research methods

What is primary data?

Data collected by the social researchers themselves

What is secondary data?

The social researcher uses pre-existing data - the info has been collected by others

What is quantitave data?

Numerical data. usually comes in the form of statistics or percentages

What is qualitative data?

Non-numerical data - usually comes in the form of words and images

What is a pilot study?

A small scale preliminary study used to assess wheather the research can practically be carried out

It is also used to identify any problems the researcher was unaware of. Its like a dress rehearsal/practise run

What does PET stand for?

Practical

Ethical

Theoretical

What are practical factors?

Time

Money/funding

acsess

Location/ cultural/ religious

Language

Characteristics of the researcher: intrests, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, social skills etc

What is a gatekeeper in research?

The individual who has the ability to grant acsess to researchers, schools=Head teacher

What are ethical factors?

Informed consent

Confidentiality

Data security - GDPR: keeping confidentinal data secure - not leaking it or giving it to other people/companies

Privacy/ getting too involved and interfereing

Legal/illegal activities

Protection from harm - physical or psyclogical

What are ethical issues witth children and vulnerable adults?

DBS - government security check on criminal convictions. Any job/ volunteering working with children or VA must have a DBS certificate

Consent from appropriate adult i.e parent

Data/ photos ie school websites, social media

Protect them from harm and do not encourage them to do illegal activity as they are highly impressionable and may not fully understand

Think caefully about research methods ie language, ability to concentrate or understand

What are theoretical issues?

Representitve: The extent to which a sample refelcts a researchers target population and its characteristics

Sometimes this means you need a bigger sample size or you need to think carefully about selecting your participants

Reliability: The extent to which the research study could be replicated by another researcher. The process should be the same however the results can vary.

Validity: The extent to which a peace of research actually measures what it sets out to do or how well it refelcts the reality it claims to represent.

Theoretical persepctive: Sociological theoretical position may impact your intrests, research methods and interpritations ie functionalists, Marxists, Feminists or social action theorists.

What is positivism?

Positivitists take a structural view of society - humans are like puppets of society so an individuals behaviour is not freewill or a choice

They look at how large social institutions/ structures affect the individual- ‘macro’ approach and look at the bigger picture/ society as a whole

Positivists argue we should discover ‘social facts’ in the same way as a scientist does- use of scientific methods that will produce quantative, reliable and objective data

They like to analyse data and look for patterns/trends/correlations- large scale research

Eg ethnic differences in educational achievement

What kinds of data do positivists prefer?

Quatative

What is Interpretivism?

Individuals shape society - they do have free will and are complex

Interpretivists argue that social behavious is the result of how people interprit their interaction with others- humans apply meaning to other human behaviour ie shaking a hand

Study small-scale human interactions and how they interpret eachother

Validity is important- you want an accurate truthful picture. If you want the participant to open up and be honest with you, the researcher must have excellent social skills and be emphathetic- see the social world view through the eyes of someone else

What data do interpretists prefer?

Qualitative.

What are closed questions?

They are questions with a limited number of possible responses, often ‘yes or ‘no’

Evaluations of closed questions

They make data easier to analyse and more reliable

They produce quantative data

Restricting responses can reduce validity

What are open questions?

They do not limit the possible answers that the responder can give.

This produces qualatative data whic is generally considered to be higher in validity, this is because it can be detailed and the respondent can give their own views, rather than be limited by the assumptions of the researcher

Evaluations of open questions?

Data is often varied as it involves opinions and views

Data can be very difficult to analyse

Open ended questions help survey creators collect qualitative data

Advantages of questionnaires

Practical - questionnares are cheap and quick

Quantifiable data (can be counted)

Representitive/reach a geographically widespread research sample

Reliable- the questionnare can be easily repeated due to how the questions are preset

Limited ethical issues - the repondent is under no obligation to answer questions

What are structured interviews?

A searies of questions asked to a participant, usually face to face but can also be done over phone call

Every respondant gets asked the same questions which are closed. It will lead to quantative data sp are preffered by positivists

What are Un/semi-structured interviews?

