Flashcards
Sociology - Methods in Context
Cards in this deck (7)
- 1SurveysSurveys are key forms of research that generally measure quantitative data on a given subject. Sociologists use surveys to attempt to assess data objectively. One popular type of survey is known as a questionnaire. Questionnaires allow for more precise comparisons among larger groups of people but often can be too highly standardised, thus producing information that does not reflect the true concerns and opinions of the people being studied. Even open-ended questions can pose problems, as people may answer what they profess to believe rather than what they actually believe. Also, surveys can exclude non-literate and non-English speaking individuals.
Examples:
‘Women Graduates Paid Less’ Caroline Benfield (2007)
Approx 25,000 students asked to complete questionnaires three years after graduating.
‘The Other Side of the Gender Gap’ Molly Warrington and Michel Younger (2000)
This was a survey of 20 eastern English secondary schools looking at the gender gap that made girls feel alienated from traditional male subjects even though they consistently outperformed boys at age 16+. - 2InterviewsInterviews are usually conducted by sociologists in intimate environments for the purposes of gathering either quantitative facts or qualitative (small scale, biographical, detailed and/or opinionated) information. Interviews can be hugely informative and eye-opening ways to understand social processes from first hand accounts; however, they have limitations. Often, interviewers can steer conversations in certain directions in order to suit their own research objectives, thus failing to discover the true concerns of those interviewed. Interviews can be either structured or unstructured. Structured interviews are usually based on a prescribed set of questions, with very little or no deviation from the script. Unstructured interviews may have a general theme of questions from which the interviewer and interviewee can elaborate if it is felt that it is necessary to do so.
- 3Interviews examplesExamples:
‘Family Linguistic Culture and Social Reproduction: Verbal skill from parent to child in the preschool and school’[3] Kurt and Farkas (2001)
This study examined the effects of social class background on children's oral language development.
‘Racism in Children’s Lives: A Study of mainly-white primary schools’[4] Barry and Hatcher (1992)
This was a study of the effects of social class background on children’s oral language development. Interviews were conducted with students aged 10 and 11 over a period of 2 years. - 4Ethnographic methodsSociologists (and anthropologists) employ the research approach of ethnography in order to gain in-depth understandings of their topics. Ethnography is a qualitative approach, which involves first-hand study of, and often direct engagement with, the people that researchers wish to learn about. Ethnographic researchers predominantly use the method of participant observation, becoming assimilated into the specific groups that they wish to study by living and/or working alongside group members.
Ethnographic researchers will often take part in daily tasks and contribute to the overall well-being of a group, organisation, or community. Ethnographic researchers often conduct interviews (usually informal) to gather information, and can sometimes perform non-participant observation research during which they are observing social behaviour objectively as outsiders. Overall, ethnographic fieldwork not only generates rich, detailed information about individual and group behaviour but also allows for an understanding of broader social processes. - 5Ethnographic methods examplesExample:
‘Class, Codes and Control’ Basil Bernstein (1971)
A study of the relationship between social class and the use of language within the context of the family and the school and how this can affect educational achievement. - 6Secondary dataSociologists of education often rely on secondary data that has initially been collected by others. This includes official statistics published by the government as well as school reports, textbooks and other personal documents.
- 7ConclusionLike many areas of sociological research, education is a politically important topic because of its direct links to social policy and government strategy.
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- A level Sociology Flashcards on Sociology - Methods in Context, created by Megan Griffiths on 14/12/2018.
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- Megan Griffiths
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