Comparative Methods

• Thought experiment


  A researcher who conceives circumstances and associates with these ideas, expectations, or supposition of a certain result, with no actual participants
• Secondary data


  Data that already exists which the sociologist uses to conduct their own research
• Types of data


  • primary / secondary
  • qualitative / quantitative
  • reliable / valid
• Thought experiments


  • Durkheim: le suicide
  • Weber – the protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism
• Practical advantages of using secondary data

  • Analysis can be time consuming
  • Researcher characteristics cannot affect participants
  • May be difficult to find data on some topics
  • Should be cheap as data is usually free
  • Researcher needs to be able to interpret and compare data
• Ethical advantages of using secondary data

  • Poses no ethical problems such as deceiving participants
• Theoretical advantages of using secondary data

  • No socially desirable answers as the data is secondary