Theorys and methods

Should include all content from all 10 Theory and Methods topics this has been copied from flash cards but has also been added to.

Topic 1+2: What is Primary Data?

Topic 1+2: What is Primary Data?

Data that the researcher has collected themselves

Topic 1+2: What is Secondary Data?

Information that has been collected or created by someone other than the researcher.

Topic 1+2: What is Quantitative Data?

Information in a numerical form

Topic 1+2: What is Qualitative Data?

Information that is in more of a worded form and in sentences.

Topic 1+2: What are the three factors that sociological researcher have to consider when choosing a research method?

• Practical

• Ethical

• Theoretical

Topic 1+2: What issues what be considered as Practical Factors?

1. Time and Money

2. Research opportunity

3. Requirements of funding bodies

4. Personal Skills and characteristics

Topic 1+2: What issues would be considered as Ethical Factors?

1. Confidentiality and Privacy

2. Harm to Participants

3. Informed Consent

4. Cover Research

5. Subject Matter

6. vulnerable Groups

7. Consent.

Topic 1+2: What issues would be considered as Methodological issues?

1. Methodological Perspective

2. Validity

3. Reliability

4. Representativeness

Topic 1+2: What are the Practical issues of using Experiments?

1. Can only be used to study closed systems

2. Individuals are unique and so they cannot be sorted into control and experimental groups

3. Cannot be used to study the past

4. They are only useful in small sample sizes

5. The Hawthorne effect can confound the results.

Topic 1+2: What are the Ethical issues of using Experiments?

1. Informed consent is required

2. Harm to Subjects should be minimised

3. Treating Subjects Fairly According to their Rights should be kept throughout the procedure.

Topic 1+2: What are the theoretical issues of using Experiments?

1. Reliability

2. Representativeness

3. Interpretivism and free will

Topic 1+2: What are the Practical issues of using Questionnaires?

1. Quick and cheap, provides a large soruce of data

2. No training or hirring required

3. Data is easy to quantify

4. May require financial incentive to gain responses from respondants

5. Low response rate

Topic 1+2: What are the Ethical issues of using Questionnaires?

1. Overall fairly ethical

2. Confidentiality is guaranteed

3. Parental consent may be required

Topic 1+2: What are the Theoretical issues of using Questionnaires?

1. Reliable

2. Representative

3. Low validity

4. Keeps the researcher detached and objective - Positvists would suit this

5. However, imposes the researchers meaning through deciding what questions to ask

6. Possible that the respondents lied when answering questions

Topic 1+2: What are the Practical issues of using a Structured Interview?

1. Quick, cheap

2. Gathers factual informatiomn

3. Closed ended questions with pre-coded answers - easy to quantify

4. Higher response rates than questionnaires

Topic 1+2: What are the Ethical issues of using structured interviews?

1. Not appropriate to be used when asking questions on sensitive topics

2. Interviewers may feel pressure to answer

3. Informed consent is necessary - cannot continue without it

Topic 1+2: What are the Theoretical issues of using a Structured Interview?

1. Reliable

2. Representative

3. Littel freedom to expand on answers - does not suit interpretivists

4. Ann Oakley states that it is a possiblly masculine approach to research and ignores the interests of the individual being interviewed

Topic 1+2: What are the Practical issues of using Unstructured Interviews?

1. Training is required - possibly expensive

2. Interpersonal skills are required

3. Likely to be time consuming as they take a long time

4. Produces a large amount of data - difficult to quantify

5. Interviewee gets to decide what is important - suits interpretivists

Topic 1+2: What are the Ethical issues of using Unstructured Interviews?

1. Interviewee is likely to feel more comfort as it is informal which allows a rapport to be built between the interviewer and interviewee.

2. More likely to cover sensitive topics

Topic 1+2: What are the Theoretical issues of using Unstructured Interviews?

1. Open ended questions so there is a wide range for elaboration of answers - interpretvists approve

2. Lacks reliability - does not suit positivists

3. Lacks representativeness

Topic 1+2: What are the Practical issues of using Official Statistics?

1. Free to access

2. Collected at regular intervals

3. May not be researching the exact same topic the researcher is researching

Topic 1+2: What are the Theoretical issues using Official Statistics?

1. Rperesentative

2. Reliable

3. Interpretivists may argue that they are social constructs

4. Feminists may argue that they are created bby the state to maintain patriarchal oprression

Topic 1+2: What are the Practical issues of using Observations

1. With Participant observations, they provide an insight into the participants life - Verstehen

2. Very time consuming

3. Training is needed, likely to be expensive

4. Powerful groups may limit access

Topic 1+2: What are the Ethical issues of using Observations?

1. With Covert observations (participant or non-participant), deception is an issue that may have to be disclosed at the end of the research

2. Informed consent is not gained

3. It is possible that the researcher may witness or participate in illegal activity whilst in a covert observation.

4. The researcher may over identify with the participants and so lose objectvity, the results of the research may then be biased.

Topic 1+2: What are the Theoretical issues of using Observations?

