GoConqr has a new look! Let us know what you think.

Sign up free

Flashcards

sociological methods

romena98 English 82 cards

Cards in this deck (82)

  1. 1Sociological methodsChoosing a research method:
    Sociologists use a range of different research methods and sources of data to collect information and test their theories.
    - Primary and secondary sources of data
    - Quantitative and Qualitative data
  2. 2Primary and secondary sources of data: Primary data is information collect by sociologists themselves for their own purpose. These purposes may be to obtain a "first hand" picture of a group or society, or to rest a hypothesis.Methods for gathering primary data:
    Social surveys - These involve asking people questions in a written questionnaire or an interview.
    Participant observation - the sociologist joins in with the activities of the group he/ she is studying.
  3. 3Experiments - sociologists rarely use laboratory experiments and the comparative method. A big advantage of using primary data is that sociologists may be able to gather precisely the information they need to test their hypothesis. However, this can be costly or time consuming.Secondary data: Information that has been collected or created by someone else for their own purpose , but which other sociologists can then use.
    These include official statistics and documents
  4. 4official statistics- produced by the government on a wide range of issues, such as crime and divorce as well as other statistics produced by businesses and organisations. Documents - such as letters, diaries, photographs, novels.Using secondary data can be a quick and cheap way of doing research, since someone has already produced the information. However, those who have produced it may not be interested in the same question, so the data might not produce the exact information needed for the research.
  5. 5Quantitative data - refers to the information in a numerical form. Examples of quantitative data includes official statistics on how many girls passed with five or more GCSEs.Qualitative data - gives a "feel" for what something is like or is subjective as it is based on someone's opinions. E.g. what it feels like to end a divorce. Evidence gathered by using participation observation which aims to give us a sense of what it feels like to be a member of a particular group.
  6. 6Some examples of types of data: Primary data: Quantitative - Questionnaires and Structured interviews. Qualitative - Participation observation and unstructured interviews.Secondary sources:
    Quantitative data - Official statistics
    Qualitative data - Letters, newspaper articles.
  7. 7Factors influencing choice of methods: We can look at these strengths and limitations in terms of a number of practical, ethical and theoretical issues.Practical issues:
    Time and money - Different methods require different amounts of time and money and this may influence the sociologist's choice.
    Large - scale surveys may employ dozens of interviews and data- inputting staff and cost a great deal of money.
  8. 8By contrast, a small - scale project involving a lone researcher using participant observation may be cheaper to carry out, but it can take several years to complete,Requirements of funding bodies - Researching institutes, businesses and other organisations that provide the funding for research may require the results to be in a particular form. This means the sociologist will have to use a a specific method to suit the research.
  9. 9Personal skills and characteristics: Each sociologist possesses different personal skills, and this may affect their ability to use different methods. Participation observation requires the ability to mix well with people whilst in depth interviews call for the ability to build a rapport.Subject matter: It may be much harder to study a particular group, by one method by another.
    Research opportunity: The opportunity to carry out research occurs unexpectedly and so it is not possible to use structured methods such as questionnaires, which take longer to prepare.
  10. 10Ethical issues: Refers to moral issues of right and wrong. Informed consent - Research participants should be offered the right to refuse. The researcher should tell them all the relevant aspects of the research, so that they can make an informed decision.Confidentiality and privacy: Researchers should keep the identity of research participants secret in order to help to prevent the possible negative effects on them. Researchers should also respect the privacy of research participants, by keeping personal info confidential.
  11. 11Effects on research participants: Researchers need to be aware of the possible side effects of their work on those they study. Whenever possible, researchers should try to anticipate and prevent such harmful effects.Vulnerable groups: Special care should be taken where research participants are particularly vulnerable because of their age, disability or physical and mental health. For example, while studying children at school they have to regard issues of child protection.
  12. 12Covert research: When the research's identity and purpose is hidden from the participants. This can cause ethical problems, such as deceiving or lying to people in order to obtain information.Theoretical issues: This refers to questions about what we think society is like and whether we can obtain an accurate, truthful picture of it. Our views of these issues will affect the kinds of methods we favour using.
