Flashcards
Types of research methods
Cards in this deck (23)
- 1The social surveyInvolves a systematic collection of mainly quantitative data from a fairly large number of people; normally this is achieved through questionnaires
- 2Longitudinal surveysAnalysing the same group of people over a long period of time
- 3QuestionnairesA list of questions simply written down to be answered by the respondant
- 4Closed questionnairesA series of questionnaires accompanied by a choice of answers; such questionnaires produce quantitative data
- 5Open questionnairesThe respondent is asked to write down what they feel; this type produces more qualitative data
- 6A self reportA type of questionnaire that lists a number of items or activities and asks the respondent to tick what they have experienced
- 7Attitudinal questionnairesAsks on a scale of 1-10 for example
- 8InterviewA face to face interaction that is usually written down or recorded. Interviews can be particularly useful when studying areas that are not accessible to social study
- 9Structured interviewsStructured interviews usually involves the researcher reading out from a list of closed questions from an interview schedule. The responses are usually converted into quantitative data
- 10Official statisticsOfficial statistics are the numerical data collected by the government usually gathered through surveys
- 11Unofficial statisticsQuantitative data that is collected by non government sources such as employers, professional bodies, trade unions, political parties, think tanks, charities etc
- 12Content analysisHow particular social groups are represented in the product being analysed. This is normally done by counting the frequency of certain images such as those contained in adverts
- 13EthnographyWriting about the way of life, culture of social groups. Preferred by interprevists
- 14Unstructured interviewsIs essentially a guided conversation where the talk is informal but the interviewer plays an active role to make the talk stays relevant
- 15Group interviewsThey might involve the interviewer talking a group or a panel of respondents. They are often used to interview children.
- 16Focus group interviewsFocus group interviews usually involve people getting together to discuss an issue rather than simply giving an answer to a given question
- 17Semi structured interviewsUsually a mixture of closed questions in order to generate facts but also contain a few open questions
- 18Participant observationThe most common type of observation and involves the sociologist immersing themselves in the lifestyle of the group they wish to study
- 19Overt observationThe researcher joins the group and the group is aware that they are being researched
- 20Covert observationResearcher places themselves within the group who are unaware they are being researched
- 21Mixed methodsA combination of both quantitative + qualitative data
- 22TriangulationCombining of research methods in order to check or verify the validity of the research findings
- 23Methodological pluralismThe combination of different research methods in order to build up a fuller picture of what is being studied
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- A-level Sociology Flashcards on Types of research methods , created by Charlotte Dorans on 18/04/2017.
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- Charlotte Dorans
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