Theories and Methods

Theories and Methods

1. Primary Sources

   • Observations
   • Questionnaires
     • Positivist
     • Advantages
       • Quantifiable Data
         • Designed to generate data which is easily quantified – put into numbers. Numerical data lends itself to statistical techniques. It makes it possible to discover whether or not there is a correlation – a statistical link. Reliable research method.
       • Comparability
         • Researcher is able to contact large numbers of people quickly, easily and efficiently. Everybody is answering the same question and therefore responding to the same thing. Any differences in answers will reflect real differences between respondents.
       • Time and Cost
         • Inexpensive, no interviewers to pay, cheap to classify results. Quick and easy to create, code and interpret. The respondent not the researcher does the time consuming part of completing the questionnaire.
       • Anonymous
         • Can be used to explore potentially embarrassing areas more easily than other methods. It is anonymous and completed in privacy, this increases the chances of people answering the questions honestly because they are not intimidated by the presence of the researcher.
     • Disadvantages
       • Response Rate
         • Relatively low response rate – often well below 50% for postal questionnaires. This may destroy the representativeness of the sample.
       • Lack of Validity
         • The researcher can never be certain the person to whom the questionnaire is sent actually fills it in. Respondents may lie or obscure the truth. Closed questions may also limit what the respondents want to say. Answers may be incomplete, illegible or incomprehensible when respondents complete questionnaires themselves.
       • Meaning
         • Researcher has to hope the questions asked mean the same to all the respondents as they do to the researcher. Where the researcher is not present, it’s always difficult to know whether or not a respondent has understood a question properly.
       • Lack of Depth
         • Difficult for the researcher to examine complex issues and opinions.
     • Open-ended
       • The respondent is asked to answer in their own words. This produces mainly qualitative data.
     • Close-ended
       • A question for which a researcher provides a suitable list of responses. This produces mainly quantitative data.
   • Interviews
     • Structured Interviews
       • A formal set of questions that are asked by the interviewer to each participant.
       • Advantages
         • Standardisation
           • All respondents are asked the same questions in the same way. This makes it easier to replicate.
         • Reliable
           • Provides a reliable source of quantitative data. The researcher is able to contact large numbers of people quickly, easily and efficiently.
       • Disadvantages
         • Lack of Depth
           • Limited scope for the respondent to answer questions in any detail or depth. Difficult for the researcher to examine complex issues and opinions.
         • Time Consuming
           • If the sample group is very large it may take a long time and a substantial amount of pre-planning is required.
       • Positivist
     • Unstructured Interviews
       • interpretivist
       • Advantages
         • Meanings and Attitudes
           • Particularly suited to discovering meanings, values, attitudes, opinions and beliefs.
         • Validitiy and Depth
           • If respondents feel at ease they are more likely to open up and say what they really mean. Produces rich and valid data and gives the respondents viewpoint.
         • Sensitive Groups
           • An unstructured interview allows access to sensitive groups as it provides an opportunity for rapport and trust to be built. Also, you can gain access to views about sensitive subjects.
       • Disadvantages
         • Comparitability
           • The interview can develop in all sorts of directions and data from one interview to the next can vary considerably. Comparisons between data is thus difficult. It also means generalisations should be treated with caution.
         • Interview Bias
           • The interviewer may affect the responses of the interviewee in that they will give ‘socially desirable’ answers. Interviewees want to present themselves in a favourable light and so may exaggerate aspects of their behaviour which they see as good and conceal aspects seen as undesirable. They may lie.
   • Experiments

2. Secondary Sources

   • Statistics
   • Documents