Studying Society

Studying Society

1. The sociological approach

   • Socioloists ask important questions coverring a huge range of topics eg -what impact do riots have on local communities -why dont more britihs people vote at general elections
   • Sociology and journalism
     • -Journalists research is less systematic and thorough than that of sociologists this is partly because journalists often have tight deadlines to meet. -journalists may side with one political party over another or use evidence in a biased way in their reports, sociologists however, should be balanced in their use of evidence.
   • Sociology and Psychology
     • Psychology focuses on the behaviour of individuals, sociology focuses on group behaviour, social structures and the social processes that influence us.

2. The research process in sociology

   • Stage in research process 1. Developing research aims and hypothesis 2. Carrying out a pilot study 3. Selecting a sample 4. Collecting the data 5. Analysing the data 6. Evaluating the studies aims, findings, methods and conclusions
   • Sampling techniques
     • Non probability sampling is used when a sampling frame is not available. The sample is not selected randomly so it is unlikely to be represenitive of the population eg, snow ball and quota.
     • Systematic Sampling: Researchers take every "nth" item from the sampling frame for example every 20th name, name from the school registe.
     • Stratified Random Sampling: Researchers divide the population into strata (sub groups) according to characteristics such as age, gender and ethnicity.
     • Snowball sampling: through contact with one member of a population the researcher is introduced to, or identifies others in the same population.
     • Random Sampling: Each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.

3. Quantitative methods

4. Qualitative methods

5. Secondary sources of data

6. Planning a research project