Research Methods in Context

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primary data: data collected by sociologists and used for their own purposes

social surveys - these involve asking people questions in a written questionnaire or interview

participant observation - sociologists joins in with the activities of the group he/she is studying

experiments - sociologists rarely use laboratory experiments, but they sometimes use field experiments and the comparative methods

advantage: sociologists may be able to precisely gather information to test their hypothesis

disadvantage: can be costly and time consuming

secondary data: information that has been collected/created by someone else for their own purposes that the sociologist can then use

official statistics produced by the government on a wide range of issues such as crime, divorce, health and unemployment as well as other statistics produced by charities and other organisations

documents i.e. letters, diaries, official reports etc.

advantage: can be cheap and more time efficient as the work has already been produced by someone else

disadvantage: those who produce it may not be interested in the same thing as the sociologist, so they may not provide exact information required

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