Sociology - Research methods

Positivism - quantitative data

• Favours hard, quantitative data
• Interested in the cause and effect relationships
• Use questionnaires and social surveys based on representative samples
• Find correlations and social facts
• Trends and patterns can be identified. you can detect correlations between information.
• Scientific approach
• e.g. Emile Durkheim was a positivist. His study "Suicide" using multi-variate analysis of quantitative data.
• "Suicide" - product of social forces, external to individual.

Interpretivism

• Qualitative data - feel what something is like
• Enables researcher to find out what people's feelings/attitudes and experiences are
• Direct human action
• See human behaviour as a different form of behaviour of the natural world
• Favours in depth, unstructured interviews
• Participant observation
• Attempts to discover and understand the meanings and definitive that direct social life
• J. Maxwell Atkinson used observations and in-depth interviews in his research on suicide
• Qualitative methods - to understand social reality
• Interpretivism suggests that people apply meaning to the world, to seek understanding behind peoples actions
• William Whyte's street corner society (1995) ethnographic approach, participant observation. Study of young men in inner Italy.

Realism

• Recognise that both approaches by positivists and interprevists are useful
• Select methods that are most suitable for the issue being studied
• Humans are reflexive. Things have meaning for us and we respond to emotions
• However there are also trends and patterns in social behaviour which can be observed and measured
• Triangulation - provide validity and reliability.
• e.g. study of Polish migrants to Cardiff. Knight and Thompson (2014) - secondary statistical data, semi-structured interviews

Ethical Issues

• Ethical issues are concerned with the right and wrong way to behave while conducting sociological research. The BSA has produced a detailed set of guidelines outlining the key ethical issues, sociologists should consider.
• Safeguard interests of those involved
• Ensure research is worthwhile
• Ensure techniques used in the research are appropriate

Laud Humphrey's - tea room trade

• wanted to understand the relationship between men's homosexual acts and public lives
• Studied men who have sex with other men in public rest rooms (which was illegal at the time) also known as tea rooms
• Men involved didn't know the research was taking place
• He was the "watch queen" - warned the men if police or strangers were approaching
• 100 men were studied
• He found their addresses and changed his identity to visit them under false pretexts
• This study was an ethical violation
• He justified his research - the participants were not "dangerous deviants" most were "respectable" married men

Milgram's Obedience Experiment

• Participants were told it was a scientific study
• He wanted to see how far people would obey commands - if they thought others were being harmed
• 80% of participants thought the experiment was worthwhile
• The punishment for not obeying commands was electric shocks to the other person (this didn't actually happen)
• He justified his methods by saying - it was an important experiment, think what governments can command
• Psychological distress
• no informed consent
• no right to withdraw
• Everyone was told afterwards what the true intentions were and that no-one was harmed
• Milgram was a competent psychologist and consulted others

Key terms

• Gatekeepers - People who have to give consent before research on young and vulnerable people can begin.
• Consent - Informed consent, people have to be aware of everything
• The right to with drawl - everyone should be able to leave the research
• Deception - should not be lied or misled, covert research breaches ethics (controversial method)
• Anonymity - Participants should not be named, secure
• Confidentiality - Protect data collected and private information (Data protection act)
• Sensitivity - protect people against embarrassing, sensitive or distressing topics to avoid emotional pressure. E.g family relationships
• Avoiding harm - Physical risk and emotional/psychological harm to participants and researchers

Surveys and Questionnaires

• A survey is a large scale collection of data (usually quantitative) this is collected via questionnaires or structured interviews
• E.g. The crime survey for England and Wales (annual) 50,000 people
• E.g. The Census (every 10 years, co-ordinated by the office for national statistics) 25 million questionnaires
• E.g. The British Social attitudes survey (annual) 3,000 people
• Questionnaires
• "A standardised, pre-set list of questions on paper or online. They can be distributed in person, via the post or via the internet. The respondent then reads and answers the questions on their own. There is no need for a researcher to be present, although they can be distributed to a captive audience e.g. in a classroom, and collected immediately.
• Open question - these give the respondent the opportunity to express their opinions and views in their own words
• Closed questions - a pre-set number of responses presented to the respondent to select from or a limited question with a fixed numerical answer or yes/no response
• Scaled or graded questions - these are often considered a form of closed questions. They ask respondents to select a response along a scale to answer the question. the response will reflect the significance of an issue to the respondent or their strength of feeling.

