Download Methods revision

Methods revision
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Quantitative & qualitative
Primary and secondary data
Interviews – unstructured, semi structured, structured
Interview effect
Bias
Objectivity
Validity
Representative
Reliability
P.E.T.S
Official statistics
Questionnaires
Focus groups
Opinion polls
Closed questions
Open questions
Response rate
Interviewer
Interviewee
Respondent
Longitudinal study
traingulation
Primary data – data that has been collected,
first-hand, by a sociologist for the particular
purpose of investigation
Secondary data – data that exists prior to and
independent from the researcher’s own
research.
Secondary Data
Advantages
Time saving
Low cost
Easy to access
Can answer targeted problems
Provides base for comparison
Eliminates duplication
Disadvantages
Incomplete information
Outdated/no longer accurate
Subjective
Not specific to enquiry
Secondary Sources
Primary Sources
This is information which was not present when the
research began. It is the data actually generated during
the research process e.g. interviews and questionnaires.
Secondary Sources
This is information that already exists. It includes
government statistics, diaries and data already produced
by sociologists from earlier research. If you have bought
a textbook, the book is an example of secondary
research.
Secondary data
Official statistics are numerical data produced
by governmental departments. Official statistics
may be politically biased.
For example, between 1982 and 2002, the way
unemployment is calculated has been changed
30 times. Other doubtful data includes the
Census, crime figures and measures of social
class.
Secondary data
“Life Documents” such as e-mails, postcards,
diaries and letters may also yield information.
Used by:
Thomas & Znaniecki The Polish and Peasant in
Europe and America
Quantitative and qualitative
Validity
Validity refers to the accuracy of a description or measurement. Data
is valid if it gives a true picture of a way of life or an accurate
measurement of something. For example, official statistics on crime
are valid if they provide an accurate measurement of the extent of
crime.
Reliability
Research methods and data are reliable when different researchers
using the same methods obtain similar results. For example, if the
same questionnaire and the same sampling procedure produce
similar results when used by different researchers, then the methods
and the data are reliable. A reliable method allows studies to be
replicated, ie repeated.
Advantages
- A quick way of collecting large amounts of
data.
- Quantitative data makes it easy to identify
correlations.
Disadvantages
- Fixed questions limit the answers the
respondent can give which could mean the
researcher is deliberately shaping the
answers.
- Doesn’t explain the results, only shows
correlations.
E.g.
Chubb and Moe: Did a survey on parental
attitudes towards schooling. They used fixed
questions. They chose this method to make
generalisations on parents attitudes towards
how a school should be run.
Advantages
- ‘To know, to predict, to control’
- Correlations can be easily spotted.
E.g.
Disadvantages
Durkheim's study of suicide. He used
statistics to find out what in society
increased suicide rates.
- Does not show the cause of something or
explain the statistics.
- Usually governments statistics, so they may
be shaped to reflect positively on themselves
rather then being truthful.
Advantages
- Gives a direct perspective for the
researcher.
- Can be done covertly or overtly to see
variation in results.
Disadvantages
- Very time consuming.
- Hawthorne effect. ‘What you observe you
change’.
E.g.
Lacey used participant and non-participant
observation. He immersed himself in school
life, teaching and observing lessons. He
gained insight into social relations within
school, and how subcultures impacted their
achievement.
Advantages
- A structured methodical way of testing a
theory.
- Can use either field or lab experiments
which can allow a greater amount of control
or variables.
Disadvantages
- Cannot always account for all variables so
results can be distorted.
- Outliers may effect results and give false
ideas.
E.g.
Rosenthal and Jackson used the field
experiment to label some students in a class
as ‘spurters’ to see how it would effect their
performance.
OFFICAL STATISTICS
• The government collects official statistics on education, so using them can
save sociologists time and money.
• Sociology use official statistics to establish correlations between social
factors. For example, statistics on exam results of children eligible for free
school meals show a correlation between material deprivation and
achievement.
• Statistics also save sociologists time and money, also patterns are to
identify when using official statistics.
• However, official statistics are not always true or relevant to what the
sociologists need. Finally just having patterns does not explain why
people’s exam results differ.
EXPERIMENTS
• Rosenthal and Jacobson used a method known as the field experiment.
Sociologists occasionally use field experiments because they allow the
researchers to manipulate a real, naturally occurring social situation to
discover cause-and-effect relationships.
