Flashcards
Sociological research design: validity, reliability and sampling
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- 1Six basic stages in Research Design: Chose topic: 1. Aim/Hypothesis. 2. Decide methods (Operationalise). 3. Sample/ Sampling frame. 4.Pilot study. 5. Procedure. 6. Results/Conclusion.Evaluating sociological research:
- Validity
- Reliability
- Representativeness
- Generalisability - 2Validity is the extent to which the data is a true picture of the social reality of those being studied so that the research does what it sets out to do.Validity is particular important to interpretivists who seek to find meanings and motives people attach their actions and the actions of others. They collect qualitative data that is rich and detailed.
- 3For this type of data the researcher needs to be able to have rapport with the group or individuals they are researching, so they gain verstehen. They also want to probe responses people give.For example:
Macdonalds and Marsh spent a long time with youths they researched in Teeside. It was ethnographic, combining observation and unstructured interviews and some group discussions. They got to know the youths in detail and what its like to be a youth. - 4Reliability refers to how replicable a piece of research is, so that if it was to be carried out again the outcomes would be similar if not, the same.It is important to positivists who want to identify patterns and trends, find correlations or make comparisons with other groups or over a period of time.
- 5For example: The Hills Report identified patterns of inequality and trends over time. It was based on secondary data from government surveys and standardised questionnaires.The research must be carried out logically and systematically in an unbiased objective way.
- 6Representativeness is the extent to which the sample being researched are a fair reflection of the target population and are typical of those in the target populations.Positivists are keen to obtain representative sample so they can generalise their findings to the target population.
- 7To obtain representative sample researcher need to use a random sampling technique such as stratified random sampling.For example:
ELSA study which recruited respondents using a sampling method that provide a representative sample of the English population aged 50 and over. It was based on 12,000 respondents. - 8Generalisability is where researches can apply the findings from the research to the target population.To do this the sample needs to be large enough and typical of the target population.
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- A-Level Sociology Flashcards on Untitled, created by Beth Vickers on 07/03/2016.
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- Beth Vickers
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