  13. 13Validity: A valid method is one that produces a true or genuine picture of what something is like, it allows the researcher to get closer to the truth. Quantitative methods such as participation observation gives us a more valid account, through the deeper insight and 1st hand experience.Reliability: Another word for this is replicability. A replica is an exact copy of something, so a reliable method is one which when repeated by another researcher, gives the same results.
  14. 14Representativeness: Refers to whether or not the people we study are a typical cross section of the group we are interested in. Large scale quantitative surveys that use sampling techniques to select their sample are more likely to produce representative data.Methodological perspectives: Sociologists' choice of method is also influenced by their methodological perspective - their view of what society is like and how we would study it. There are 2 contrasting perspectives.
  15. 15Positivists: Prefer quantitative data Seek to discover patterns of behaviour See sociology as a scienceInterpretivists:
    Prefer qualititative data
    Seek to understand social actor’s meanings
    Reject the view that sociology as a science
  16. 16Functionalist and Marxist often take a positivist approach. They see society as a large – scale (macro – level) structure that shapes our behaviour. By contrast, interactionalists favour an interpretivist approach. They take a micro – level view of society, focusing on small – scale, face to face interactions.Choice of topic: Theoretical perspective: The sociologist’s theoretical perspective is a major influence upon their choice of research topics. For example, a feminist researcher is more likely to choose a study on domestic violence. Whereas, a New right researcher may study the effects of the welfare benefits on the growth of lone parent families.
  17. 17Society's values: Sociologists themselves are part of the society they study and thus are influenced by its values. As these values change so does the focus of the research.Funding bodies: Most research requires funding from an external body. These bodies include government agencies, charitable organisations and businesses. As the funding body is paying for the research, they will determine what topic is to be investigated.
  18. 18Practical factors: Such as the inaccessibility of certain situations to the researchers, may also restrict what topic they are able to study. E.g. sociologists may want to study the ways in which global corporations make their decisions, but their is issues with secrecy.Topic two - Education (the research context):
    We can identify the following 5 characteristics of education as an area for research.
    pupils, teachers, parents, classrooms and schools.
  19. 19Researching pupils: In education, many of the people sociologists study are children and young people - pupils/students. There are issues such as - power/status, ability, vulnerability, and ethical issues.Power and status: In school contexts, young people have less power and status than adults. This makes it difficult for them to state their views openly, especially if it challenges an adult's opinion. However, this is reinforced by school as hierarchical which gives teachers power and status over pupils.
  20. 20Ability: Pupil's vocabulary,power of self expression, thinking skills and confidence are likely to be more limited than those of adults - particularly when trying to express those of abstract ideas. E.g. sociologists will need to word their questions carefully to make sure it is understandable.Limitations in pupil's understanding also make it more difficult to gain their informed consent. This is because the sociologists may not be able to explain the nature of the research in words that they can clearly understand.
  21. 21Vulnerability and ethical issues: As a result of their more limited powers and ability, young people are often more vulnerable to physical and psychological harm than adults. This raises ethical issues for the researcher. Given the vulnerability of the school - age pupils, child protection issues are important.Most research guidelines emphasises that young people too should be aware of what the research entails. It is not enough to have consent from just the parents and teachers. The research should also consider stress. E.g questioning children for long periods of times is inappropriate.
  22. 22Researching teachers: Power relations in the schools are not equal. Teachers have more power and status because of their age, experience and responsibility within the school. They also have a legal responsibility within the school and a duty of care towards the young people they teach.The nature of the classroom reinforces the power of the teacher. Teachers often see it as "my classroom" in which the researcher is viewed as trespasser. Teachers are often over -worked and may be less than fully cooperative, even when they want to be helpful.
  23. 23Researching classrooms: The classroom is unusual in being a closed, highly controlled social setting. It has clear boundaries and restrictions on actions and behaviour. E.g the teacher and school control time, behaviour, language, dress and the layout of the classroom.Young people in school based groups such as classes and friendship groups may be more sensitive to peer pressure and the need to conform, and this may affect the way they respond to being researched.
  24. 24Researching schools: Researchers may come to be seen as part of the hierarchy. E.g students may see them as teachers, while teachers see them as inspectors. In schools where there is conflict, for example between students and teachers, researchers maybe seen as the enemy.Head teachers have a great deal of power, including the power to refuse the researcher the access to the school. Heads and governors may refuse permission if they believe the research will interfere with the work of the school.
