Positivism; key facts about their research?
Positivism; disadvantages?
Interpretivism; key facts
Interpretivism; disadvantages?
10 Main stages of the research process (area of interest to conclusion)
Define validity?
Whether the research findings give a true picture of what is being studied
Define reliability?
A reliable measure would produce the same results on different occasions
Define representativeness?
The people who take part in the research should have characteristics that are typical of the wider population being studied. They should come from the same or similar socioeconomic backgrounds and reflect the same ratio of gender, age and ethnicity.
Define generalisability?
Means that the sociologist can safely conclude that what is true of the sample that was was actually studied is probably true of the wider population to which the sample belongs.
What’s a longitudinal study?
It’s carried out over a period of weeks/months/years in order to study changes or developments over an extended period of time, it can also be used to identify casual relationships and correlations between variables eg health and class
Longitudinal Studies; What’s a panel study?
The data is collected from a sample selected from sampling frames such as the postcode address file. The sample unit may be individuals, households or organisations.
Longitudinal Studies; What’s a cohort study?
They aim to study people who have the same social characteristics eg age. A whole group of people might be studied eg a class at school or a sample or the class might be studied.
Longitudinal Studies; methods?
Interviews
Observations
Ethnography
Longitudinal Studies; Advantages? Disadvantages?
Primary data ?
Eg Interviews, Observations, Questionnaires
Which enable new data collection that did not exist before the research began
Positivism - use quantitative methods eg a questionnaire or interview with a scaling system. Quantitative data eg stats/facts/figures are More reliable but less valid because they lack depth.
Interpretivism - qualitative methods eg unstructured interviews and observations. More valid because it shows meanings and motives but less reliable because replication of the same data/results might not be possible
Choosing a primary data research method?
Primary data; lab experiments?
Experiments conducted in a lab tend to use scientific equipment to measure the variables and concepts.
Advantages = variables can be controlled and experiments tend to have high control. Reliable as used in natural sciences. BUT the settings are generally artificial and we can’t study humans using that, it doesn’t give a true representation (less validity).
Primary data; field experiments?
Conducted in a natural setting/situation eg a classroom. Behaviour can be studied with some form of control.
BUT less control = results can be inaccurate. Hawthorne effect, people can change their behaviour because they’re being studied so giving inaccurate results,
Primary data; case studies?
These examine one particular case or instance eg a life history of an individual.
Advantages - Can be used to prove or disprove a hypothesis. Give new info or insight into a topic. Can become a pilot study.
BUT can be limited, unrepresentative of the general population.
Secondary data key points?
Official statistics is the best example. Form of secondary data which collects data in a quantitative manner that would be favoured by Positivist sociologists but rejected by interpretivists.
Secondary data; Official statistics key points?
The best source come from the census which is undertaken every 10 years by every household in the UK.
But can also be collected from
- registration
- official surveys (ONS responsible for all UK stats)
They tend to be reliable but not very valid
Governments may however manipulate statistics to their advantage which is called political bias therefore reporting them in a way making them not very valid. Eg governments might hide some data, released when there’s other news in the media dominating BUT if this is the only data available then sociologists have the rely on this
Secondary data; Advantages of official statistics?
Secondary data; Disadvantages of official statistics?
might not be fit for purpose if they’re not measuring what they intend to do eg annual crime stats by the home office don’t provide an accurate representation of crime due to unreported and unrecorded crime not part of this.
The government compiles and collects official stats so they might be biased in their political outlook and therefore not neutral.
Not very valid as The figures do not express reasons for trends/patterns and they lack meaning. Everything is reduced to a number and means that official statistics can be low in validity.
Secondary data ; non official stats?
Stats collected by independent companies, researches or academic institutions. QUANTITATIVE
+
Objective quantitative data
Quite accessible
-
Can’t guarantee reliability
Can be expensive