Theoretical issues

• Validity

  • True or genuine picture of what something is really like.
  • It allows researcher to get close to the truth.
• Reliability

  • Can the study be repeated, and the results compared?
• Representativeness

  • Are the participants a typical cross section of the group we are studying?
  • Is the sample representative of the population? If so, we can generalise our findings.
• Methodological perspective

  • The view of what society is like and how we should study it.
  • Two contrasting perspectives: positivism & interpretivism.
  • Functionalists & Marxist: positivist approach.
  • Interactionist: interpretivist approach.