Flashcards
UNIT 2: RESEARCH METHODS
Cards in this deck (27)
- 1What is primary data?Primary data refers to information that was not present before the research began & is generated by the researcher during the actual process of research
- 2What is secondary data?Secondary date refers to data which had already existed prior to the research & can include things from Official Statistics, diaries, newspapers etc
- 3What is the difference between QUANTITATIVE & QUALITATIVE DATA?QUANTITATIVE DATA: Data in the form of numbers
QUALITATIVE DATA: Data that is not in the form of numbers, including descriptive data & quotes from interviews etc - 4What is an advantage of QUANTITATIVE DATA?It is useful for measuring the strength of relationships between various factors & trends over time
- 5What is an advantage of QUALITATIVE DATA?It can provide a richer & more in depth picture of social life than the numbers in QUANTITATIVE DATA
- 6What is meant by validity?Data which presents a true & accurate description or measurement
- 7What is meant by reliability?Data which is carried out by different researchers using the same methods which obtain the same results
- 8What are some things researchers need to consider when designing a research process?- the values of the researcher
- values of society
- funding
- theoretical position - 9What is INTERPRETIVISM?The belief that human activity can only be understood in research if it involves seeing the world through the eyes of those being studied. INTERPRETIVISTS would favour participant observations & unstructured interviews - mainly qualitative data
- 10What is POSITIVISM?In contrast to Interpretivism, Positivism focuses on modelling its research on natural sciences. Positivists would prefer hard, quantitative data.
- 11What are some ethical considerations that need to be taken into account when conducting a research on individuals?- informed consent
- deception
- privacy
- confidentiality
- protection from harm
- ethics & the research process - 12What is a laboratory experiment?An experiment conducted in especially built surroundings.
- 13What is a field experiment?An experiment conducted in an everyday social setting
- 14What is a variable?Factors which affect behaviour - variables can vary or change
- 15What is a hypothesis?A statement that can be tested about the relationship about two or more variables
- 16What are some of the main aspects you need to take into account when conducting a laboratory experiment?- controlling variables (factors you can control & stay unchanged - this is possible to do in a laboratory)
- quantifying results ( results shown in the form of numbers)
- correlation & causation (if a change occurs in a variable which matches to another variable then there is a CORRELATION, which helps us to see the correlation is causative)
- laboratory experiments & people (humans are likely to define laboratories as artificial & act unnaturally in them) - 17What are some of the main aspects you need to take into account when conducting a field experiment?- lack of control (it is impossible to control all the variables that may affect results)
- the hawthorne effect (the way people's behaviour would change when they are aware they are participating in an experiment)
- experimenter bias (the way people's behaviour would change depending on how they see others)
- ethical questions - 18What is a social survey?A systematic collection of the same type of data from a large amount of people, normally designed to gather information on the same variables
- 19What is a sampling in a social survey?A sample is a selection part of the population. Researchers select a sample because they do not have the time to study the whole population - the sample should be representative so the generalisations are more likely to be true
- 20What is a sampling unit?Considering who should be included in the sample
- 21What is a sampling frame?A list of members of the population which may be selected to be studied eg single mums in north london
- 22What are the 5 different types of samples researchers can use when picking a population?- random sample
- systematic sample
-stratified sample
- quota sample
-snowball sample
-volunteer sample - 23What is a random sample?A random sample gives every member of the sampling frame an equal chance of being selected
ADVANTAGE: avoids bias
DISADVANTAGE: not representative - 24What is a systematic sample?A way of systematically selecting people from a sampling frame eg every 10th person of a register
DISADVANTAGE: not representative - 25What is a stratified sample?A stratified sample makes the sample of people picked representative of the broader population. For example, if the sampling frame has many more boys that it does girls, a stratified sample will make sure there is a equal number of both picked for the survey
- 26What is a quota sample?When the researcher picks anyone who is available - this is normally used for OPINION POLLS and MARKET RESEARCH
ADVANTAGE: simple, quick and cheap
DISADVANTAGE: not representative - 27What is a snowball sample?Sometimes a researcher will find it hard to get information from a specific type of group as they are very private. A snowball sample is when a researcher finds one person to survey, who then finds them another person and so on. This can be common when conducting researchers on drug dealers etc
ADVANTAGE: creates sampling frame where other methods may fail
DISADVANTAGE: not representative
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- A2 - Level SOCIOLOGY Flashcards on UNIT 2: RESEARCH METHODS, created by sarahrudolf on 03/04/2015.
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