Practical Issues

• Practical Issues

  Time and money : different methods require different amounts of time and money. This may influence the sociologists choice .

  • Large scale surveys may employ dozens of interviewed and data inputting staff and a cost of great deal of money.
  • Researchers access to resources can be a major factor on determining which methods they employ.
  • Respected professor may have access to greater funding than a younger student
• Practical Issues

  Personal Skills and characteristics : Each sociologists possess different personal skills and his may affect their ability to use different methods (participant observation usually requires the ability to mix well with others as well as good powers of observation and recall.)

  • Not all sociologists have these qualities and so some may have difficulty using these methods. A brilliant sociology professor may not posses brilliant empathy skills
• Practical Issues

  Subject Matter : Much harder to study a particular group or subject by one method than by the other. For example it may prove difficult for a male sociologist to study an all female group by means of participant observation.
• Practical issues

  Access : refers to whether the researcher has the ability to approach enter or communicate with a particular individual

  • Some methods make access easier than other for example postal questionaire will go straight through the door or to email address .
  • if researcher wanted to observe deviants and criminals then access would be much more difficult as they would have to gain permission
• Practical Issues

  Target population: number and type of participants that could potentiality take part in study.

  • if researcher chooses to target a large number of people from a wide geographic area if they choose to use postal questionnaires