Advantages of Questionnaires

• uncover a lot of detail
• closed questions makes it easy for trends and patterns to be found
• positivists like open questionnaires
• if you ensure aninimity, its ethical and uncovers more detail.
• large number of respondents can be involved without the researcher being present
• can be easy and cheap
• all respondents answer the same standardised questions (reliable data)
• short answers and closed responses easy to collate and quantify responses
• Hypothesis in an objective standardised way
• Anonymous, self-completion
• Internet
• Identify change over time if the same sample is re-visited using a longitudinal approach

Disadvantages of questionnaires

• low response rate
• people don't always know how to answer open questions, so leave them blank
• takes a large amount of time to collate open question responses
• going through a large number of responses can be boring, ergo the results become invalid
• leading questions - biased responses
• closed questions don't give enough choice (imposition problem) (validity)
• people may not tell the truth - sensitive topics, socially accepted responses
• not everyone interpretates the question the same way
• the choice of questions reflects what is important to the researcher
• respondents may not understand the question if there is no researcher present to explain and clarify what's been asked

Questionnaires

• The Hite Report
• published in 1976
• was a sexual revolution in 600 pages
• to answer sensitive questions dealing with the most intimate details of women's sexuality.
• Hite feminists innovation was simple
• 100,000 women samples ages 14 to 78 on what they do and don't like about sex.
• Results were groundbreaking
• The Hite report was anonymous and confidential
• Creating a good quality questionnaire is a difficult process, using a "pilot study" is a good way to ensure questions are understood and that data will be relevant.

Interviews

• Structured interviews - a questionnaire read out loud and the answers recorded. Little or no deviation from the strandardised questions prepared. liked by positivists.
• Unstructured interviews - conversational in nature. No fixed or pre-determined path. No pre-set questions. liked by interpretivists.
• Semi-structured interviews - the interviewer may have some pre-prepared questions but also wants the opportunity and flexibility to follow up interesting responses. liked by realists.
• An interview schedule - list of questions asked or in an unstructured interview, a list of possible topics to be covered in the conversation.
• Focus Group - Development of the interview approach. Group of people encouraged to discuss an issue, with the researcher acting as a "facilitator", encouraging participants and keeping the discussion going and keeping it on topic. These discussions are usually recorded, seen as naturalistic form of interview.
• Interviewer bias - the way in which the characteristics of the interviewer may affect the responses given due to the relationship

Advantages of structured interviews

• Quantitative data can be collected to identify patterns and trends, liked by positivists.
• Answers can easily be compared
• Fairly reliable results
• interviewers present to explain questions, improving response rates
• standardised approach - reliable
• quicker form of interview

Disadvantages of structured interviews

• Time consuming
• Expensive
• Interviewer bias may occur - respondents may give socially desirable answers rather than the truth
• Limited responses

Advantages of unstructured interviews

• The researcher can rephrase the question, to help the respondent understand
• Create a close relationship, will help them confide in sensitive matters
• Discussion will be in greater detail, exploration of issues - Perhaps uncovering forgotten areas
• Body language, face-to-face
• Qualitative data
• Liked by Interprevists

Disadvantages of unstructured interviews

• Not reliable
• Respondents may go on a tangent
• Time consuming
• Only use smaller samples for effectiveness
• Less representative
• Analysis is complicated. Subjected data
• Interviewer has to be highly skilled
• Interviewer bias

Advantage of semi-structured interviews

• Avoids the disadvantages associated with structured and unstructured interviews
• The interviewer can prompt or add follow up questions
• Liked by realists
• Uses both qualitative and quantitative data

Disadvantages of semi-structured interviews

• Don't have the advantages of structured and unstructured interviews
• Not standardised
• Lacks reliability
• Time consuming
• Interviewer bias may occur

Advantage of a focus group

• You can require a large amount of data in one interview
• Respondents may open up more if someone has the same opinion as them
• Shared experiences - honest data

Disadvantages of a focus group

• Uniqueness of each small group, their dynamic - can't be replicated
• Unreliable data
• Unrepresentative
• Forceful participants can dominate the discussion and affect the responses - validity
• Difficult to facilitate discussion and analyse data

