Sociological Research Methods

Sociological Research Methods

1. EXPERIMENTS

   • natural experiment
     • observing naturally occurring variables
     • no control
   • laboratory experiment
     • highly controlled, artificial setting
   • field experiment
     • takes place in the real world
   • rarely conducted by sociologists
   • P: gaining access to sample, time consuming & costly
   • E: lack of informed consent (deception)
   • T: quantitative data, used by positivists, affected by Hawthorne affect & experimenter bias

2. OFFICIAL STATISTICS

   • hard stats
   • soft stats
   • Emile Durkheim used statistics to show how sociology can be scientific
   • Dobash & Dobash used them to study domestic violence
   • P: easily accessible & inexpensive
   • E: none, unless research is used for negative purposes
   • T: used by positivists, highly reliable & inform social policies

3. QUESTIONNAIRES

   • self administrators
   • postal, email or telephone
   • closed questions
     • produce quantitative data
   • open questions
     • produce qualitative data
   • P: quick to administer, analysis is straight forward & relatively inexpensive
   • E: easy to get consent, unsuitable for sensitive issues
   • T: lack of vestehan, highly reliable, imposition problem, affected by leading and loading & highly standardised
   • Douglas used questionnaires to study student and parental interest in education