews can provide very detailed information about the social life of groups we know little about
• Weaknesses of unstructured interviews


  • Each interview is unique with no standard questions, making it impossible to repeat the interviews with other people
• Random sampling


  Members of the population have an equal chance of being selected
• Systematic sampling


  The researcher decides on a pattern or system for the selection of the sample and then follows this
• Quota sampling


  A method of making sure that a truly representative sample is chosen, with the sample in proportion to the characteristics or traits of a population
• Stratified random sampling


  A type of quota sample where the sample frame is divided up into groups to represent the characteristics of the target population
• Snowball sampling


  The sample gets bigger as more and more people are introduced by the initial participants