More informal than structured interviews and have no rigid structure or list of set questions

They use open ended questions.

It leads to qualitative data so interpretivists prefer this method.

Normally recorded on a dictaphone for the researcher to write up and analyse post interview.

The researcher needs to have good social and communication skills - you want a relaxed and friendly enviroment

What are focus groups?

A group of people who will discuss a topic- the researcher will normally start off with a probing question or some sort of stimulus. The participants are then asked to freely discuss with eachother and the researcher about their thoughts. The participants are encouraged to have as normal conversation as possible with eachother and bounce ideas off eachother

What is demand characteristics?

When the participant/ interviewee attempts to interpret the researchers motives and/or give them an answer that they think is correct/socially desireable. This will lower the validity of the data

What is an example of demand characteristics?

How much money do you donate to charity each month? Interviewee may lie or exaggerate to make themselves look more moral, they feel under pressure to give the right answer.

What is an observation?

A method where researchers study the ongoing behaviour of their participants

This is different from techniques such as interviews or questionnaires because observations are a study of what subjects do instead of what they say

What is ethnography?

The study of the way of life of a community or group

What is participant observation?

The researcher integrates themselves into a group to study their way of life, their culture and how they structure their community.

It is commonly used in ethnography

What kind of sociologists prefer observations?

Interpretivists as the researcher has the oppotunity to understand the subjective experiences and meanings of the group being studied.

What is overt participant observation?

Involves the researcher participating in the same activities as the group being researched and openly observing their everyday lives

Overt means that the group being studied is aware that they are being observed

What is covert participant observation?

Involves the researcher taking on a fake identity and infiltrating a social group without their knowledge

Covert means that the group being studied is unaware that they are being observed

What are the advantages of covert participant observation?

You have high validity as it doesnt disturb the normal behaviour of the group

no prior knowledge of social dynamic being observed is required

allows the observer to dig deeper into groupws/individuals behaviour

Disadvantages of covert participant observation?

Ethical issues - deception

The researcher may be exposed to danger for example if participating in criminal activity

If the identity of the researcher is uncovered the whole research could be ruined

The participants may feel betrayed and used if/when they found out their activities were being recorded and would take out revenge

difficult to record observations without being found out

difficult to leave the group having been a part of the group for so long

What is non-participant observation?

In some studies the researcher simply observes a social group without participating in their activities

non-participant observation can be either structured or unstructured

non participating observation can also be over or covert

What is structured non-participant observation?

It involves some sort of observation schedule. Before they begin their observation researchers make a list of behaviours they expect to see. They then use this list to tick off what they see

What is unstructured non-participant observation?

It is simply the researcher freely noting down whatever they see

What is overt non-participant observation?

The researcher is given consent to observe a group, for example students in a playground or classroom

They are aware that they are being observed

What is covert non-participant observation?

The researcher watches a group without their knowledge for example via cctv

They are unaware that they are being observed

What are offiicial statistics?

They are secondary sources of quantative data

They are mainly gathered by state agencies

However other agencies such as political parties, charities and businesses also produce statistical data

What are hard statistics?

They are facts that once certified cannot be changed

They are the product of accurate and objective counting processes undertaken by the state

eg birth and death rates are based on hard data

What are soft statistics?

They are not facts because they are not the product of subjective decisions and choices made by particular powerful individuals

eg crime statistics as not all crimes are reported

Who prefers official statistics?

Positivists see the official statistics as scientific because they are often the product of well planned and organised surveys such as the census.

What is longitudinal data?

a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (eg people) over long periods of time (eg uses longitudinal data)

A census is an example of a longitudinal study that provides longitudinal data

What are interpretivists critical of some official statistics?

They are crticial of some statistics such as crime and suicide because they believe they are socially constructed

The statistics tell us more about the values and priorities of the people involved in their collection than they do about the people surveyed.

