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sociology - Coggle Diagram

- - - - ■ The response rate is low compared to structured interviews.
      - ■ Questions may be misunderstood and if a participant does not understand a question there is no one present to explain it.
      - ■ The researcher cannot be sure who answered the questions.
      - ■ Participants oft en leave some questions unanswered.
    - - ■ They are cheaper than structured interviews because they can be distributed by
      - ■ Large numbers of questionnaires can be posted to participants who may be geographically distant.
      - ■ The researcher is not present so cannot influence the answers given.
      - ■ They are convenient for participants who can complete the questionnaire when
    - - ■ The interviewers may themselves influence the answers given either through their own social characteristics (such as their age, sex, ethnic group and so on) orthrough interaction with the participant.
      - ■ They take more time and are therefore more expensive than self-completion questionnares
      - ■ Participants may give socially desirable answers; that is, the answers that they think are the right ones, which give the interviewer the impression of them that they want
      - ■ If several interviewers are used they may approach their work in different ways
  - - - Self-completion questionnaire, also known as a self-administered questionnaire. The most common type of self-completion questionnaire is by post, but in a school, for example, you might distribute questionnaires by asking teachers to give them to their classes.
      - However, the response rate for postal questionnaires is often very low and this calls into question the representativeness of the findings. It might be the case that those who return the questionnaire are in some way different from those who do not; for example, they may have a particular interest in what the questionnaire is about.
- - - - assess the honesty and validity of the answers as they are
        given.
      - flexibility of the interview allows the interviewer to probe more deeply
      - They can bring out information for further investigation.
      - conducted well, provide detailed and valid data on the point of view of respondents, who are able to say what they really think.
    - - less reliable than structured interviews because they are difficult to replicate
      - diff icult to make generalisations when standardised questions are not used.
      - The interviewers need to be highly skilled
      - time consuming, both to carry out and then to transcribe and
        analyse.
      - Interviewer bias: intentional or unintentional effect of the way that the interviewer asks questions or interprets answers.
      - interviewer eff ect; that is, the answers are
        aff ected by, for example, the interviewer’s sex, age or ethnicity.
- - - - Getting in. Joining a group raises many questions about the researcher’s role. Researchers adopt an overt role where they declare their identity to the group and tell them that they are being studied. Alternatively, the researcher may adopt a covert role
      - Staying in. Th e observer must develop a role that will gain the trust and cooperation of those observed, so that they can continue to participate in and observe the group.
      - Getting out. Getting out of the group involves issues such as leaving it aft er the research observation without damaging relationships, becoming detached enough to write an impartial and accurate account and making sure members of the group cannot be identify ed.
    - - In covert participant observation the group being observed does not know that research is taking place. They assume that the participant observer is a new member of their group. Th is involves deceiving the group by concealing the truth about what the researcher is doing. Th e members of the group do not give their informed consent although the published research is likely to protect their anonymity.
  - - - They are usually high in validity, because the normal behaviour of the group is observed in its natural setting over a period.
      - A deep understanding can be obtained, seeing things from the point of view of those involved.
    - - May affect the behaviour of the group, but
        the researcher will not know in what ways it is doing so.
      - Reliability is low because the research is very difficult to repeat or check.
      - It is unlikely that generalisations can be made about other groups
      - problems throughout the research in gaining access to the group, winning acceptance, recording information, leaving the group and analysing the data.
      - researcher needs to have the social characteristics (such as age, gender, ethnicity) that will allow them to join the group and be accepted.
      - Covert research involves the researcher devoting a lot of their time and energy to maintaining their cover, rather than gaining information.
      - Researchers may lose their objectivity if they come to identify strongly with the group and see things from its point of view.
  - - - Content analysis: a method of studying communication and the media, which involves classifying the content and counting frequencies.
    - - provides information about content of the media in statistical form and this can be used both to test sociological theories and to change the content of the mass media
      - It is reliable.
      - It does not involve people as respondents, so avoiding ethical issues.
    - - produces quantitative data, that is, statistics. These can be interesting but will not tell us why a media text is the way it is or whether or how this aff ects audiences.
      - It can be difficult to decide what categories to use.
      - It can be diffcult to allocate material to different categories.
- - - - ■ It produces quantitative data, that is, statistics. These can be interesting but will not tell us why a media text is the way it is or whether or how this affects audiences.
      - ■ It can be difficult to decide what categories to use.
      - ■ It can be difficult to allocate material to diff erent categories.
- - - - ■ It can be used to check the validity of the research.
      - ■ It can be used to check the reliability of the research using diff erent sources.
      - ■ It can be used for cross-referencing the researcher’s interpretations to other data collected to check for accuracy.
      - ■ It can provide balance between methods, where one may be weaker than another in that particular area of research.
  - - - ■ Using several methods is time consuming and expensive.
      - ■ The researcher needs to be skilled in several research methods.
      - ■ Positivist and interpretivist approaches are based on very diff erent ideas, so it may
      - be diff icult to combine them in one piece of research.
- - - - ethical problems: is it right to deceive people about the existence
        of the experiment or to manipulate their behaviour?
      - people may become angry about strange and new
        situations.
      - The researcher can lose a large degree of control over what happens once the experiment is under way.
      - They are a very eff ective way of getting inside group behaviour.