1. High in validity through involvement with the participant

2. Lacks representativeness as it is likely that participant observations may only be in small groups

3. Lacks reliability as the exact same events and conclusions may not happen or be reached

4. Valuable to interactionists who want to examine interactions of individual people (actors).

5. Ignores structural forces

Topic 1+2: What are the Practical issues of using Documents?

1. May be only source of data when studying historical events

2. Quick, cheap soruce of data, especially if online

3. Accessing the sources may be an issue

4. Created for individual or organisational intentions, not sociological intentions.

Topic 1+2: What are the Ethical issues of using Documents?

1. Informed Consent is not possible to achieve, the individual who produced the document is not able to give consent for their document to be used in research.

2. There may be a number of people in which consent will need to be gained of.

Topic 1+2: What are the Theoretical issues of using Documents?

1. The validity of some documents can be questioned e.g Hitler diaries were found to be fake.

2. Likely to be authentic, the individual produced the source likely not with the thought in mind of a sociological researcher examining it.

3. Lacks representativeness

4. Lacks reliability

Topic 3: What do Positivists and interpretivists define science as?

They define science through ‘Inductive Reasoning’, which is accumulating data about the world through observation and measurement.

Topic 3: How do Positivists believe that Sociology can be a science?

They believe that sociology can be a science by applying the same methods that natural scientific disciplines use.

Topic 3: What is ‘Verificationism’ to Positivists?

Inductive Reasoning can be used to prove that a theory is true.

Topic 3: Why do positivists believe that it is desirable and possible to use scientific methods in sociology?

Because they believe that it will bring us true, objective knowledge, similar to that of the natural sciences. Positivists believe that the world is not random, but patterned, and we can use inductive reasoning to explain those patterns.

Topic 3: What do Positivists aim the result of studying sociology using scientific methods to be?

The results gained from studying sociology in this way can then lead to laws and policies being put in place and can also guide future policies.

Topic 3: How is Durkheim’s study on suicide an example of Positivits studying sociology scientifically?

Durkheim had conducted a study on suicide by using official statistics, which are a form of quantitative data, and had observed tha there were patterns in these statistics. He found that rates of suicide for protestants were much higher than the rate for Catholics. Durkheim argued that the social facts that were responsible for determining the suicide rates were the levels of intergration and regulation.

Topic 3: What are the weaknesses of Durkheims study into suicide?

1. The likely reason why there was a higher rate of suicide for protestants than there were for catholics was because Catholics believed that it was a sin to commit suicide, and so coroners knowing this, labelled more causing of death as other things apart from suicide to appease grieveing families.

2. Another weakness is that Durkheim used official statistics, but official statistics not be accurate as they only show the number of suicides that were reported, meaning that they do not show the true number of suicides within a period of time. Coroners may also incorrectly identify a cause of death as suicide.

Topic 3: Why do Interpretivists believe that sociology can not be studied scientifically?

They argue this because unlike the natural sciences that study natural matter such as magnesium, we are human beings that have free will and choice in our decisions on how to react to things, where as natural matter that is studied by natural scientific disciplines do not have free will or free choice in how they react, meaning that the approaches taken in studying these two subjects should be different. This was argued by Mead.

Topic 3: What does Verstehen mean to Interpretivists?

This is a sociological term which means to put yourself in another individual’s perspective, and positivists belive that in order to understand the measnings of others, that is what should be done.

Topic 3: How can the Interpretivist viewpoint on whether sociology can be studied scientifically be criticised?

It can be criticised by tje arguement that there are parts of sociology that are more scientific than others. For example, education and achievement, where topics sucj as these can be broken donw into males or females.

Topic 3: How does Popper define science?

He defines science as ‘seeking ti falsify hypotheses’, which is actively trying to prove a hypothesis is wrong, and it is only when a hypothesis cannot be proven as wrong, it is then a scientific statement.

Topic 3: Why does Popper believe that science should not be studied scientifically?

He believes that science should not be studied scientifically because he believs that there is a ‘Fallacy of Induction’ and that verificationism should also be rejected. This is because he states that there is a problem with inductive reasoning as you would only observe certain instances and then make general laws based on those few instances, instead going out of your way to prove that the hypothesis is incorrect. He also states that there can never be absolute proof that any knowledge is true which is why science is constantly changing as it is open to criticism, where as for sociology, most of it is non-scientific because theories such as a Marxism cannot be falsified as such theories manage a way to prove themselves to be correct, regardless of the counter-argument, which therefore explains why most sociological theories have remained relatively similar to when they had first started.

Topic 3: What is a criticism to Poppers argument that sociology cannot be studied scientifically?

A criticism is that compared to the natural sciences, sociology is a young discipline and because of this, there may come a point in time in the future where more sociological theories do become falsifiable. Also, parts of sociology such as education are more falsifiable than other parts of sociology.

Topic 3: How does Kuhn define science?

He defines science as ‘shared paradigms that are agreed upon by the members of a scientific community, and a shared set of theories as to how science is done’.

Topic 3: Why does Kuhn believe that science cannot be studied scientifically?

