Research methods

Research and sampling

1. research aim and hypothesis- deciding what you want to research and predicting what you think you might find.

2. pilot studies- trialing a small scale version of your main research project to check it is ready for launch.

3. selecting samples- choosing who will be asked to take part in the study

4. collecting data- using research methods to gather information

5. date analysis- working through all of the data that has been collected to see what you can learn

6. evaluating the project- reflecting on the work you have done and whether the research was succesful or not.

Primary research methods- researchers collect data for their own project e.g. questionnaires, experiments, observations, interview

Triangulation- using more than one research method

Sampling methods

• random- give each person a number and choose at random

  everyone has an equal chance, removes bias

  may be unrepresentative

• systematic sampling- take every nth person to be chosen

  should produce a representative sample

  may be unrepresentative

• stratified sampling- divide frame into strate to choose randomly from

  makes a representative sample

  time consuming and logistically challenging

• snowball sampling- choose a small group of people to take part in your study and then they find others to take part

  draws on people’s social groups so may be able to study hard to reach groups

  lack of control may lead to bias

• quota sampling- set controls and try to fit criteria e.g gender, age, ethnicity

  ensures sample is relevant to research aim

  sample may not be representative of general population

• opportunistic sampling- ask whoever is immediately available

  quick and easy

  weakest method as unlikely to be representative

Positivism and Interpretivism

Positivism

• sociology is a science: the world can be studied objectively free from preconceived ideas (social facts). have to follow strict research process so results are not influenced by bias

• cause and effect: seek to find cause and effect of human behaviour by looking at changes in a social context to see what series of events led to the outcome

• bird’s eye view: macro approach so can make correlations between things

• quantitative data: positivists analyse behaviour by translating it into numbers so can make comparisons and identify trends and patterns e.g. official statistics, questionnaires

Interpretivism

• empathy: can only understand human behaviour by attempting to see world from other’s perspectives- verstehen

• meaning and motive: interpretivists are often interactionists because they believe people have motives to their actions so watch people interact to understand their behaviour

• opinions and values: approach is subjective (based on people’s opinions and values) meaning researchers have to use interpretation. however, people’s opinions and values may change.

• qualitative data: micro approach who value in-depth responses e.g. interviews, observations

Questionnaires

• Distributed through post, email or hand

• response rate is usually 5% (hand delivered has higher response rate)

  • financial incentive, coloured ink, fewer questionnaires, designed to their interests, contacted before hand ⬆

open-ended questions: participant responds in their own words

close-ended questions: participants required to choose from pre-determined list of answers

• dichotomous- two options

• multichotomous- many options

partially open-ended: options and then have an “other” category you can write in

Peter Townsend, poverty in the united kingdom

mix of open and closed questions, representative of each region

39 pages in length so only 6000 returned

Secondary methods

Office for national statistics- largest indepedent producer for official statistics. collects and publishes statistics related to the economy, population and society and national, regional and local levels. e.g the census

Documents

• public- OFSTED, health reports

• personal- letters, photographs, medical records

• historical- artifacts and paintings

authenticity: who wrote it? parts may be missing

credibility: is evidence believable? what is the motive behind it?

representative: is it typical of the time period? does it represent everybody?

meaning: what language is it in? what impacts does it have?

Context analysis- produces primary quantiative date from the study of qualitative secondary sources

1. content 2. categories 3. code 4. count 5. conclude

Longitudinal study- researcher studies same group of people over a long period of time

e.g chelsea headhunters: investigated football hooligans for 4 years, 7UP: followed lives of 14 kids since 1964

Life history- case study that focuses on one individual through interviews or personal documents. based on person’s own interpretations

in-depth, not representative

Ethnography- study of a specific cultural group e.g. Sampson studied intrnational seafarers for 42 days (swedish and filipino)

Experiments

Measure effect which an independent variable has on a dependent variable.

Field experiment- take plce in real world context where people are in their natural environment e.g. office, school

E.G. Being Sane in Insane places, David Rosenhan

• how staff labelled people as mentally ill

• arranged for sane patients to fake symptons of schizophrenia to be admitted into hospital —> where then diagnosed

• then reversed experiment telling staff to expect fakes but were actually genuine patients

Lab experiments- takes place in an artifical, controlled environment such as a labaratory where people are invited

E.G. The Milgram Experiment

• involved memory and electric shocks

• asked to shock learners when they could not remember word pairs (electric shock fake)

• 65% continued to 450 lethal volts

Observations

Non-participant observation: researcher takes notes while watching activities without getting involved e.g. OFSTED

Participant observation: researcher joins a group and observes their activities by taking part, impractical to take notes at the time so often written later meaning they are largely based on memory and less accurate

Black like me: John Howard, south America

• used medications and sun lamp treatments to change his skin colour

• when white: whites treat him with respect, blacks with fear

• when black: whites treat him with hostility/contempt, blacks with generosity and warmth

• races do not understand each other- racism is a result of socialisation

Overt observation: sociologist open about what they are doing by making their purpose known

Covert observation: when study is done undercover so the researcher’s identity and purpose are concealed

Tearoom trade, Laud Humphreys

• covert participant observation

• male homosexual encounters in toilet- wanted to show that men who were faking being heterosexual came from a variety of social backgrounds

• 54% were straight and had wives

A Glasgow gang observed, James Patrick

• semi-covert as one member had been his student and knew

• other members became suspicious as he held back from fights

• had to run away and change name, but reproduced rich data

Hawthorne effect- when a person knows they are being watched so will act differently

Interviews

Structured interviews: set questions to ask in a set order (sometimes audio-recorded)

• interviewer does not have to be specially trained

• each interviewee asked same questions

Unstructured interviews: interviewer has loose plan of what to ask but can probe deeper or change course

• more relaxed and informal

  E.G. Dobash and Dobash, unstructured interviews on domestic violence

  • could use empathy to get deeper answers

Focus group: small groups of 10-12 people

• researcher discusses certain topics and observes interactions

• individuals guide conversations after the initial question is asked

• this increases empathy, trust and openness as individuals are more comfortable

Interviewer bias- the response may be influenced by personality, facial expression, age, ethnicity, sex, tone of voice, status difference

• this may be consciously or subconsciously influence their answer or give leading question which encourage interviewee to give a certain answer

• interviewees may adapt their answers to impress the interviewer by giving answers they think the interviewer wants to hear

ways to overcome: not offer opinions, match social characteristics, telephone interviews

🖐 in real life scenarios, semi-structured interviews are used

people may lie when asked personal questions

words may have different meanings across different social groups

PERVERT 20 MARKERS

Practical- time, logistics (complexity of organising), cost (longer=more expensive)

Ethical- whether it is morally acceptable (anonymity, bias, confidentiality, informer consent, danger, deception, data protection-GDPR)

Reliability-

• high: questionnaires, structured interviews, lab experiments

• low: observations, unstructured interviews, field experiments

Validity- whether data is true or not

Evidence- use well known case studies or examples

Representativeness- whether it represents the population fairly in size and make up

Theories- how do Positivists and Interpretivists feel about the method