The process of research

• Hypothesis - a possible explanation that can be tested by collecting evidence to prove it true or false.
• hypothesis

  • gives our research direction
  • positivists favour hypothesis’ as they are useful in finding cause and effect.
  • it is a general statement
• aim

  • More general
  • what we intend to study
  • more open ended therefore favoured by interpretivists
• operationalising concepts

  • converting a sociological concept, such as class, into a measurable concept.
  • e.g asking participants what their job is will indicate class.
  • positivists focus more on operationalising concepts to test their hypotheses
• pilot study

  • a draft of a survey/observation/interview
  • to get rid of any issues e.g clarity of questions.
• samples

  • samples are a small frame of the type of participants a study may cover. they must be representative so that sociologists can generalise their findings.
• sampling techniques

  • random sampling - selected purely by chance.
  • systematic sampling - selecting every nth person
  • stratified sampling - breaks down the sample population by age, gender, class etc. sample is then created with the same proportions as sample frame.
  • quota sampling - population is stratified and researcher has to fill their quota of certain characteristics.
• practical reasons for unrepresentative sampling

  • social characteristics such as age and gender may be unknown.
  • may be impossible to create a sampling frame, e.g not all criminals are convicted.
  • potential respondents may refuse to participate.
• unrepresentative sampling methods

  • snowball sampling - asking other participants to share the research with people they know.
  • opportunity sampling - choosing individuals from the street, easily accessible participants.