  25. 25Schools operate within a particular legal framework. E.g the law requires them to collect information on pupil's attendance, achievement and this may be useful to sociologists. However, the legal duty of care that the school have towards the pupils may mean that researcher's access to them is restricted.Researching parents: Parents may influence what goes on in education, both in the way they bring up their children and by their involvement in school through parent - teacher contacts, attendance at parents evening. Marketisation policies also encourage parents to see themselves as consumers.
  26. 26However, parents are unusual in that they are for most part physically outside the school. This may make them more difficult to contact and research. Some parents may be more willing to participate in research. E.g returning questionnaires about their child's education.Topic 3 - Experiments: Sociologists have occasionally used the lab experiments as a way of studying human behaviour. There are different types of experimental methods used
    Laboratory, field experiments and the comparative method.
  27. 27The experimental group: With this group, we might vary the quantity or change the variables, carefully measuring and recording any changes. The control group: We can keep the quantity constant, the measuring the changes.The logic of the experimental method is that the scientist manipulates (alters) the variables in which they are interested, in order to discover what effect they have.
  28. 28Reliability: Once an experiment has been conducted, other scientist can then replicate it, they can then repeat it in every detail. The laboratory experiment is therefore highly reliable, producing the same results each time.- The original experimenter can specify precisely what steps were followed in the original experiment so that other researchers can repeat these in the future.
    - It is a detached method: the researcher merely manipulates the variables and records the results.
  29. 29- The scientist's personal feelings and opinions have no effect on the conduct of the experiment. The laboratory experiment therefore has major advantages as the method used to identify cause - and - effect relationships in the natural sciences.Positivists favour laboratory experiments because it achieves the main goal of reliability.
    - it allows the researcher to identify and measure behaviour patterns quantitatively and manipulate variables to establish cause and effect relationship.
  30. 30However, positivists recognise shortcomings of laboratory experiments: - it is often impossible or unethical to control the variables. - Their small scale means that results may not be representative. For this reason positivist sometimes use the comparative method instead.Interpretivists reject the laboratory experiment because it fails to achieve the main goal of validity. It is an artificial situation producing unnatural behaviour. Interpretivists favour more naturalistic field experiments, but positivists criticise this method for reducing control over variables.
  31. 31Practical problems: Society is a very complex phenomenon. In practise it would be impossible to identify and control all the variables. Also, it cannot be used to study the past. Next, lab experiments usually only study small samples so this reduces representativeness.Ethical problems: There are moral objections to conducting experiments on human beings, at least under certain circumstances. As a general the researcher needs the informed consent of the research participant.
  32. 32However, this may be difficult to obtain from groups such as children or people with learning difficulties who may be unable to understand the nature and purpose of the experiment.The Hawthorne Effect: A laboratory is not a normal environment. As a result it is likely that any behaviour that occurs in these conditions is also unnatural. If people do not behave true to life ways, the experiment will not produce valid results. If people know they are being studies they might behave differently.
  33. 33Free will: Interpretivist sociologists, such as interactionists argue that human beings are fundamentally different from plants and other things studied by scientists. We have free will, consciousness and choice.Two alternatives to the laboratory experiments:
    - field experiments
    - The comparative method
  34. 34Field experiments - features: - It takes place in the subject's natural surroundings, such as school or the work place, rather than an artificial lab environment. - Those involved are generally not aware so there is no Hawthorn effect.The researcher manipulates one or more of the variables in the situation to see what effect it has on the unwitting subjects of the experiment. E.g. Rosenthal and Jacobson manipulated teacher's expectations about children's abilities in order to see what effect labelling has on achievement.
  35. 35Some critics also argue that field experiments are unethical, since they involve carrying out an experiment on their subjects without their knowledge and consent.The comparative method: Is carried out only in the mind of the sociologist. It is a "thought experiment" and it does not involve the researcher actually experimenting on real people at all. However, it too is designed to discover cause - and - effect relationship.
  36. 36- Identify two groups of people that are alike in all major respects except for the one variable we are interested in. - Then compare the two groups to see if this one difference between them has any effect.Example: Emile Durkheim (1897) study on suicide. Durkheim's hypothesis was that low levels of integration of individual's into different social groups caused high rates of suicide. He argued different religious groups produced different levels of integration, with Catholicism producing higher levels that protestantism.
