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SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH METHODS - Coggle Diagram
SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH METHODS
The main types of research method are:
Social surveys (questionnaires and structured interviews)
Experiments (Lab and Field)
Unstructured interviews
Partipant Observation
Secondary qualitative data
Official Statistics
Primary Qualitative Research Methods
Primary qualitative research methods
tend to be favoured by
Interpretivists
as they allow respondents to speak for themselves, and should thus yield valid data. However, because
qualitative methods
tend to involve the researcher getting more involved with the respondents, there is a risk that the subjective views of the researcher could interfere with the results, which could compromise both the validity and reliability of such methods.
Qualitative research methods also tend to be
time consuming and so it can be difficult to to them with large samples of people.
Participant Observation
Overt and Covert Participant Observation
–
Participant Observation is where researchers take part in the life of respondents, sometimes for several months or even years, and try to ‘see the world through their eyes’.
Overt
research is where respondents know the researcher is doing research,
covert
is where the researcher is
undercover
.
EXAMPLES OF COVERT:
-
Patrick’s (1973)
study on a violent Glasgow gang
Pearson’s (2009)
research study on football hooligans
The BBC (2003)
documentary ‘The Secret Policeman’ – investigating police racism. This is journalistic rather than sociological, but just so interesting.
-
Humphries (the one and only):
Tea Room Trade.
Advantages of covert participant observation
Gaining access, especially to closed groups, is much easier because the researcher does not have to seek permission.
Reactivity is not a problem – if respondents are not aware research is taking place, they are less likely to act differently.
Disadvantages of covert participant observation
The problem of taking field notes – it is almost impossible to take notes as you go when in a covert role. In his study of football hooligans, Pearson had to take notes as soon after the matches as possible, but admits that much information was probably forgotten.
You can’t use other methods – if you’re in a covert role, you have to act as the natives do without raising suspicion, and you can hardly whip our your social survey or start doing probing-interviews, because that’s not normal. (unless you’re researching social researchers who spend their lives researching each other).
Stress – the covert researcher is under constant pressure due to having to ‘maintain a front’ (frontstage, if you like) and on top of this has to then record data back-stage – it’s like working two jobs. Add to this the worry of having your cover blown, and the fact that if this happens, the entire project may be down the drain, and that’s a lot of stress.
Ethical problems
– Covert research does not allow for the participants to give informed consent, because it involves deception. There is also the issue of privacy being violated, and the fact that some researchers may have to engage in criminal acts in order to not blow their cover, as in the case of Pearson’s research with football hooligans.
Interviews
Interviews in Social Research –
This post consists of detailed class notes focusing strengths and limitations of mainly unstructured interviews, which are like a guided conversation that allow respondents the freedom to speak for themselves.
Types of interviews:
Unstructured or Informal interviews
(also called discovery interviews) are more like a guided conversation. The interviewer has complete freedom to vary the questions from respondent to respondent, so they can follow whatever lines of enquiry they think are most appropriated, depending on the responses given by each respondent
Semi-Structured interviews
are those in which respondents have a list of questions, but they are free to ask further, differentiated questions based on the responses given.
Group interviews –
Interviews can be conducted either one to one (individual interviews) or in a a group, in which the interviewer interviews two or more respondents at a time. Group interviews have their own unique strengths and limitations which we”ll return to later.
Transcription of interviews
-Transcription is the process of writing down (or typing up) what respondents say in an interview. In order to be able to transcribe effectively interviews will need to be recorded
FIELD EXPERIMENTS EXAMPLES
-Rosenthal and Jacobson’s 1968 Field Experiment on Teacher
1924-32 The Hawthorne Factory Experiments