Research Methods (Sociology)

Research Methods (Sociology)

1. Practical issues

   • Time: Some investigations take longer than others
   • Subject Matter: It has to interest you and the public. Don't want to offend people, so you need to think carefully about what you can do.
   • Money: Costs to you: Transport, equipment. Funding: You can get government funding if people are interested.
   • Oppurtunities: Job may clash with work hours/holidays. Likeliness: Research into prisons and research into education system may cause problems.

2. Ethical issues

   • Informed Consent
   • Right to withdraw
   • Deception
   • Privacy
   • Confidentiality
   • Protection from harm
   • Vulnerable Groups

3. Theoretical issues

   • Reliabilty
     • Is the method repeatable?
     • Not influnced
     • Does it represent the entire population of your sample? Is it generalisable?
   • Validity
     • Is it telling you the real picture of what is going on? Is it true to life?

4. Research Methods

   • Primary
     • Questionnaires
       • Open Questions
       • Closed Questions
     • Interviews
       • Structured
       • Unstructured
     • Observation
       • Non-participant
       • Participant
       • Overt
       • Covert
     • Experiment
       • Field
       • Lab
   • Secondary
     • Official Statistics e.g. League Tables, Crime Statistics.
     • Personal Documents e.g. diaries, letters, suicide notes.
     • Official Reports e.g. OFSTED reports

5. Sampling Methods

   • Random
   • Stratified
   • Quota
   • Volunteer
   • Oppurtunity
   • Snowball
   • Systematic

6. Theory

   • Positivists
     • Prefer quantitative data
       • See sociology as a science
   • Interpretivists
     • Prefer qualitative data
       • Seek to understand social actions and meanings.

7. Evidence

   • Laud Humphrey's Tea Room Study
   • Ancrum: Ethnological Study into drugs. University of Teeside
   • OFSTED Reports