  37. 37Durkheim then tested his prediction by comparing the suicide rates of Catholics and Protestants who were similar in all other aspects such as where they live, married/single. His prediction was supported by official statistics on suicide.In seeking to discover cause and effect relationship, the comparative method has 3 advantages over lab experiments:
    - avoids artificiality
    - Can be used to study the past
    - It poses no ethical problems, such as harming or deceiving objects.
  38. 38Topic 4 - Social surveys: Involves gathering information by asking people questions about their lives, attitudes, opinions or behaviour.Social surveys take two basic forms. Questions can be put to people via:
    Written questionnaires - which respondents are asked to complete and return to post or email.
    Interviews - either face to face or by telephone.
  39. 39Types of questions: Close ended questions - the respondents (participant) must choose their answer from a limited range of possible answers that the researcher has decided upon in advance. "yes, no, don't know" or like a multiple choice.Close ended questions are often pre - coded for ease of analysis later. The information can then be fed into a computer for processing, enabling the researcher to quantify the number of respondents choosing each of the available answers.
  40. 40Open ended questions: the person answering is free to give whatever answer they want, in their own words and without any pre selected choices being offered by the researcher. Most surveys either have a general aim to seek to test a specific hypothesis.A hypothesis is more specific than an aim. It is a possible explanation that can be tested by collecting evidence to prove it true or false. The advantage of a hypothesis is that it gives direction to the research.
  41. 41Operationalising concepts: Before we can test the hypothesis, we need a working definition of our key ideas or concepts. This is because, without this we cant count the numbers of working class pupils who have or don't have qualifications.Once we have a working or "operational" definition of our concept, we can set about writing questions that measure it. Operationalising a concept may seem straightforward, but a problem can arise when different sociologists operationalise the same concept differently,
  42. 42The pilot study: Once we have a hypothesis we want to test, the next stage is to produce a draft version of the questionnaire or interview schedule that we intend to use, and to give this a trial run. This is known as a pilot study.The basic aim of the pilot study is to iron out any problems, refine or clarify questions and their wording and giver the interviewers practise, so the actual survey goes smoothly. E.g Young and Wilmott (1962) carried out over 100 pilot interviews to help them decide on the design of the study.
  43. 43Sampling: A sample is a smaller sub - group drawn from the wider group that we are interested in. The process of creating or selecting a sample is called sampling. The basic purpose of sampling is usually to ensure that those people we have chosen to include in the study are representative of the research population.The sampling frame: To choose a sample, we need a sampling frame - this is a list of all the members of the population we are interested in studying. It is important that the list we use as a sampling frame is as complete and accurate as possible - otherwise it may not be representative.
  44. 44Sampling techniques: Sociologists use various sampling techniques to achieve a representative sample. Random sampling - Is the simplest technique, where the sample is selected purely by random chance. E.g names drawn out of a hat.Quasi - random sampling: is similar, for instance every tenth or hundredth name on a list is selected. Young and Wilmott used every thirty - sixth name on the electoral register for their general sample.
  45. 45However, with both techniques there is always a chance that the sample obtained is not truly representative. Other more sophisticated techniques of sampling can reduce the chance of getting an unrepresentative sample, this includes stratified random sampling and Quota sampling.Stratified random sampling: by first dividing the population into males and females, and then taking a 1% sample of each, we can ensure that we end up with equal numbers of each sex, and thus the sample is representative of the population as a whole.
  46. 46Quota sampling: Is similar to stratified random sampling, but instead of choosing the samples for each category (E.g males/females) randomly, the researchers go out looking for the right number of each sort of person required in each category.Non - representative sampling: For both practical and theoretical reasons, not all studies use representative sampling techniques.
  47. 47Practical reasons: There are several practical reasons why it may be impossible to create a representative sample, even when the researcher wishes to do so. - potential respondents may refuse to participate in the survey.- It may be impossible to find or create a sampling frame for that particular research population.
    - The social characteristics of the research population, such as age, gender and class may not be known.
