CHOOSING A RESERCH METHOD

CHOOSING A RESERCH METHOD

1. Primary data

   • data that is collected by the sociologist themselves, for their own use , its first hand data , this data is collected to test the sociologist hypothesis
     • examples : social surveys, participant observations and experiments
     • advantage : able to gather exactly what they need in order to test their hypothesis

2. Secondary data

   • information that has already been published by someone else, that others can use to support their research
     • Example: official statistics, documents e.g letters diaries and newspapers
   • advantage: its cheap and quick someones already created the information sos you don't have to spend any time on it ., however may nto provide the information you are looking for.

3. Quantitative data

   • data that results in numbers : numerical data , for example GCSE results
     • Methodological issue : positivists prefer quantitative data. because it reveals cause and effect , they sociology as a science so they seek patterns in behaviour

4. Qualitative data

   • data that results in words, data that is descriptive , therefore harder to analyse
     • Interpretivists favour this method , they want to understand social actors , and reject the view that sociology can model its self a natural science

5. positivists assume that society has an objective factual reality , it exists 'out there' just like the physical world of nature, society has an influence on its members , shaping their behaviour patterns , positivists use quantitative data , they seek to discover scientific laws of cause and effect that determines our behaviour , so they prefer questionnaires, structured interviews , experiments and official statistics , producing reliable and representative data

6. interpretivists reject the idea of an objective social reality - we construct this through meaning and interaction with others , our actions are based meaning , not external factors , they use qualitative data to uncover and describe the 'universal meaning' , they seek subjective understanding , they prefer participant observations , unstructured interviews producing valid data