Flashcards on Choosing a Research Method (3.1)

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To obtain data about society, sociologists use a range of different methods and sources. These can be classified in a number of ways. Firstly, data will either be primary or secondary. What is meant by this?	Primary data is data collected by sociologists themselves, for their own purposes. Secondary data is information that has been collected by someone else for their own purposes, but is then used by sociologists.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using primary data?	The sociologist can gather the exact information they require. However, gathering primary data is often expensive and time consuming.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using secondary data?	Using secondary data is typically much quicker and cheaper than using primary data. However, sociologists are not always able to extract the exact information they require.
Data can also be categorised as either quantitative or qualitative. What is meant by this?	Quantitative data is information in numerical form, while qualitative data is information expressing what something feels like.
Due to the vast range of methods available, it can be difficult to choose the most appropriate form to adopt. Different methods have different strengths and weaknesses, which must be considered. What are the practical problems that different methods present?	Time and money, requirements of funding bodies, personal skills and characteristics of the researcher, subject matter, and research opportunity.
What are the ethical problems that different methods present?	Consent, confidentiality and privacy, harm to participants, vulnerability, and covert research.
What are the theoretical problems that different methods present?	Validity, reliability, representativeness, methodological perspective.
What is usually the most important factor in deciding which method to use?	The sociologist's theoretical perspective. They will want to gather data that is deemed most appropriate by their perspective.
Despite favouring a particular kind of method, there are constraints that may impact a sociologist's choice. Even pure chance can determine the method used. Give an example of this:	Eileen Fairhurst was hospitalised due to a back injury, and used the opportunity to conduct research through participant observation.
What factors influence a sociologist's choice of topic?	Their perspective, society's values, practical factors (e.g. accessibility to situations), and funding bodies.
Once a topic and method has been chosen, what is the next state?	The sociologist must formulate a hypothesis.
What is the advantage of having a hypothesis?	It gives direction to the research.
Why do positivists favour hypotheses as a starting point for research?	Because they aim to uncover cause-and-effect relationships.
What is the difference between hypotheses and aims?	Aims are more general, often outlining what the sociologist intends to study and what they hope to achieve, while hypotheses are statements about specific relationships.
However, what advantage comes with using an aim, rather than a hypothesis?	An aim is more open-ended, and the sociologist isn't tied down to a particular statement. This is useful in researching topics when there is very little knowledge on the matter.
Which perspective often favours a broad aim?	Interpretivists, as they're interested in understanding the participant's meanings.
What term is used to refer to the process of converting a sociological concept into something measurable?	Operationalisation.
Operationalising a concept seems easy, but issues arrive where different sociologists operationalise the same concept in different ways. What does this complicate?	The process of comparing findings.
Which perspective is eager to operationalise concepts?	Positivists. They are keen because of the importance they place on creating and testing hypotheses.
Which perspective is uninterested in operationalising concepts?	Interpretivists, because they are more interested in the participants own definitions and understandings of ideas.
What do sociologists who use social surveys often carry out before conducting their main survey?	'Pilot surveys'.
What do pilot studies involve?	Trying out a draft version of the questionnaire on a small sample, thus identifying and fix any problems and allow the interviewer practice.
Give an example of a pair of march of progress sociologists who carried out a pilot study:	Young and Willmot - they conducted just over 100 pilot interviews to help them pick the design of their study, the questions to ask, how to ask them, etc.
Sociologists often aim to produce generalisations that apply to all cases of the their topic. However, it is simply not possible to interview and examine every case. What must sociologists do in order to make generalisations?	Create a representative sample from which they can make generalisations.
Which perspective is particularly attracted to representative samples?	Positivists, because they wish to make general statements about the wider social structure.
To choose a sample, what does a sociologist first require?	A sampling frame - that is, a list of all the members of the population who they are interested in studying. It is important that the frame is as up-to-date as possible, otherwise it might not be truly representative.
Once they have a sampling frame, the sociologist can choose a sample. In doing so, they must ensure that the sample is representative of wider society. There are various sampling techniques used to ensure a representative sample. What are they?	Random sampling, quasi-random sampling, stratified random sampling and quota sampling.
What is random sampling?	The sample is selected purely by chance.
What is quasi-random sampling?	Every Nth person is selected.
What is stratified random sampling?	The population in the sampling frame is stratified by age, gender, class, etc., and a sample is made in the same proportions.
What is quota sampling?	The sample is stratified in the same way as stratified random sampling, and then each interviewer is given a quota for respondents with certain characteristics.
What is the most common purpose of sampling?	To ensure that the chosen sample are representative.
However, not all studies use representative sampling techniques. Why?	There are several practical reasons why it might not be possible to create a representative sample. Sometimes it's impossible to find or create a sampling frame for the particular research population. Also, certain people simply refuse to participate, making representativeness more difficult to achieve.
Where it isn't possible to obtain a representative sample, sociologists sometimes use snowball sampling. What is this?	It involves collecting a sample by contacting a number of key individuals, who are then asked to suggest others who might be willing to participate, and so on.
Alternatively, sociologists may use opportunity sampling. What is this?	Where interviewers choose from individuals who are easiest to access, such as passers-by on the street.

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Flashcards on Choosing a Research Method (3.1)

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	Created by Em Maskrey almost 7 years ago