AQA: A-level Sociology—> research methods

• Primary data


  Information collected by sociologists themselves for their own purposes
• Primary data collection methods

  • Social surveys
  • Participant observation
  • Experiments
• A big advantage of using primary data is that sociologists may be able to gather precisely the information they need to test their hypotheses
• A disadvantage of using primary data is that it can often be costly and time consuming
• Secondary data


  Information that has been collected or created by someone else for their own purposes, but which the sociologist can then use
• Sources of secondary data

  • Official statistics
  • Documents (letters, emails, diaries, photographs, official reports, novels, newspapers, the internet, television broadcasts)
• Using secondary data can be a quick and cheap way of doing research, since someone else has already produced the information
• A disadvantage of using secondary data is that those who produce it may not be interested in the same questions as sociologists, and so secondary sources may not provide exactly the information that sociologists need
• Quantitative data


  Information in a numerical form
• Examples of quantitative data


  • Official statistics on how many girls passed five or more GCSEs
  • Percentage of marriages ending in divorce
  • Number of people who are unemployed
  • Proportion of the electorate intending to vote for a particular party
  • How many people take holidays abroad
• Qualitative data


  Information that gives a feel for what something is like
• Examples of qualitative data


  • What it feels like to get good GCSE results
  • What it feels like for one's marriage to end in divorce
  • What it feels like to be a member of a particular group
• Evidence gathered by using participant observation aims to give us a sense of what it feels like to be a member of a particular group
• In-depth interviews that probe deeply into a person's views can give us an insight into what it is like to be in that person's shoes
• Types of data


  • Quantitative data
  • Qualitative data
• Examples of quantitative data sources

  • Questionnaires
  • Surveys
• Examples of qualitative data sources


  • Participant observation
  • Interviews
• Examples of secondary data sources

  • Official statistics
  • Documents
• Different methods and sources of data have different strengths and limitations that need to be evaluated when selecting which to use
• Practical issues to consider when selecting research methods

  • Time and money
  • Requirements of funding bodies
  • Personal skills and characteristics
  • Subject matter
  • Research opportunity
• Ethical issues


  Moral issues of right and wrong that the methods sociologists use to study people may raise
• Ethical principles for research

  • Informed consent
  • Confidentiality and privacy
  • Harm to research participants
  • Vulnerable groups
  • Covert research
• Covert research, where the researcher's identity and purpose are hidden from the people being studied, can create serious ethical problems
• Theoretical issues


  Questions about what we think society is like and whether we can obtain an accurate, truthful picture of it
• Validity


  The extent to which a method produces a true or genuine picture of what something is really like
• Many sociologists argue that qualitative methods such as participant observation give us a more valid or truthful account of what it is like to be a member of a group than quantitative methods such as questionnaires
• Reliability


  The extent to which a method, when repeated by another researcher, gives the same results
• Quantitative methods such as written questionnaires tend to produce more reliable results than qualitative methods such as unstructured interviews
• Representativeness


  Whether or not the people we study are a typical cross-section of the group we are interested in
• Large-scale quantitative surveys that use sophisticated sampling techniques to select their sample are more likely to produce representative data
• Representativeness refers to whether or not the people we study are a typical cross-section of the group we are interested in
• Positivists


  Prefer quantitative data, seek to discover patterns of behaviour and view sociology as a science
• Interpretivists


  Prefer qualitative data, seek to understand social actors meanings and reject the view that sociology can model it on the natural sciences
• Functionalists and Marxists often take a positivist approach. They see society as a large-scale (macro-level) system that shapes our behaviour. By contrast, interactionists take an interpretivist approach. They take a micro-level view of society focusing on small-scale, face-to-face interactions
• The sociologist's theoretical perspective is usually an important factor when choosing which method to use
• Practical and ethical factors usually impose constraints on the sociologist's choice of method
• The sociologist's choice of method may also be influenced by their political standpoint and the growth of knowledge in the field
• Sheer chance may also determine the method used
• Positivists prefer quantitative data, while interpretivists prefer qualitative data
• Positivists


  Believe society has an external, objective reality that exerts an influence on members, systematically shaping their behaviour