He believes that sociology cannot be studied scientifically because there is more than one paradigm within sociology. This is due to the fact that there are many different sociological perspectives such as positivists, interpretivists,, Marxists, Feminists etc. To add to this, within a specific sociological perspective such as feminsim, there is still not one agreed paradigm as there are different perspectoves within feminism such as difference feminsim and radical feminsim. This therefore means taht because there is more than one paradigm with sociology, by Kuhn’s definition, it cannot be scientific now, and can only be scientific in the future if one sociological paradigm is agreed upon.

Topic 3: What is a criticism of Kuhn’s argument that sociology cannot be studied scientifically?

A criticism of his point is that it may be undesirable for there to just be one paradigm within sociology as, because there are different perspectives, issues within sociology are then viewed from different viewpoint and which then shows how one issue potentially affects a greater multitude of people within society. And so, if there was just one agreed paradigm within sociology, then this would mean that ossues within society would only be viewed throigh one perspectuve, and this could have detrimental affects as not all affects of a potential issue are being acknowledged.

Topic 3: How do Realists define science?

They believe that science consists of open and closed systems. They believe that closed systems are where you are able to control all of the variables, whereas an open system are when you cannot control all variables.

Topic 3: Do Realisst believe that sociology can be studied scientifically, based on their definition of science?

They state that sociology can be broken down into open and closed systems, and so thus believe that sociology is a science and can be studied scientifically.

Topic 4: Why do Positivists believe that it is desirable and possible to be objective and value free when conducting sociological research?

Positivists already believe that sociology is a science, this means that if they believe that sociology is a science then they also believe that sociology can and should be objective and value free, since science is also those things. Comte argues that it is both desirable and possible for sociology to be objective and value free and that this is the only way to solve social problems. Modern Positvists would say that a researchers own values are irrelevant to research, and that science (and so sociology) is only concered with matter of fact. Sociologists are hired to do a job, and so they should not let their own values interfere

Topic 4: How can the Positivist view on whether or not it is desirable and possible to be value free and objective be criticised?

1. It can be criticised by Interpretvists who would argue that because e believe that sociology is not a science, that it is therefore not possible, and not desirable to be value free and objective.

2. It can also be argued that since sociological researchers should leave their own values out of sociological research, this then may just mean that they are taking on the values of the employer.

Topic 4: Why does Weber believe that it is impossible to be objective and value free in sociological research?

He believes this because it is humans studying other humans which means that it is impossible to keep personal values out of research.

He states that sociological researchers use values as a guide for research, as there are many things that could be researched and so they use their values to make a decision about what we think is important.

He believes, however, that during data collection, it should be value free and objective.

When data is being interpreted, the facts need to be placed into a theoretical framework so that conclusions can be drawn. The theoretical preference of the researcher will then effect what conclusions are drawn from the data.

Topic 4: How can Weber’s view on whether it is desirable and possible to be value free and objective in sociological research be criticised?

It can be criticised by the fact that he states that the only time that sociological research can be value free and objective is when the data is being collected, but it is still difficult to remain value free and objective at that point, as you would have made a decision based on yout values on what method used to gain the data.

Topic 4: Why do Committed Sociologists believe that it is desirable for sociologists to use their values in sociological research?

They believe this because they state that it is important for sociologists to use their values to improve society through their work.

Topic 4: Why do Committed Sociologists believe that it is impossible to be objective within sociological research?

They believe this because it will either be the sociologists own values or the values of the paymaster that will be reflected in the work

Topic 4: Why do Committed Sociologists believe that it is undesirable to be objective in sociological research?

They believe this because they state that without values to guide research, sociologists are just merely selling their services to the highest bidder. This may mean that the research published will be that which supports people money.

Topic 4: Within Committed Sociologists, what does Becker believe should be done in sociological research?

He believes that we should openly take sides, and that we should take the side of the underdog and give groups who have been hidden in statistics a voice.

Topic 4: How can Committed Sociologists and Becker be criticised?

They can be criticised by Gouldner who states that taking the side of the underdog is just romanticising the underdog, and instead should take the side of groups who are actively fighting back.

Topic 4: How does Funding affect sociological research?

This affects sociological research as the body who pays for the research can control the direction that it takes and the questions that get asked. The body may also block publication of the research if they dont like the findings of the research.

Also, sociologists will likely want a successful career and so will think about what they publish. Sociologists may censor themselves out of fear of losing their jobs, and may be under pressure from university to publish something no matter the quality or usefulness.

Topic 4: How does Perspectives and Methods affect sociological research?

The perspective of a sociological researcher comes with assumptions and values about sodiety. For example Feminists have assumptions on gender inequality, and would use methods such as unstructured interviews, or overt unstructured interviews as they believe quantitative data is sexist (Ann Oakley).

The sociologists perspective influences the topics that sociologists choose and the conclusions that they reach. Also affects the method they use.

Topic 4: How does Objectivity and Relativism affect sociological research?

Relativism is when different groups, cultures and individuals have different views over what is true. Relativism states that theire is no independent way of judging whether any view is true than any other. There are multiple truths and so their is no way of saying which one is right.

Topic 4: How can Objectivity and Relativism be criticised?

It can be criticised by the fact that Relativisim is therefore a self defeating view. How this view be true if it itself states that there is no truth?