Methods in Context (copy)

What are practical issues?

1. time - Some methods take more time than others because of, for example, more detailed data being recorded. Research methods that take more time may lead to a smaller research sample size.

2. money - The money available to conduct the research affects the number of researchers, respondents and amount of research time. Equipment, travel and people's time are often not cheap.

3. access - Some groups of respondents and location are easier to access than others. For example, to enter a school to do research, permission is required.

What are ethical issues?

1. informed consent - Researchers should have the informed consent of their research subjects, because of the effects that the research may have on them.

2. confidentiality - Research subjects have a right to anonymity, so they should not be identifiable when the research is published.

3. psychological harm - Some research groups are more vulnerable to psychological harm than others (eg. children)

What are theoretical issues?

1. reliability

2. representativeness

3. validity

Advantages of 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

Disadvantages of lab experiments?

1. Artificiality - may not reveal how people act in the real world, any behaviour in these conditions may be artificial.

2. The Hawthorne effect - if people know they are being studied, they may act differently.

3. Ethical issues - the researcher needs informed consent of the participants - this may be difficult to obtain

4. Unrepresentative: the small-scale nature of lab experiments reduces their representativeness

5. 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)

Advantages of field experiments?

Less artificiality - field experiments are set in real-world situations.

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Validity - people are unaware of the experimental situation (no Hawthorne effect) and are in their usual social environment, they will act normally

Disadvantages of field experiments

• Ethical issues - involves carrying out an experiment on people without their informed consent

• Less control over variables

• Limited application - field experiments can only be applied to a limited number of social situations.

Advantages of questionnaires

1. Practical - questionnaires are cheap and quick

2. Quantifiable data

3. Representative - reach a geographically widespread research sample

4. Reliable - the questionnaire can be easily repeated due to how the questions are pre-set

5. Limited ethical issues - the respondent is under no obligation to answer the question

Disadvantages of questionnaires

1. Response rate - postal questionnaires, in particular, obtain a very low response rate, which may hinder the representativity.

2. Low validity - People may be more willing to lie.

3. Unrepresentative  - You are likely to get a certain group of people, for example, the unemployed or elderly that answer the questionnaire as many other people might be too busy, and so you won’t get a particularly representative sample.

4. The interviewer isn’t there to ask follow-up questions and explain questions the participants if they don’t understand

Advantages of structured interviews

Practical - training interviewers is easy and cheap

​Practical - Cheap and easy to administer

​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

Disadvantages of structured interviews

1. Lack of validity: the use of closed-ended and pre-coded answers may not fit what the interviewee wishes to say

2. Lack of validity: People may lie or exaggerate

Advantages of unstructured interviews

1. Rapport - the informality allows the interviewer to develop a relationship with the interviewee

2. Flexibility - the interviewer is not restricted to a fixed set of questions

3. Valid - they are flexible, due to how the conversation is not constrained by fixed questions - people can be more truthful

Disadvantages of unstructured interviews

• Practical - time consuming, due to how unstructured interviews are typically longer, and expensive due to training interviewers in sensitivity

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• Unrepresentative - due to small research samples, data obtained is not representative of the wider population

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• Not reliable - due to how the questions are open, they cannot be easily repeated by another researcher. Additionally, the respondent's ability to respond in the way they wish makes it impossible to clarify their responses.

Advantages of semi-structured interviews

• Large amount of detail generated.

• Fairly flexible and sensitive.

• Easier to analyse than unstructured interviews.

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Disadvantages of semi-structured interviews

• Can't guarantee honesty of participants.

• Cause and effect cannot be inferred.

• Flexibility of interview may lessen reliability.

• Open-ended questions are difficult to analyse.

• Difficult to compare answers.

Advantages of participant observation

1. Valid- groups are observed in a natural and authentic setting, therefore the data is more likely to be a true account of the group’s behaviour.

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2. Valid - data generate is richly detailed and offers insight into social behaviour.

Disadvantages of participant observation

Unreliable - there is no standardised system of measurement and cannot be replicated.

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Unrepresentative - most participant observations investigate small-scale groups that are not representative of the wider population.

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Not valid - the Hawthorne effect, due to how the observer is likely to affect the group's behaviour, and the researcher is at risk of ‘going native’, meaning the researcher over-identifies with the group.

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Ethical issues - it is difficult to ensure anonymity of participants.

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Practical issues - there are issues with getting into the group, staying in the group and/or leaving the group.

Advantages of non-participant oberservation

Valid- very limited risk of ‘going native’

Disadvantages of non-participant oberservation

Not reliable - each observation will be subjective, and therefore cannot be repeated.

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Not representative - involves a small-scale research sample.

Advantages of overt oberservations

• Less ethical issues than covert because the participants know they're being researched.

• Higher level of reliability than covert.

• The observer can openly take notes.

• Allows researcher to use interview methods too.

Disadvantages of overt observations

Practical - Time consuming.

​Lacks validity - Hawthorne effect.

​Less reliable - Difficult to repeat.

​Not always representative.

Advantages of covert observations

More valid than overt because there is lack of the Hawthorne effect.

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Research obtained is more valid because you have a first-hand insight.

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Find out more in-depth detail about why, who, where, when etc.

Disadvantages of covert observations

Ethical issues - it is immoral to deceive people.

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Researcher has to gain trust and acceptance (this may be time consuming)

Advantages of official statistics

Practical - cheap, easy to obtain and easy to access. E.g. the Office of National Statistic's website.

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Collected at regular interviews, so you can compare trends over time. E.g. the census is completed every 10 years.

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Representative - official statistics often cover large groups of people. E.g. crime statistics are compiled by police across the entire country.

Disadvantages of official statistics

The government collects these statistics for its own benefit, so they may not cover what sociologists specifically want to study.

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Definitions may be different. For example, what the government considers 'poverty may not be the same as a sociologist

Strengths of personal documents

Valid - Written for personal purposes so will have a high degree of validity and provide an in-depth and genuine insight into people's attitudes.

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Practical - They are cheap and save researcher's time.

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Illuminates many areas of social life.

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Can be used to confirm or question other interpretations and accounts.

Disadvantages of personal documents

Some groups are unlikely to produce personal documents such as letters and diaries and so their views aren't represented while those with time and literacy skills may be over represented.

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Personal documents such as letters are written with an audience in mind and may affect what is being recorded. Personal bias is likely to be present.

Strengths of historical documents

They allow comparisons over time (for example birth, death and marriage rates)

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They are useful when assessing the outcomes of various social policies (Eg. raising the school leaving age)

Weaknesses of historical documents

Un-representative - some documents may have been lost or destroyed

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The validity of the documents are open to question as they may have been written selectively

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The authenticity of a document is open to question as it might not have been written by the person it is attributed to, therefore undermining its reliability

Themes within MIC

Pupils (vulnerable group, may have difficulty understanding questions, influenced by peers)

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Teachers (want to look professional, and are often busy)

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Parents (hard to contact, have different levels of education themselves, want to appear as good parents)

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Schools (large, protected environment)

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Classrooms (small, protected environment)

Topics of MIC

Gender/ethnic/class differences in achievement

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Parents' attitudes towards school

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Completion of homework

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Labelling in classrooms