Types of data

What is primary data + methods for gathering primary data

Info collected by the sociologist the themselves for their own purposes.

Methods for gathering this is:

Social surveys - involve asking people questions in written questionnaire or interviews

Participant observation - the sociologist joins in with the activities of the group they are studying

Secondary data + examples

Info collected by someone else for example:

Official stats: produced by government on a range of issues such as crime, divorce, health and unemployment

Documents: Letters, diaries, photography’s, official reports

Practical issues of research

Time

Funds

Personal skills

Subject matter

Ethical issues

Informed consent

confidentiality

effects on participants

vulnerable groups

Theoretical issues

Validity

Reliability

representativeness

What are positivists?

Believe that it is possible to establish objective facts through scientific research methods and the thorough collection and analysis of evidence.

What are interpretivist + example

Different people experience and understand the same ‘objective reality’ in very different ways and have their own, often very different, reasons for acting in the world, thus scientific methods are not appropriate.

Define verstehen

Interpretivists argue that in order to understand human action we need to achieve ‘Verstehen‘, empathy – we need to see the world through the eyes of the actors doing the acting.

Functionalist & Marxist interpretivists or positivists?

Positivist approach. They see society as a large scale that shapes our behaviour