Examples

• Cicourel and Kitsue (1963)
• "The education discussion makers"
• Always followed up their questions with "how do you mean?" as a simple way of gaining more information.
• Young and Willmott (1962)
• Used structured interviews during their research into extended families in east London.
• Sample of 933
• McKee and O'Brien (1983)
• Interviewing men
• Gender inequalities can have a significant impact on the data produced by cross-gender interviewing
• This reflects the patriarchal nature of gender relationships in society

Paul Willis (1977)

• Learning to Labour
• Culture - understanding class reproduction
• group interviews with non-conforming working class boys
• Ethical issues - what to share with teachers
• Has validity and but not reliability
• Ethnographic method
• Qualitative (interpretative) approach
• Participant observation
• Group/single discussions
• Diaries
• Worked behind a cafe bar, taking notes
• Access - took 6 months, observed a large number of people, then focused on non-conformists. Head teacher was the Gatekeeper.
• Made a research plan

Sue Sharpe

• "Just like a girl"
• Gender socialisation, wanted to "hear the girls voices"
• She created a Pilot study which helped her make her research
• She looked at early reading books and progressing in age reading. Focusing on working class girls, as she wanted to see their approach to their future.
• Social construction, social interactionist and feminist perspective (social economic division)
• She wanted to challenge parsons perspective of roles, Patriarchal division in society existed in the 70s
• Content analysis of media
• Changed her methods half way through
• Interviewed girls in the 70s and the 90s (talked to students and teachers)
• Interviews about the main issues, qualitative data (3D image)
• Questionnaires (long) quantitative data that enclosed no detail (2D image)

Ann Oakley (1974)

• "Housewife"
• - Boring, repetative work which isn't recognised
• Changed how sociologists thought about domestic labour
• Based on her own experiences - she was a housewife, with little interaction
• Women's liberation movement
• semi-structured and unstructured interviews
• Random sample of housewives
• Asked questions which are relevant to factory work, compared the results to another study on factory work
• Open ended approach ("tell me what you did in the last 24 hours"
• Questions about the male role in the house
• Researcher Bias

Eileen Barker

• "The Making of a Moonie"
• Seven year study
• Methodology - Theoretical and technical
• Triangulation - Observations and Questionnaires
• Access - they were suspicious at first, slowly gained trust then Americans visited her and she asked them what they wanted to ask

Observations

• Observations refer to watching a group's behaviour in their natural or usual setting. Often associated with Ethnography.
• Ethnography is when a researcher studies a groups way of life or culture. This often involves a sociologist immersing themselves in the everyday life of the group.
• Observation - interprevists, uncovers the meaning behind people's behaviour, detailed, valid data.
• - Each study is quite unique, unreliable
• - The objectivity of the researcher can be questioned if relationships are formed. How representative is the group being watched, can the results be generalised?
• 4 types of observation:
• 1) Participant Observation - when the sociologist becomes part of the group being observed, joining in with the activities
• 2) Non-Participant Observation - watches but doesn't take part. Quantitative data is required. Preferred, enabling the researcher to count instances of the behaviour they are interested in. They can see the bigger picture.
• 3) Overt Participation - open when the group knows they are being watched
• 4) covert - secret when the group do not know they are being watched. (ethical issues, no consent)

The Hawthorne Effect

• Refers to when people behave differently when they know they are being watched
• This affects the datas validity
• Some sociologists say that the longer you study a group, a bond of trust will be created and behaviour becomes more natural
• The term originated from Elto Mayos classic study of worker productivity at the Hawthorne plant. 1924-1932
• Verstehen - German term means to understand and comprehend the nature and significance of a phenomenon.
• Weber used it to refer to the social scientists attempt to understand empalthy for a person being studied, from their point of view
• Examples of John Griffin "Black Like me"
• Ethnographic approach/observational study
• participant - able to do what others do
• unrepresentative data, reliability, generalisable
• access - informed consent from gaekeepers, record data, DBS safeguard laws

Covert Participant Observation

• Advantages:
• People don't know they are being watched, so act natural
• Access - hard to reach groups
• Valid data - avoids Hawthorne effect
• Letting natural events unfold can be very common
• Disadvantages:
• Have to take part in activities - lacks reliability
• Practically - how to record data, issues with accuracy
• Gaining access to a hard to reach group - Gatekeeper
• Difficult not to interfere with the behaviour
• Deception, Consent and Ethical reasons
• Risk of going native and losing objectivity