  48. 48Some sociologists use snowball or opportunity samples: Snowball sampling involves collecting a sample by contacting a number of key individuals, who are asked to suggest others who might be interviewed, and so on until enough data has been added.Opportunity sampling (convenience sampling) involves choosing from those individuals who are easiest to access. E.g selecting passer - bys on the street. The sample is not likely to be representative of the target research population.
  49. 49Theoretical reasons: Interpretivists believe that it is more important to gain valid data and an authentic understanding of social actor's meanings than to discover general laws of behaviour. Because interpretivists are less concerned to make generalisations, they have less need for representative samples.Topic 5 - Questionnaires: Written questionnaires (self - completion questionnaires) are the most commonly used form of social survey. The biggest survey in the UK, is the 10 year Census of the whole population, is a written questionnaire.
  50. 50Questionnaires can be distributed to people at home and returned by post or in person, e - mailed or completed and collected on the spot. Questionnaires ask respondents to provide answers to pre - set questions. Questions tend to be closed answers with pre coded answers, but open ended questions can also be used.Practical advantages:
    - They are quick and cheap means gathering large quantities of data from large groups of people, widely spread geographically, especially if postal questionnaires are used.
  51. 51- There is no need to recruit and train interviewers to collect the data, because respondents complete and return the questionnaires themselves. - The data are usually easy to quantify, particularly where pre - coded, closed-ended questions are used, and can be processed quickly by computer.Positivists favour questionnaires because they achieve the main goal of reliability, generalisability and representativeness.
    - standardised questions and answers produce reliable data because other researchers can replicate the questionnaires.
  52. 52- Pre coded responses allow us to produce quantitative data, identify and measure behaviour behaviour patterns, and establish cause and effect relationships. -Questionnaires are often large scale and thus more representative.Interpretivists - reject the use of questionnaires because they impose the researcher's framework of ideas on respondents. This tells us about the meanings held by social actors. Questionnaires fail to achieve the main interpretivist goal of validity.
  53. 53Reliability: If repeated by another researcher, the questionnaire should give similar results to those gained by the first researcher. - When the research is repeated, a questionnaire identical to the original is used. Also, there is no researcher present to influence the respondents answer.Hypothesis testing: Questionnaires are particularly useful for testing hypotheses about cause and effect relationships between different variables. This is attractive to positivist sociologists.
  54. 54Detachment and objectivity: Positivists also favour questionnaires because they are a detached and objective form of research, where the researchers personal involvement with their respondents is kept to a minimumRepresentativeness: Because questionnaires can collect information from a large number of people, the result stand a better chance of being truly representative of the wider population than with other methods that study only very small numbers of people, such as participation observation.
  55. 55Ethical issues: Questionnaires pose few ethical problems. Although, questionnaires may ask intrusive or sensitive questions, respondents are generally under no obligation to answer them. Nevertheless, researchers should gain their informed consent, and guarantee anonymity.Disadvantages of questionnaires:
    Practical problems - The data from questionnaires tend to be limited and superficial. One practical problem is they need to be fairly brief since most respondents are unlikely to complete and return a long, time consuming questionnaire.
  56. 56Similarly, although questionnaires are relatively cheap means of gathering data, it may sometimes be necessary to offer incentives - such as entry to prize draw - to persuade respondents to complete the form. This adds to the cost.With postal questionnaires, the researcher cannot be sure:
    -Whether the potential respondent has actually received the questionnaire.
    - Whether a returned questionnaire was actually completed by the person to whom it was addressed.
  57. 57Response rate: Although questionnaires have the potential to collect data from large, representative samples, very low response rates can be a major problem, especially with postal questionnaires, this is because few of those who receive a questionnaire both to complete and return it.Inflexibility: Questionnaires are a very inflexible method. Once the questionnaires has been finalised, the researcher is stuck with the questions they have decided to ask and cannot explore new areas of interest should it arise after. Unlike unstructured interviews where the interviewer can change the direction.
  58. 58Questionnaires as snapshots: Questionnaires are snapshots. They give a picture of social reality at only one moment in time: the moment when the respondents answers the questions.Detachment: Argued that questionnaires lack validity and do not give the true picture of what has been studied. They argue that we can only gain a valid picture by using methods that allow us to get a close to the subjects of the study and share their meanings.
