Flashcards
Sociology- Research methods
Cards in this deck (52)
- 1What is it meant by a representative group?A group of people that resemble the charactersistics of the whole population being studied by a sociologist, in terms of social class, age, gender and make-up
- 2What is the name of the sociologists that like to take a scientific approach?-Positivists
- 3What is a sociological issue that means that make it difficult for sociologists to conduct studies in schools?-Ethical issues
-Children are vulnerable
-They might not understand
-It is harder to gain explicit consent - 4What is it meant by covert observation?-Observation that it carried out under cover. Those taking part in the study do not know that it is going on
- 5What is one disadvantage of quantitative research?It doesnt explain why certain decisions and actions were done.
- 6What is primary data?-Data collected by the sociologist themselves, for their own purpose and investigation
- 7What are some examples of secondary data?-Documents
-Historical documents
-Official statistics
-Diaries
-Newspapers - 8What is reliability?-The likelihood of a study being repeated and the results being exactly the same as the first time
- 9What is validity?-The likelihood of a piece of data being true or genuine
- 10What is research triangulation?-When two or more methods of data or sources is used.
-This is so that they compliment each other, the weaknesses of one may be the strength of the other - 11What is a Laboratory experiment?-An experiment being carried out under artificial lab conditions in an attempt to observe any cause and correlations
- 12What is the opposite of a lab experiment?- A field experiment; this is when the study is conducted in natural settings
- 13What is the Hawthorne effect?-The idea that participants may alter or provide false answers in hope that it would please the observer
-"Right answerism" - 14What is a pilot study-This is the "trial study" that is carried out to test for any flaws in the experiment
- 15What is a sample?-A group of participants that have been chosen to represent a population as a whole
- 16What is a sample frame?-A list of all the people in the population that the sociologist wants to study
- 17What is a closed question?-Questions that offer a limited number of pre-written answers
- 18What is an open ended question?-Questions that allow the participants to answer how they wish
- 19What is the response rate?-The proportion of a population that responds to the questions asked
- 20What are the different types of interviews?-Structured- pre-set questions
-Group- interviews that occur with more than one participant
-Semi-structured- both open and closed ended questions asked
-Unstructured -guided conversations - 21What is participant observation?-When the sociologist becomes a part of the natural setting
- 22What is non participant observationWhen the sociologist observes a setting without getting involved
- 23Evaluate the strengths of Official statistics-OS already exist, so they are often cheap and ease to use. The fact that they're updated periodically means trends can be observed.
-OS often based on large scale samples, increasing representatives, as gov want to know whats going on in general
-Cover relevant topics of the states interest
-Quantativity makes it easier to compare trends as values are often numerical - 24What is a hypothesis?-An untested theory that usually is expressed as a statement
- 25What is the difference between independent and dependent variables?-Independent is what the sociologist changes
-Dependent is what is measured - 26What is the difference in dependent and independent variables?-Independent is the variable that the sociologist changes
-Dependent is what is kept - 27What does objectivity mean?-The absence or bias of preconceived ideas
-When values or beliefs do not interfere with the truth - 28What is a longitudinal study?-A study that is conducted after several periods of time over a long time period
- 29What is the meaning of value consensus?-A shared culture; an agreement among the members of certain societies about values that are acceptable
- 30What is it meant if something is a representative piece of data?-If the data collected is reflective of the wider population
- 31What is snowball sampling?Collecting a sample of people that may otherwise be difficult to contact
-This is done as the researcher contacts a few individuals that are asked to suggest others who may be interested in taking part - 32What is opportunity sampling?-Slightly random
-Sociologists target captive audiences; those who may have gathered for other reasons
e.g. in public, at offices/school - 33What is operationalisation?-Turning a sociological concept into something measurable
-E.g finding out social class by using parental occupation - 34What are some types of sampling?-Random
-Quasi random
-Stratified
-Quota - 35Evaluate the studying of parents.-They influence primary socialisation of child
-Marketisation has given parents more power in education
-They are often involved with education outside of school.
-This makes them the hardest group to study
-May be unrepresentative as a certain type of parents may be inclined to be willing to be in the study. e.g. pro-school midlle class parents - 36Evaluate a laboratory experimentGood: - reliable
-
Bad: - impractical to try and control all factors
-Unethical; consent, deception, harm, Hawthorne effect - 37Evaluate researching teachers-One of the main groups in education
-
-They are overworked and may not be willing to take part
-They see the classroom as theirs and may see researchers as intruders
-Teachers are used to inspectors and putting on a front - 38What is the comparative method?-An experiment carried out in the mind of the sociologist
It consists of thinking of two groups with one main difference
-Compare the two groups and see if the variable makes a difference - 39Evaluate the comparative methodGood; - no harm
-realistic
-can study the past
Bad: - Gives even less control over factors, more inaccurate - 40Evaluate researching schools-Highly controlled institution
-Gatekeepers may deny access to certain situations
-Data of the school may not represent the whole picture, as it may be a way to maintain its reputation - 41-Evaluate questionnaires-Practic
al
-Ethical; participants don't need to answer
-Representative
-Quick, cheap
-Quantifiable
-No contact with researcher
-Low response rate
-Innacurate as answers are limited
-Only a particular type of people may answer
-No rapport with researcher
-A snapshot of a certain time
-Researchers importance and view - 42Evaluate researching pupils-Shows the effects of education system
-Power and status; children see any adults as teachers and may not feel comfortable to voice opinion, especially if it contradicts
Ability; -Children are less developed cognitively
-The may not understand the concept of the study
-Vunerability and ethics; -Informed consent may be hard to get from children
-Sensitive issues may be traumatic - 43Evaluate the disadvantages of Official statistics-Official statistics may not be reliable as participants may not complete accurately, due to misunderstanding or embarrassment
-The concepts thought of may not be the same for all
-Socially constructed; some statistics need to follow all criteria to be counted which could underestimate the numbers
-Male bias; the census is bias against women
-Political bias is another one; may change some definitions just to make government look better (e.g unemployment in 1980s change 30+ times) - 44What is the difference between hard and soft statistics?-Hard statistics are just counts of events that have happened e.g. births
-Soft statistics are more easily manipulates by society - 45What should you think of when I say the word documents?-Personal documents or public documents
- 46Evaluate personal documentsAdvantages; -More likely to be valid, due to the personal nature of the purpose, so writer may be more honest
-Personal documents are often cheap and quicker to access
Disadvantages; - They may not cover all the perspectives as some groups may not have written personal documents e,g those who cant read or write
-Personal documents like diaries may be subjected to personal bias - 47Are public documents good or bad? How may we study the usefulness of documents?Depends which one you're talking about
Historical; -Historical documents help us to study the past. BUT, words/ phrases may have changed over time, lowering our validity. Also, not every piece of historical documentation is able to be studied
-Authenticity, Credibility, Representative, Meanings - 48Describe stratified samplingThis is when a population is put into strata, base on social characteristics
-People are then chosen from random within each strata - 49Describe quota samplingSame as stratified but instead of random choices, the choices are based on the proportions
- 50TOP TIPInstead of just stating an advantage explain why they are good. For instance, OS are representative because govenrment wants to know about the population as a whole....or OS have wide social coverage because government wants to see areas they can improve
- 51TOP TIP!If a question asks you to evaluate the strengths or weaknesses of a certain research method, make sure you FOCUS on the one that they ASK for....dont give strengths vs weaknesses
- 52—
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- AS level Sociology Flashcards on Sociology- Research methods, created by Sparkle Shine on 24/02/2017.
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