Intro to research methods

• Subjective knowledge

  Based on personal experiences, opinion based
• Objective knowledge

  Researcher not allowing bias to impact research
• Primary data

  Collected first hand, e.g. diaries, photos, autobiography
• Secondary data

  Collected by other researchers, e.g. news articles, journals, surveys
• Reliable

  Can be repeated by different researcher and receive same/similar results
• Valid

  Gives a true idea of what's happening
• Sample

  Same group from target population
• Sampling frame

  Lists of people in a population that can take part
• Random sample

  People are chosen at random without a system, relying on chance of being representative
• Systematic sample

  Names are selected from a sampling frame at a regular interval
• Stratified sample

  Sample where population is divided into groups, members of each group are selected as a sample
• Practical

  Time; funding; response rate; "going native"; accessing unique groups; skill of researcher
• Ethical

  Consent; anonymity; physical and psychological harm; confidentiality; deception
• Theoretical

  Positivism VS Interpretivism; qualitative and quantitative; validity and reliability; representative sample; imposition problems; interviewer bias; verstehen; objectivity; Hawthorne effect