QUANTITATIVE

• Quantitative research methods are favoured by positivists because they are objective and numerical, which means data can be cross-examined to generate cause and effect relationships, and generalisations can be made. Quantitative research methods include laboratory experiments, field experiments, questionnaires, structured interviews and official statistics.
• LAB EXPERIMENTS 


  Favoured by positivists, lab experiments test hypothesise in a controlled environment where the researcher changes the independent variable and measures the effect on the dependent variable.
• (+) LAB EXPERIMENTS 


  Highly reliable- the original experiment can specify precisely what steps were followed in the original experiments

  Can easily identify cause and effect relationships
• (-) LAB EXPERIMENTS 


  • Artificiality - may not reveal how people act in the real world
  • The Hawthorne effect
  • Ethical issues
  • Unrepresentative: the small-scale nature of lab experiments reduces their representativeness.It would be impossible to identify and/or control all the variables that might exert an influence on certain social issues (Eg. a child's education)
• FIELD EXPERIMENTS 


  Field experiments take place in the real social world, whereby the sociologist either creates a situation or adapts a real-life situation to their research purpose. Those involved are usually unaware of the research taking place.
• (+) FIELD EXPERIMENTS 


  • Less artificiality - field experiments are set in real-world situations.
  • Validity - people are unaware of the experimental situation (no Hawthorne effect) and are in their usual social environment, they will act normally.
• (-) FIELD EXPERIMENTS 


  • Ethical issues - involves carrying out an experiment on people without their informed consent.
  • Less control over variables than laboratory experiments.
  • Limited application - field experiments can only be applied to a limited number of social situations.
• QUESTIONNAIRES 


  Favoured by positivists, written or self-completed questionnaires are a form of social survey and can be distributed in a range of ways - notably, via post, email or handed out in person. Questionnaires are typically a list of pre-set questions that are closed-end questions with pre-coded answers.
• (+) QUESTIONNAIRES 


  • Practical - questionnaires are cheap and quick.
  • Quantifiable data.
  • Representative - reach a geographically widespread research sample.
  • Reliable - the questionnaire can be easily repeated due to how the questions are pre-set.
  • Limited ethical issues - the respondent is under no obligation to answer the question.
• (-) QUESTIONNAIRES 


  • Response rate - postal questionnaires in particular obtain a low response rate, which may hinder the representativity.
  • Low validity - People may be more willing to lie.
  • Unrepresentative  - You are likely to get a certain group of people who would be more willing to answer the questionnaire.
  • The interviewer isn’t there to ask follow up questions and explain questions the participants if they don’t understand.
• STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS 


  The positivist favoured method of structured interviews involve face-to-face or over-the-phone delivery of a questionnaire. In turn, they use a list of pre-set questions designed by the researcher and asked of all interviewees in the same way.
• (+) STRUCTURED INTS 


  • Practical - training interviewers and administration is easy and cheap.
  • Representative - can reach a geographically wide research sample.
  • Results are easily quantifiable because they use closed-ended questions with coded answers.
  • Reliable - the structured process provides a ‘recipe’ for reproducibility.
• (-) STRUCTURED INTS 


  Lack of validity: People may lie or exaggerate.
• OFFICIAL STATISTICS 


  Official statistics are quantitative data collected by government bodies. This method is favoured by positivists because data is quick, cheap and easy to access, and it covers a wide range of social issues.
• (+) OS


  • Practical - Cheap and easy to obtain.
  • Practical - easy to access.
  • Allow to cross-examine, and deduce cause and effect relationships.
  • Collected at regular interviews, so you can compare trends over time.
  • Representative -  often cover large groups of people.
  • Reliable - have to be filled out by law.
• (-) OS 


  • The government collects these for its own benefit, misinterpreted by sociologists.
  • Definitions may be different.
  • Unreliable - census coders may make errors, or people may fill them out incorrectly.