• Rosenthal and Jacobson were able to manipulate classroom interaction by
labelling some pupils as ‘spurters’ to see whether this would cause a self
fulfilling prophecy.
• However the researchers cannot control all the possible factors that might
have led to the pupils ‘spurting’, so they cannot be certain that they have
in fact discovered the real cause of their improved performance.
DOCUMENTS
• Gerwitz studied the ways in which school responded to being part of an
‘education market’. She collected a range of school documents including
brochures, prospectuses and planning reports. These gave her an insight
into the increasing amount of resources schools were now devoting to
‘selling’ themselves to potential ‘customers’, i.e. parents.
• However, such documents need to be treated with caution. They are part
of a school’s public relations effort and their content may give a selective
and distorted picture.
DOCUMENTS (2)
• Sociologists have analysed the contents of educational documents such as
reading schemes and textbooks for evidence of gender stereotyping.
Glenys Lobban examined 179 stories in six reading schemes used in
primary schools and found that females were nearly always presented in
traditional domestic roles.
• Quantitative content analysis of schoolbooks can reveal statistical patterns
of gender images in learning materials. It is easily replicated to show
trends over time in stereotyping. For example, Lesley Best’s analysis of
reading schemes found little had changed. However, content analysis
merely tells us how often an image appears in a document; it tells us
nothing about its meaning to those who see it.
DOCUMENTS (3)
• Educational policies are usually set out in official documents such as Acts
of Parliament or government regulations and guidance issued to schools.
This makes such documents a useful source of information about policies.
Other documents include parliamentary debates and speeches by
politicians. These can give us insight into the reasons for educational
policies as well as criticisms of them.
• However, documents do not tell the whole story about educational
policies. Politicians try to present their policies in as favourable way as
possible, so documents need to be treated with care and not simply taken
at face value. Furthermore, schools do not always carry out polices in the
way the government expects them to.
GROUP INTERVIEWS
• Willis carried out unstructured group interviews to uncover the counterschool culture of the ‘lads’. These interviews allowed the lads to talk freely
in their own words about the way they viewed school, teachers and work.
The interviews gave Willis and insight to their world.
• However, critics argue that unstructured group interviews are an
unreliable method – they cannot be repeated in exactly the same way
with other groups. Also, the meaning of what is said in a group interview is
so open to the researcher’s own biased interpretation that the results may
be of little value.
Types of sampling Frame
Stratified Sampling
This is where the population under study is divided according to known criteria, such
as sex and age, in order to make the sample more representative.
Random Samples
This is where people are selected at random. People may be chosen completely at
random from a telephone directory or register of electors.
Systematic Samples
This is where people are selected systematically. For example, each tenth person is
chosen from the telephone directory or register of electors.
Quota Samples
This is where a researcher aims to survey only a particular kind of person e.g. women
between 21 and 35. However, this may not be objective. Stopping young women in
the street during working hours is likely to exclude many of the working population.
Self-Completed Questionnaires
This is where respondents complete the questionnaire themselves.
Advantages:
No interviewer required, therefore, a cheap method of research
No interviewer bias.
Disadvantages:
Self-completed questionnaires have a low response rate, especially
for postal questionnaires.
Closed questions may limit what respondents really want to say.
Interviews
Unstructured interviews are interviews which don’t have a fixed set of questions to be asked. The
line of questioning may “evolve” during the interview. The Sociologist may ask 10 people very
different questions depending on their age, sex, “race”, class or other factors. No two unstructured
interviews are ever the same.
Structured Interviews This is an interview with a fixed list of questions. The questions never change.
Advantages of Structured Interviews
Sociologists can explain difficult or ambiguous questions.
Respondents who are illiterate are not excluded.
Disadvantages of Structured Interviews
Interviewing is time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, the number of people interviewed is
sometimes quite small.
Respondents may give a false answer.
They may exaggerate or down play
Sometimes, structured interviews run the risk of “leading” the respondent. This may make the results
less accurate, objective and “value-free.”
Official Statistics
Official statistics are numerical data produced by governmental
departments. Official statistics may be politically biased. For
example,
between 1982 and 2002, the way unemployment is calculated has
been changed 30 times. Other doubtful data includes the Census,
crime figures and measures of social class.
Documents
Documents can be analysed in terms of their contents and themes.
Mc Robbie conducted “Contents’ Analysis” of “Jackie”
magazine. “Life Documents” such as e-mails, postcards, diaries and
letters may also yield information.