Overt Participant Observation

• Advantages:
• Ethically better - you have informed concent, no deception
• Researcher can ask explicit questions without fear
• Notes and Records are more accurate and valid
• Disadvantages:
• You have to gain trust
• Hawthorne Effect
• Participating - how far do you become involved
• Going native

Overt Non-Participant Observation

• Advantages:
• You can survey the scene and collect more Quantitaive data - easy to make written records
• No ethical issues or deception - can ask open questions
• Quantitativa and Qualititave data
• No risk of illegal activity
• Disadvantages:
• Less detailed Qualititave data
• Hard to empathise - Vesthen
• Hawthorne effect
• Quality of data can be comprimised if the researcher isn't experiencing it (Weber)

William Whyte's - Street corner scoiety

Sampling

• Researchers select a smaller group of people known as a sample
• The aim is to select a representative sample (same characteristics as the target population), if its representative it can be generalised.
• A sampling frame, list of names of all members of the target population (can't always be accesed)
• Applies to both smaller Qualitative and large Quantitative data
• Choosing your sample depends on three factors:
• sampling frame
• Determination of sample size - based on budget, time, sample sizr influences gerneralisability
• Sampling method - random, non-random, systematic, volenteer, quota, cluster, opportunity

Official Statistics

• Statistics produced by the goverment collected through surveys, registrations and record keeping
• The most widely used secondany source in sociological research. Quantitative data, favoured by positivists
• Advantages:
• Trends and patterns can be collated
• Valid, Reliable - same statistics
• Generalisable
• Easy to access
• Large sample - representative
• Cover a large population - trends and patterns can be collated over time
• International comparisons
• Disadvantages:
• Unreliable sources
• Not representative
• Dark side of crime - not everything goes reported
• The way statsitics are collected change over time - hard to compare
• Statistics might not be standardised

Durkheim - Le suicide

Practical issues

• Time - to collect and collate data
• Cost - of research and resources
• Funding available - who is paying for it
• Location - Travel and transport issues
• Access - school children or criminals
• Availibility of secondary sources - harder to access diaries

Ethical Issues

• Informed consent of participants
• Deception
• Confidentiality
• Risk of going "native, losing objectivity and becoming biased
• Causing distress to participants
• Researcher danger

Theoretical issues

• Preference of poitivists/interpretivists/realism approach
• Sociological perspective - marxsists suspicious of official statistics, feminists favour unstructured interviews
• Personal values, opinions and interests of a researcher.

Triangualtion/Methedological pluralism

• using more than one method or source of data
• Generates a range of data

Key Terms

• Generalisability - If your data can be applied to the whole population.
• Validity - genuine, accurate reflection of what is being studied
• Reliability - if the study can be repeated and similar results recorded
• Representativness - if your sample reflects the characteristics of the population
• Objectivity - if it is conducted in an unbiased and impartial way, does not allow personal values to influence the research
• Operasionalisation - have to be clearly defined so that they can be measurable

Secondary data

• Examples :
• exsisting sociological research
• Official statistics
• Personal documents
• Media Accounts
• Guy Lansley's Analysis of "what is your main language" using the 2011 cesus. 41 million people without English as their main language.
• Advantages:
• Eaasy and quick to collate data, it's cheaper
• Detailed insight
• Reliable
• Can identify social changes over time
• Disadvantages:
• Lacks reliability - different interpretations, unrepresentative
• Lacks Validity - trutful?
• potential bias

Content Analysis

• Method used when studying media
• Usually Quantitative data - counting certain words used
• Can also be Qualititave data
• Examples:
• No more page three feminist research - cut out a picture of men and women over six months then stuk them up and compared them
• Sue Sharpe "just like a girl" - study in teenage girls views an aspirations with regard to education, family and culture. Questionnires became interviews and content analysis of girls' magazines.
• Advantage - Representative, Easy, Quick and cheap to access
• Disadvantage - Not reliable, authenticity, potential bias and exaggeration

Personal Documents

• Documents such as diaries and letters
• Can uncover meaning behind behaviour through analysis
• If the person who wrote the document was interviewed they might not remember the event and how they felt at the time
• Not representative
• Intended audience might affect the contents
• Access to documents is hard to achieve
• Liked by Interpretivists
• Thomas and Znaniecki
• -The polish peasant in Europe and America . first hand accounts through letters and diaries