The sociological approaches and research methods - keywords

Society

A group of people who share a culture or a way of life.

Culture

The whole way of life of a particular society or social group. Culture includes the values, norms, beliefs, knowledge, skills and language of the group or society.

Social Structures

The different 'parts' or institutions that make up society, such as families, education and stratification systems.

Social processes

Processes in a society that involve interaction between individuals, groups and social structures. The process of socialisation, for example, involves interaction between individual and social structures such as families and education.

Social issues

Issues that affect groups, communities, societies and people's lives. Examples include the quality of parenting and care of the elderly.

Values

Beliefs and ideas about what is seen as desirable or worth striving for in a society. Values such as privacy and respect for life provide general guidelines for behaviour.

Norms

The rules that define appropriate and expect behaviour in particular social settings such as cinemas or aeroplanes.

Sanctions

Rewards or punishments to those who conform to or break the rules.

Socialisation

The process through which people learn the culture, norms, and values of the group or society they were born into.

Primary socialisation

The process of early childhood learning, usually in families, during which babies and children acquire the basic behaviour patterns language and skills they need in later life

Agencies of Primary

groups in society such as families that are responsible for early childhood learning and socialisation

Secondary socialisation

Through this process, which begins during later childhood and continues throughout our adult lives, we learn society's norms and values. Agencies of secondary socialisation include peer groups, religions and the mass media.

Agencies of secondary socialisation

Groups and organisations such as peer groups, religions and the mass media through which people learn society's norms and values

Mass media

Forms of communication (media) that reach large (mass) audiences, including newspapers, magazines, books, television, cinema and the internet.

Marxism

A sociological approach that draws on the ideas of Karl Marx and applies them to modern capitalist societies.

Capitalism

An economic system that generates extreme wealth for the bourgeoisie.

Social changes

An alternation in social structures, attitudes, behaviour, relationships, norms, values, and so on.

Means of production

The raw materials and tools used in the production process. Under capitalism, these include property, factories and machinery.

Capitalist

Can refer to capitalism as an economic system; can also refer to members of the bourgeoisie (capitalists who form the ruling class).

Bourgeoisie

the ruling class, including merchants, industrialists, and professional people. Own the means of production (factories, land, big businesses) and exploit proletariat in order to make huge profits.

Proletariat

Marx's term for the exploited class, the mass of workers who do not own the means of production

Petty bourgeoisie

A social class made up of owners of small businesses.

Lumpenproletariat

A social class made up of the 'drop outs' and criminals of society

Class struggle

In classless society, class conflict occurs between the bourgeoisie (the owners of the means for production) and the proletariat who have competing interests.

Communism

A system involving communal ownership rather than individual ownership or private property.

Classless society

A society in which there is no private ownership of property and so no clearly structured social classes.

Functionalism

Sociological approach that examines society structures (such as the family of the education system and religion) in terms of the functions performed for the continuation of society and for individuals

Social cohesion

The idea that people in a society should have a shared set of values and attitudes that help to unite society and to bring people together.

Census

A questionnaire survey conducted every 10 years in the UK to collect information on the whole population.

Trend

A general direction in which statistics on something (such as the divorce rate) move or change over time. For example, the divorce rate may increase or decrease over time.

Unemployment

A situation in which people do not have jobs but are actively seeking work and available to start work.

Underemployment

A situation in which workers are employed at less than full time, and are willing and available to work more hours than they currently do.

Empty shell marriage

A marriage in which the couple continue to live together (for example for the sake of their children) even though the marriage has broken down.

Social construct

A product of society or culture. Crime statistics are a social product in that they are the end product of a series of interactions, choices and decisions of the people involved.

Content Analysis

The analysis of documents and images (e.g media products) by constructing a set of categories, coding sections of the content according to these categories, and then counting the number of the times a theme appears.

Focus groups

A type of group interview that focuses on one particular topic. It explores how people interact within the group and how they respond to each other's views

Unstructured interview

Informal interviews that are like guided conversations based around a set of themes or points rather than a standardised interview schedule. The aim is the gather rich and detailed qualitative data.

Participant observation

A qualitative research method in which the researcher joins a group and takes part in its daily activities in order to study it.

Covert Observation

A researcher observes a group in order to study it but without informing its members about his or her research activities.

Ethnography

The study of people's culture and practices in everyday settings, usually based on qualitative methods such as participant observation and unstructured interviews.

Non - Participant observation

A research method in which a sociologist observes the community or group being studied but does not take part in any of its activities.

Social survey

Research based on self administrated questionnaires or structured interviews. Questions are standardised so respondents answer an identical set of questions.

Respondent

The person from whom information is sought.

Questionnaires

A set of Structured, standardised, questions delivered to respondents.

