Unit 2 SCLY2 - Education with Research Methods; Health with Research Methods (7192)
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Complete Notes for AQA Sociology Paper 1 - Research Methods
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Unit 2 SCLY2 - Education with Research Methods; Health with Research Methods (7192)
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AQA
Complete A-Level Sociology Notes for Paper 1: EResearch Methods
Unlock your full potential and ace your A-Level Sociology Paper 1 with my comprehensive study notes! My meticulously crafted notes cover every essential topic in research methods, providing you with in-depth insights, clear expla...
Unit 2 SCLY2 - Education with Research Methods; Health with Research Methods (7192)
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Intro to Research Methods
PRIMARY DATA
• Collected first hand by the researcher
• May be able to get a ‘picture’ of a group or to test a hypothesis
• Methods for gathering primary data:
• Observation
• Questionnaire
• Interviews
• Experiments
• Advantages:
• Specific to research objectives
• Can gather info to test aims and hypothesis
• Greater control
• Disadvantages:
• Expensive
• Time-consuming
SECONDARY DATA
• Info collected by someone else for own purpose
• Methods for gathering secondary data:
• Diaries
• Pictures
• Letters
• Advantages:
• Quick
• Cheap
• Information is already available
• Disadvantages:
• Info may not be specific to research
TYPES OF DATA
Qualitative
• Preferred by interpretivists
• Data in written form
• Subjective in nature
• Open to interpretation
• Gives a feel for what something is like
Quantitative
• Preferred by positivists
• Numerical form
• Objective in nature
• Can be analysed and concluded from
• More likely to be reliable
• Can be repeated to see trends over time
Positivism
• Structural theories
• Patterns of behaviour
• Sociology as a science
• Assume society has objective fractural reality e.g. laws of nature
• Believe society exerts an influence over its members and shapes their behaviour
, Intro to Research Methods
• Prefer quantitative data
• Prefer questionnaires, structured interviews ,experiments, official statistics and methods that produce reliable and
representative data
• Large samples
• Artificial location
• Hypothesis testing
• Precise
• High reliability
• low validity
• Allow results to be generalised from sample to problem
Interpretivism
• Action theories
• Seek to understand social actions and individual meaning
• Disagree with the view society can model itself on natural sciences
• Reject idea of objective social reality – we construct reality through interactions with others
• Behaviour and actions are based on the meaning we give to situations
• Prefer qualitative data
• Use observations, unstructured interviews, personal documents to produce valid data
• Small samples
• Natural location
• Generating theories
• Rich data
• Low reliability
• High validity
• Allow findings to be generalised from one setting to another similar
PRACTICAL FACTORS AND ISSUES
Time
• May be unsuitable if a researcher has limited time
Finance
• Some methods are cheaper than others e.g. postal questionnaires tend to be cheaper than unstructured
interviews
• Large scale interviews employing lots of interviews and data-inputting staff will cost a great deal of money
Source of Funding
• Normally sponsored by the government, businesses and voluntary services
• May be influenced by those who fund it
Personal Factors
• Researchers age, social class, gender, ethnicity will mean some methods won’t work
• Personal skills of researcher will affect ability to use different methods
Research Opportunity
• Sometimes opportunities happen suddenly
• May not have time to prepare lengthy questionnaires or interviews schedule
• In other circumstances, researcher may have to set up research opportunities carefully beforehand and have
plenty of time
, Intro to Research Methods
ETHICAL FACTORS AND ISSUES
• British Sociological Association (ASA) issued a set of professional ethic guidelines to be followed during research
Informed Consent
• Researcher should tell subjects all the relevant aspects of research so they can make an informed decision
• Should also be given the right to refuse to be involved
Confidentiality
• Subjects have the right to be anonymous and the right to privacy
• Subjects should not be identifiable when research is published
Harm to Research Subjects
• Researchers need to be aware of the possible harm or effects of their work on those who they study and wherever
possible, prevent it
• This could include social exclusion, hard to employment opportunities or psychological harm
Vulnerable Groups
• Special care should be taken where participants are particularly vulnerable e.g. young and disabled people
• Have a duty of care
Covert Research
• Researcher’s identity and purpose hidden from those being studied which can cause ethical dilemmas
THEORETICAL ISSUES
• Positivists choose methods that produce quantitative data which is likely to be reliable and representative
• Interpretivists favour methods that generate qualitative data and are valid
Reliability
• To be reliable it must be replicable
• Whoever repeats the research will obtain the same results, regardless of who actually carries out the research
• Quantitative methods such as written questionnaires tend to produce more reliable results than qualitative
methods such as unstructured interviews
• Sociologists often carry out pilot studies before main research to ensure reliability
• positivists favour scientific approach to emphasise need for reliability
• Favour quantitative methods that can be repeated to generate the same results
Validity
• To be valid research needs to produce a true or genuine picture of what something is really like
• Interpretivists emphasise need of using methods such as participant observation which reveals meaning people
hold
• Therefore they favour qualitative methods such as questionnaires as they provide an accurate account of what it is
like to be members of a group
Theoretical
• Positivism assumes society has an objective factual reality
• Behaviour is a result of social forces shaping what we do
• Use quantitative data to uncover and measure patterns in behaviours
• Seek to discover cause and effect patterns that determine behaviour
• Interpretivists claim these is no objective reality
• Subjective meanings we create in interactions with others
• Interpretivists use qualitative data to uncover and describe peoples meanings and experiences in the world
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