Research Methods

Research Methods

1. Interviews

   • Structured
     • Set of prepared questions
     • Closed-ended with pre-coded answers
     • Higher response rate
     • Low levels of validity
     • Very reliable
     • Inflexible
   • Unstructured
     • Can build rapport
     • You have the ability to check understanding
     • Flexible
     • Unreliable
     • Unrepresentative
     • Unable to be quantified
     • Not very high levels of validiity

2. Official Statistics

   • Secondary Data
   • Collected by others
   • Typically collected by the Government
   • Usually collected on a large scale
   • Can be collected on a large range of factors
   • Why/How are they used?
     • Used to help with policy making
     • Official Surveys- Census or General Household Survey
     • Birth Registration
     • Ofsted- school statistics
   • • Representativeness
     • Definitions used by the state may differ from the definitions used by the sociologist
     • Official statistics are collected for a specific purpose so there may be none of the topic that a sociologist wishes to research
     • Low levels of validity
   • • Reliable
     • They show trends and patterns over time
     • Statistics allow comparisons between groups

3. Documents

   • Historical Documents
     • Documents created in the past
     • Only source of information for studies of past events
   • Personal Documents
     • Includes
       • Letters
       • Diaries
       • Photo albums
       • Autobiographies
     • First person accounts of social events and personal experiences
     • Include the writers feelings and attitudes
   • Public Documents
     • Produced by organisations
       • Government departments
       • Schools
       • Welfare agencies
       • Businesses
       • Charities
     • May be available for researchers to use
     • Documents
       • Ofsted reports
       • Minutes of council meetings
       • records of parliamentary debates

4. Longitudinal Study

   • Collect different kinds of data
   • Completed over a long period of time
   • Sample is not changed
   • Requires long-term commitment and funding
   • Rests on the effectiveness of the interviewer or the wording of questions
   • • Attrition- Loss of participants
     • Less representative- demographic changes and drop outs
     • Very costly
     • Time-consuming
     • Difficult to analyse
     • Hawthorne effect
   • • Comparisons are made across groups which allows causes to be identified
     • Trace developments over a long period of time rather than just 'snapshots'

5. Case/Community Studies

   • Community studies- In depth studies of a whole community to gain insight
   • Case studies- in depth studies of a particular event
   • Multiple data collection methods are used to assess the workings of the group
   • • May not be possible to generalise information and it may therefore be non-representative
     • Demand characteristics/Hawthorne effect
     • Since they use multiple methods, the researcher can face problems with each one
   • • Suggests hypothesis for further research
     • Rich source of insight
     • Detailed examination of a single event

6. Life Histories

   • Observations, Interviews, diaries
   • In depth history of a VIP or a socially interesting individual
   • Builds up a valid representation of their experiences
   • Multiple methods used
   • • Time consuming
     • Demand characteristics
     • Interviewer bias
     • Difficulty generalising
     • Labour Intensive
   • • Rich source of insight
     • Provides a historical understanding of individuals
     • Provides an understanding of social structures

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