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Research Methods Summary
Having completed and printed all
earlier stages of the online lesson,
read and take notes from this
PowerPoint
(based on a resource found at esociology)
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Research Methods
Although there are no hard and fast
rules about which methods are
best, some have become associated
more with a positivist approach
(experiments, questionnaires) and
some with interactionist or
interpretivist approaches
(participant observation)
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Research Methods
In order to find out information about
society sociologists use a range of
research methods.
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Research Methods
Primary Methods
Refers to information collected
by the researcher
It did not exist before
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Research Methods
Secondary Methods
Refers to data which already exists
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Research Methods
Type Of
Data
Primary
Theoretical
Perspective
quantitative
Experiments
Positivist
qualitative
Observation
Interpretivist
Surveys:
Questionnaires
Positivist
qualitative
Surveys:
Interviews
Interpretivist
quantitative
Official Statistics
Positivist
qualitative
Mass Media,
Diaries
Interpretivist
quantitative
Secondary
Method
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Quantitative data
Data in numerical form –
statistics
Tables etc can be made of
them
Helpful for looking at
correlations/relationships
between factors
Often seen as more reliable
data than qualitative
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Qualitative Data
Data in word form
Harder to analyse than stats
Often seen as more valid
data than quantitative
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Validity
i.e how true a picture does
the data give
how close to real life is it?
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Reliability
Data is reliable when different
researchers can repeat the
research –
using the same methods and
getting the same results
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