Quantitative Research Methods (Positivists prefer)

Quantitative Research Methods (Positivists prefer)

1. Questionnaires

   • Written or self completed, usually closed ended
   • Bowles & Gintis - New York high school children to look at character traits

2. Structured Interviews

   • Young and Wilmott - gathered factual data about family life in London
   • Standardised questions, all the same questions asked

3. Official Statistics

   • Durkheim - suicide rates
   • Created by the government, such as births, deaths, exam results.

4. Experiments

   • Laboratory
     • Two groups - The experimental group & the control group
     • Milgram- Electric shocks 'fatal' to stop people lying
     • The Comparative Method
       • Carried out in mind of sociologist
       • Durkheim - study of suicide
   • Field
     • Take place in subjects natural surroundings and subjects do not know they are in an experiment
     • Rosenthal & Jacobsen - impact of self fulfilling prophecy and teacher labelling