  59. 59Questionnaires fail to do this because they are the most detached of all primary methods. For example, postal questionnaires involve no direct contact between the researcher and the respondent. This lack of contact means there is no opportunity to clarify what a question means.Lying, forgetting and "right answerism":
    All methods that gather data by asking questions depend ultimately on their respondents' willingness and ability to provide full and accurate answers. E.g. respondents might lie or try to please the researcher.
  60. 60Some may try to give a "respectable" answer instead of the truth. This is a disadvantage when compared to observational methods, since the observer can see for their self what the subjects actually do, rather than what they say they do.Imposing the researcher's meanings:
    Interpretivists argue that questionnaires are more likely to impose the researcher's own meanings than to reveal those of the respondent.
  61. 61- if we choose close ended questions, respondents then have to try to fit their views into the ones they offer. - By choosing which question to ask, the researcher, not the respondent, has already decided what is important and what is not.Interviews: Sociologists use a range from completely structured to completely unstructured interviews.
  62. 62Structured: The interviewer is given strict instructions on how to ask the question. The interview is conducted in the same standardised way each time, word for word, in the same order, tone of voice. so on.Unstructured interview: Are like a guided conversation. The interviewer has the complete freedom to vary the questions, their wording, order and so on from one interview to the next, asking follow up questions more deeply.
  63. 63Most interviews are one - to - one, but some are group interviews, with up to a dozen or so being interviewed together. Willis (1977) used group interviews as parts of his research on "lads" and schooling.Group interviews:
    Strengths - participants feel more comfortable being with others, and more likely to open up.
    - In a discussion, participants often throw ideas around in the group, stimulating each others thinking. This produces richer and more reflective date.
  64. 64- They can be a useful way of generating initial ideas that can be followed up in later research. - The researcher can combine questioning with the opportunity to observe group dynamics and norms.Limitations:
    - One or two individuals may dominate the discussion, inhabiting others from contributing.
    - Peer group pressure to conform to group norms may lead to participants not saying what they really think.
  65. 65- Much depends on the researcher's ability to keep the group focused on the discussion topic. - Data generated from group interaction is more complex and difficult to analyse.Structured interviews - practical issues:
    - Training interviewers is relatively straightforward and inexpensive, since all they are really required to do us follow a set of instructions. However, this is more costly than simply posting questionnaires to people.
  66. 66- structured interviews are suitable for gathering straightforward factual information such as a person's age or job. - The results are easily quantified because they are closed - ended questions with coded answers.. This make them suitable for hypothesis testing.Response rate: The large number of people who can be surveyed using structured interviews increases the chances of obtaining a representative sample of the population. Although the numbers that can be studied are lower than questionnaires, it generally has a high response rate.
  67. 67Response rates can be increased if the interviewer can make it several call backs to pursue those who fail to respond initially. However, this increases the cost of the survey. High response rates help to produce a more representative result.Reliability: If a method is reliable, another sociologist could repeat the research and the same result. They can ensure that each interview is conducted in precisely the same way with the same questions.
  68. 68validity: A valid method is one that produces a true, authentic picture of the topic being researched. Critics of structured interviews argue that, like questionnaires, they often produce a false picture of the subjects that they are trying to study.Structured interviews usually use closed - ended questions that restrict interviewers to choosing from a limited number of pre - set answers. If none of these answers fits the interviewers really wishes to say, the data obtained will be invalid.
  69. 69Structured interviews give the interviewers very little freedom to explain questions or clarify misunderstandings. - People may lie or exaggerate, these responses will produce false data.The interview is a social interactions and so there is always a risk that the interaction between the interviewer and interviewee will influence the answers given.
  70. 70Inflexibility: Like self completed questionnaires, structured interviews suffer from the inflexibility that comes from having to draw up the questions in advance.. As a result, the findings may lack validity because they do not reflect the interviewee's concerns and priorities.Feminist criticisms: Graham (1983) argues that survey methods such as questionnaires and structured interviews are patriarchal and give a distorted, invalid picture of woman's experiences.
  71. 71- The researcher is a control of the interview and decides the line of questioning to be followed. This mirrors woman's subordination in wider society. - Surveys impose the researcher's categories on women, making it difficult for them to express their experiences and concealing unequal power relations.Unstructured interviews:
    Advantages - While structured interviews are criticised for their lack of validity, unstructured interviews are seen as a way of gathering valid data, enabling researchers to get a deeper understanding of the interviewee's world.
