Topic 1 - Choosing a research method

Topic 1 - Choosing a research method

1. Primary data - Is information collected by sociologists themselves for their own purpose..

2. Secondary data - Information not collected by sociologists themselves for their own research purposes by by other people..

3. Qualitative data - Information that is not statistical or numerical e.g. cannot be counted, averaged etc.

4. Quantitative - Information which is numerical or statistical.

5. Reliability - Whether the results are consistent. If the research was repeated by others then it should produce similar or same results.

6. Validity - Whether the research shows a 'true' accurate picture of the topic being studied.

7. Practical issues - Sociologists have to consider how easy the research will be conduct e.g. time/cost.

8. Ethical issues - Moral concerns about the potential harms the research may have to the people being researched.

9. Theoretical issues - Positivists and interpretivists have different views about how research should be conducted: Qualitative or Quantitative.

10. Representativeness - Refers to whether the sameple of people used in the research reflect the group the sociologists in interested in gaining information about.