Interviews

A method used to collect data in a study. In general, the interviewer asks questions and the interviewee responds.

Closed que

A fixed-choice question that requires the respondent to choose between a number of given answers.

Open - ended questions

A question that allows respondents to put forward their own answers rather than choose a response from several pre - set answers.

Trade union

An organisation of employees or workers that protects and promotes its members' interests in the workplace.

Reliability

Refers to consistency. Research findings are reliable if, after the research is repeated a second time using the same methods, the same or consistent results are obtained the second time round.

Validity

Findings are valid if they truly measure or capture what they are supposed to be studying.

Bias

Being one-sided rather than neutral or open-minded. Biased can operate either in favour of or against an idea, group or point of view.

Longitudinal Study

A study of the same group of people conducted over a period of time. After the initial survey or interview has taken place, follow-up service or interviews are carried out at intervals over a number of years.

Research

The collection of data in an organised way by methods such as questionnaires and interviews.

Data

Facts, figures, and other evidence gathered through observations.

Hypothesis

A testable prediction, often implied by a theory

An educated guess.

Positivism

An approach that argues that the methods of the natural sciences should be used to study society. This approach focuses on how society influences human behaviour.

Interpretivism

A method used to collect data in a study. In general, the interviewer asks questions and the interviewee responds.

Population

The particular group and the study from which the sample is selected. The population may consist of people such as higher education students or institutions such as schools depending on the aims of the research.

Sample

A subgroup of the population selected for study.

Random Sample

A sample (subgroup)in which each member of the population has a known chance of being selected for inclusion in the sample

Systematic sampling

A sampling technique that involves every nth term from the sampling frame, for example every 10th name for my college register to generate the required sample size.

snowball sampling

A sampling technique in which the researcher contacts one member of the population and through them identifies others in the same population who then provide additional contacts.

quota sample

A sampling technique in which an interview almost question on exact quota (number) of people from categories such as females or teenagers, in proportion to the numbers in the wider population.

Representative sample

Reflects the characteristics of its population. It is just like the population but a smaller version of it.

Sampling frame

A complete list of all members of the population from which a sample is drawn. Examples include membership lists, school registers on the Royal Mail's list of postcode addresses.

Data protection

Research participants who are identifiable within the data held by researchers have legal protection and, for example, can ask to see this data.

Confidentiality

An agreement that all information (for example, from research participants) will only be accessed by those who have the authority to access it.

Informed consent

Before carrying out research, sociologists must obtain permission from potential research participants.

Giving informed consent means the research participant only agrees to take part in the research once the sociologist has explained fully what the research is about and why it has been carried out.

Ethical considerations

Issues such as informed consent and confidentiality that sociologists must consider in order to conduct morally acceptable research.

Data analysis

Interpreting or making sense of the information collected during research and summarising the main findings or results.

Triangulation

Cross checking the findings from a qualitative method against the findings from a quantitative method.

Mixed Methods Research

The use of different methods within one project to generate both quantitative and qualitative.

Unrepresentative sample

A sample (sub group) that does not reflect the characteristics of its population.

Secondary data

information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose by other people. Sources include official statistics, mass media, auto biographies and studies by other sociologists.

Primary Data

information that is generated and collected at firsthand by doing research using techniques such as questionnaires interviews or observation.

Quantitative data

Information presented in numerical form, for example as graphs, bar charts, pie charts or tables of statistics.

Qualitative data

Information presented as words or quotations rather than numbers.

Male domination

The exercise of power and control by men over women in society

Value consensus

Broad agreement on values.

Patriarchy

A form of social organisation in which males dominate females

Discrimination

Less favourable or unfair treatment based, for example, on an individual's gender, ethnicity or age.

Consensus

Broad agreement on norms and values.

Feminism

A sociological approach that examines the way gender operates within social structures such as families and in the wider society. Feminists want equality in the power and status of women and men in society. Some society is patriarchal.

Feminist

A sociologist who explores how gender operates in society and wants gender equality.

Gender

The socially constructed roles and characteristics by which a culture defines male and female.

Sexism

discrimination based on sex (on gender)

Theoretical perspectives

An approach such as functionalism, Marxism, or feminism that provides a set of ideas to explain the social world.

Social class

A form of social stratification based on economic factors such as occupation and income (how people earn a living).

Status

Can refer to social positions linked, for example, to operate occupations (such as teacher or train driver) and families (such as child or parent). It can also refer to the amount of prestige or social standing that members of a group or society given individual in a particular social position.

Power

In social relationships between individuals (for example, between spouses or parents and children) or groups, power usually refers to the dominance and control of one individual or group over others.

Social stratification

The way that society is structured or divided into hierarchical structure or layers with the most privilege at the top and the least favourite of the bottoms.

Social class is an example of a stratification system.