  72. 72Rapport and sensitivity: The informality allows the interviewer to develop a rapport with the interviewee. This is more likely to put them at ease and encourage them to open up than a formal structured interview. Useful for sensitive topics such as abuse.The interviewee's view: Because there are no set questions, unstructured interviews allows the interviewee more opportunity to speak about those things are important. By allowing them greater freedom to express their views , it is more likely to produce fresh insights and valid data.
  73. 73Checking understanding: A major advantage of unstructured interviews is that they make it easier for interviewer and interviewee to check each other's meanings, which then can be explained using follow up questions if necessary.Flexibility: Unstructured is highly flexible and the interviewer is not restricted to a fixed set of questions in advance. The researcher can formulate new ideas and hypothesis and then put them to the test as they arise during the course of the interview.
  74. 74Exploring unfamiliar topics: Where the topic is one we don't know much about yet, unstructured interviews are more useful, because they are open - ended and explanatory.Disadvantages of unstructured interviews:
    Practical problems: They take a long time to construct, which limits the number that can be carried out. Also training also needs to be more thorough than for someone conducting structured interviews.
  75. 75Representativeness: The smaller numbers involved means a greater likelihood that the sample interviewed will not be representative, harder to make valid generalisations.Reliability: Unstructured interviews are not reliable because they are not standardised. Each interview is unique.
  76. 76Quantification: Because unstructured interviews use mainly open - ended questions, answers cannot be pre coded. This makes it very difficult to count up and quantify the numbers of interviewees giving this or that answers.Validity: Unstructured interviews are generally seen as producing valid data. However, since it is a social interaction the interviewer can influence the results.
  77. 77Topic 7 - Participant observations: (types of observations: non - participant observation: the researcher simply observes the group without taking part in it Participant observation - The researcher actually takes part in the group whilst observing it.Overt observation: The researcher makes their true identity and purpose known to those being studied. The sociologist is open about what they are doing.
    Covert observation: The study is carried out "under cover" with the researcher taking on a false identity.
  78. 78Two main problems when conducting a participant observation: - getting in, staying in and getting out of the group being studied. - Whether to use overt or covert observation.Getting in: To do the study, we must first gain entry to the group.
    Making contact: Depends on personal skills and having the right connections, or even pure chance.
  79. 79Acceptance: To gain entry to a group, the researcher will have to win their trust and acceptance. However, the researcher's age, gender, age, class or ethnicity may prove to be a barrier. Some researchers have gone to great lengths to gain acceptance and pass as one in the group.Observer's role: "Getting in" poses the question of what the researcher should adopt:
    - be one that does not disrupt the groups normal pattern.
    - offer a good vantage point from which to make observations.
  80. 80Staying in: Once accepted, the researcher needs to be able to stay in the group and complete the study. The key problem for the researcher - having to both be involved in the group to understand it fully, but also remain detached from the group so it remains objective and unbiased.Going native: By over - identifying with the group, the researcher becomes biased. When this happens they have stopped being an objective observer and have simply become a member of the group.
  81. 81Getting out: If worse comes to worse, the researcher can simply call a halt and leave. This is usually when there are dangerous situations or the group becomes too violent. The researcher may also find that loyalty prevents them from fully disclosing everything they have learnt, from fear of harming members.Overt observation:
    -It avoids the ethical problem of obtaining information by deceit, and when studying deviant groups, that of being expected to join in their activities.
    -It allows the researcher to ask naive but important questions that only a outsider can ask.
  82. 82- the observer can take notes openly. However: A group may refuse the researcher permission to observe them, or prevent them from seeing everything. - Risk of creating the Hawthorn effect, where does being observed behave differently.Covert observation - practical issues:
    The main advantage is that it reduces the risk of people altering their behaviour, and sometimes the only way of gaining valid data.
    However - It requires the researcher to keep up an act, and there is a risk of their cover being blown.

Information

Description
Flashcards on sociological methods, created by romena98 on 15/05/2015.
Created by
romena98
Views
4
Rating

Feedback

What is it about?

What do you think of the new look?

How do you like it?