For example some statistics produced by schools and used in their publicity materials may reflect the needs of schools to positively market themselves to parents.

What are the practical evaluations of official data?

Statistics are easily accessible (through the internet) and cheap

They are usually up to date and covert trends over time and large populations

They can be used comparatively

They may be biased or partial because they have been gathered for political purposes

official definitions of an event if trend may differ to those used by sociologists eg they may define poverty differently

What are the ethical evaluations of official data?

The data already exists and is anonymous so is ethical

Can be socially damaging eg school league tables may be damaging to schools that are deemed as underperforming

What are the theoretical evaluations of official data?

Positivists see official statistics as scientific - they are reliable, representitive

According to interpretivists, statistics tell us very little about peoples attitudes and feelings

Examples of personal documents?

Diaries Eg anne frank

Letters

Memoirs

Photos

Emails

Blogs

Who prefers documents?

Interpretivists believe the documents can reveal meanings and rich qualitative data on a subject. The document may be the only source of data for historical events, particularly if the event was too dangerous or sensitive for a researcher to study at the time

Scott

He argues that if sociologists intend to use personal documents they need to ask 4 key questions

1. Is the document authentic? is it genuine? do we 100% know the author?

2. Is the content of the document credible and plausible? Does it contain inaccuracies?

3. Is the document representative of the social group the sociologist is investigating?

4. Is the meaning of the document clear?

Examples of official documents?

School reports

OFSTED reports

Government reports

Newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, photos

Health records

Church records

What are laboratory experiments?

Laboratory experiments take part in an artificial, controlled enviroment such as a lab

Experiments typically aim to test a hypothesis - a predicition about how one variable will effect another.

They are prefered by Positivists because the data is quantative

Positivists feel that it is possible to establish cause and effect in humans in the same way it can be done in the natural sciences. They argue that it is possible to control variables within a lab which will enable the researcher to establish a single causual factor which motivates or alters human behaviour.

What is Milgrams obedience to authority experiment?

A famous lab experiment- originally conducted in the 1960s by Stanley Milgram. His hypothesis was that under authority, peopole feel the need to be obedient and follow their orders. Even if this means torturing people>

Milgram was looking at the apparent conflict between obeying orders from an authority figure and an individuals personal conscience.

Some nazis had used this as a defense, they were just following orders.

What are field experiments?

Experiments conducted in natural enviroments - for example, on the streets, school playground etc

The researcher manipulates a particular variable and observes the reaction/ consequence

The group is usually unaware that a social experiment is taking place- the investigation is covert to enhance the levels of validity

Who prefers field experiments?

Interpretivists

What is sampling?

As researchers cannot study everyone in the world they will instead be intrested in a a particular group of people - a target population. Researchers will then study a smaller group (a sample) within this target population.

What is sample bias?

Samples are often small portions of the target population for practical reasons. However, if the sample is typical of the population it can be said to be representitve, this allows researchers to make valid generalizations from the sample. Any differences between the sample and the population creates sample bias.

What are some sampling techniques?

Random sampling

Systemic sampling

Stratified sampling

Snowball sampling

What is random sampling?

It is where names are piced at random, out of a list using a random number generator, or a spinning wheel to randomly select participants

What is a strength and weakness of random sampling?

Strength: If truly random it is representitve

Weakness: Truly random is very difficult to achieve. Also random may not provide equal proportions of response.

What is systemic sampling?

when a researcher selects every nth person on the sampling frame to be part of the sample.

What is a strength and weakness of systemic sampling?

Strength: Partially very representitve because all members of sampling frame could be selected

Weakness: Not really random so not really truly representitve

What is stratisfied sampling?

the sampling frame is divided up into various social groups (e.g. by age, social class, gender, ethnicity, etc.) and then random sampling is used for each group. This ensures that the final result accurately represents all social groups

What is a strength and weakness of stratified sampling?

Strength: Potentially highly representitve of each strata of the sampling frame

Weakness: Time consuming and complicated. Equal representation of each strata may not be representitive of wider population

What is snowball sampling?

