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HOW DO SOCIOLOISTS STUDY SOCIETY? - Coggle Diagram
HOW DO SOCIOLOISTS STUDY SOCIETY?
QUESTIONNARIES AND SOCIAL SURVEYS
Types Of Questions
important to choose the right type of question for the information you want to collect and to make it easier to analyse data
closed or pre-coded question
reasercher limits the responses that can be given
answer is coded by being given a number or value - analysing responses
advantage
easy to analyze
easy to produce statistical tables
disdvantage
respondents may want to give answers no available
scaled questions
common set of possible responsed
odd number of possible responses
respondents will hoose the middle one
avoid makin decision
even number of possible responses
pushing respondant to make a decision
helps produce data that seem to prove something
risk of forcing people to agree
open questions
respondents can write their own response
limited qualitative data
difficult to analyse
Ways Of Administering Surveys
self-completion questionnaire
respondents answer the question without any guidance
postal questionnaires - larhge numbers of people
low response rate
ways of improving the response rate
explaining the research
stamped, addressed envelope
reminding letter
short and easy
clear instructions and questions
peoples names in the letter
offering money or a prize draw
srengths
money saving
participants from all over the world
researcher cannot influence the answer
convenient for participants
limitations
response rate low
misunderstood questions
participants leave questions unanswered
structured interviews
reasercher reads the questions, including answers allowed in closed questions, and records the answer
face to face
interviwee at ease
questions standarised
higher response rate
takes up more time and money
strengths
interviewer can explain questions
addition questions
higher response rate
interviewer and participant relationship
limitations
interviewers influence answers
tamke more time and money
socially desirable answers
guidelines
short and clear layout
instructions for completing
as many questions as necessary
short questions
enough anternative answers
no leading quesions
avoid difficult words
questions about things people are likely to know
leave personal information
INTERVIEWS
(qualitative research)
guidelines
flexible and good listeners
know when to intervene
comfortable
order of questions
understandable and relevant language
avoid leading questions
fact sheet record
quiet and private setting
good quality recording and microphone
unstructured interview
brief set of prompts
free talk
flexible
semi-structured interview
interview guide
order of questions vary
specific topics to be covered
questions not in the guide may be asked
all the questions in the guide will be used
flexible
types of questions
introductory questions
follow-up questions
probing questions
specifying questions
indirect questions
silence
interpreting questions
focus groups interview
save time and money
number of respondents interviewed together
specific topic
guide with different types of questions
what individuals respond as group members
closer to real social life
action
variety of views
issues they consider important
reaserchers decide how much they are involved and what is important, can interviene
risk of irrelevant discussion
recording and transcribing
difficult to determine who said what, people talk over eachother
strenghts
detailed and valid data on each point of view
flexibility - deeply, new directions
honesty and validity of answers
information for further investigations
limitatoins
time consuming
difficult to generalize
less reliable
difficult to replicate
skilled interviewers
responses affected by interviewer bias and interviewer effect
EXPERIMENTS
valid way of studying social
behaviour
positivist method - quantitative data
used to find cause and effect relationships
or correlations
scientists control variables, quantify data, test hipothesis
minimise subjetiviry
manipulation of one variable creating change in a
dependent variable
high reliability and validity
laboratory experiments - "people live in societies not in labs"
hawthgorne or
observer effect
peoples behaviour changes when they know
they are being observed
field experiments
naturally ocurrin settings
qualitative results
ethical problems
people may become angry
reasercher can lose controls
effective way of getting inside group behaviour
CASE STUDIES
detailed research
method or comination of methods
not possible to generalise
they cannot be used to prove or disprove a hypothesis
strengths
different aspects explored
deep and detailed account of the case
wider conclusions
findings that can be tested by other research
limitations
generalizations cannot be made
findings cannot be replicated
deep involvement of the researcher influenced by their own feelings
LONIgITUDINAL STUDIES
carried out periodically over a period of time
used by government funded research organisations
questions about changing lifestyle, health, illnesses,
education and employment
panel studies
same sample used
panel/panel sample - people studied
panel sample interviewed on a regular basis
strength
snapshot view of society
factors that became in peoples lives
valid data
limitations
commitment of time
inevitable drop out from the research
may change the participants
PARTICIPANT AND NON-PARTICIPANT OBSERVATIONS
participant observation
develop and understandin of the world from the point of view of the subjects
reaserchers put themselves in the same position as the studies
get inside peoples heads to see the wrodl as they do
joining a group of people and living as they do
stages
getting in
overt role
covert role
share personal characteristics of the group
getting access to the group
gaining friendships with key individuals (gatekeepers)
stayin in
develop a role
gain trust and cooperation
learning, listening, what is going on
disrupt the natural behaviour of the group
decide how far to be involved
maintain the groups trust
participate in acts that they do not agree with
getting out
leaving without damaging relationships
members of the group cannot be identified
convert
does not know what research is taking place
observer is a participant
no informed concent - protect anonymity
criminal or deviant activities involved
avoids changing behaviour of the group
researcher participation in illegal or unpleasant activities
moral and ethical concerns
overt role
groups aware research is
taking place
explained purpose - consent
advantages
able to ask questions
no illegal or inmoral behaviour
ethically and morally right
problems
group can behave different, tryin to
make an impresion
questions over the validity
strengths
high validity
deep understanding
limitations
affect behaviour of group
low reliability
unlikely generalization
gaining access to the group
winning acceptance
recording information
leaving the group
analysing the data
researcher needs social characteristics
time and energy
researchers lose objectivity
non-participant observation
researcher does not participate
members will not be affected by the precense
groups unwilling to cooperate
raises ethical issues
produce cuantitative data
observe people in their normal social situations
data assumption
issues in validity and reliability
CONTENT ANALYSIS
study the content of documents and the mass media
researcher defines categories and classifies
material being studied by how frequently it appears
in the different categories
strengths
provides information about content of the
media in statistical form
reliable
avoid ethical issues
limitations
quantitative data
difficult to decide what categories to use
difficult to allocate material to different categories
TRIANgULATION
researcher decides to use variety of research methods
strengths
support quantitative data with qualitative examples
reliability and validity
check validity
check reliability
cross-referencing
balance between methods
limitations
time and money consuming
skilled researchers
positivst and interpretivist approaches - difficult to combine