A snowball sample works a little like a chain letter. For example, if you were distributing a questionnaire, you could pass it to your own contacts who could then pass it on to theirs and so on

What is a strength and weakness of snowball sampling?

Strength: Easy to gain willing participants and their consent

Weakness: Unlikely to all be representitve

Modernity

Industrial Revolution 1700-1950s

Globalisation has begun but at a slow rate

trust in and compliance with meta-narratives truth is to be discovered

Webers disenchantment of society - rise of nationalism and empiricism. Secularisation begins

society was stable and predictable - general consensus amongst people

Job for life and relationship for life. You knew your role in society.

This is the period where sociological, structuralist theories started to emerge. Every theory claims to have the monopoly over the truth

Postmodernity

fragmentation of society - diversity

Identity you can pick and choose. Class and gender is no longer an integral part of your identity and they dont have influence over your life. status is now achieved and you can create and earn it

Individualism over collectivism

Rejection of meta narratives. Lack of trust about knowledge and the gatekeepers of knowledge.

There is no one objective truth, it is all relative

Social institutions have very little power over us anymore. Been taken over with corporations such as Disney, amazon and social media.
Globalisation.

Late modernity

1960s ish rapid development of the modern era. we are in an intense period of modernity

influential movements such as 2nd wave feminism and the legislation changes

social institutions are still steering society but its all a little instable and chaotic

Giddens - reflexivity become key, reflecting upon your role In society, your identity and how it has been formed. It’s all about knowing how the social institutions have affected your behaviour and people reflecting upon their own circumstances

Bauman - liquid modernity, everything is becoming a little fluid

Beck - risk society. Rapid advancement and implementation of scientific and technological discoveries mean new, manufactured risk to society. Science is both solving/helping and creating new risks for us

Value freedom

Social freedom in social research refers to the ability of the researcher to keep his or her own values from interfering with the research process

Comte and Durkheim

Sociology is value free.

1830s

argued that sociologists should be able to objectively study the social world.

sociology is no different to the other sciences - it gives the subject more status and authority.

Durkheim -

Social facts exist independently of researchers and these facts could be clearly separated from the values of the researcher.

You can study social facts using empirical, quantitive means and they were reliable. So scientific methods can discover social facts

Sociology is objective and value free

argued the postivitists and functionalists.

They dubbed it ‘objectivity through nutrality’

Sociologisrs should only be concerned with the pursuit of true knowledge nothing else.

sociology is not value free

It is value laden/subjective

Unlike natural phenomena, humans are unique and have agency

Interp argue that the positivists have completely misunderstood the nature of society and fundamental human behaviour. We need to look at the unobservable and unmeasurable

Society is constructed by actions of individuals- the. only way of discovering the meaning of those actions is to conduct quantitive research methods and to be involved with the research to some extent

Gouldner

Sociology will always be value-laden and subjective and thats ok, just recognise that

Acknowledge your theoretical perspective and be explicit about that in your research and proposal and writing

reflectivity, constantly reflect upon how your personal characteristics and judgement might be instrumental in your data collection and results evaluation

Weber and the role of values

Choice of topic will inevitably be subjective and value-laden but your data collection and interpretation should not be

What exactly is science

seeks to uncover facts in the world

identifies causal relationships - cause and effect

objective

tests their hypothesis and collective quantative empirical data

cant people regard it as an open belief system which is highly respected

Is sociology a science - positivists

YES - It is the science of society and the social world - no different from other sciences

physicists may study natural laws but sociologists study social laws.

The methods are reliable and testable

The researcher and methods are value free and objective

Is sociology a science - interpretivists

NO - the researcher and methods are value laden and subjective

you cannot treat social interaction and human beings in the same way as the subjects of the natural world because humans have free will

The best sociologists can do is collect high validity data and understand how people construct reality

Kuhn would argue that sociology cannot be a science as sociology has competing theories and perspectives so there is no dominant paradigm