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Research Design - Coggle Diagram
Research Design
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Triangulation
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Gives a more detailed picture than when you only use one method, so it's more valid
When you triangulate, you can check different sets of data against each other
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Samples
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If the characteristics of the sample reflect the characteristics of the target population - with similar proportions in age, class, ethnicity and gender - then it's representative
If it's sufficiently large and representative, then it should be possible to make generalisations about the wider target population
Representative Sampling
Involves picking names out of a 'sampling frame' - a complete list of the population being sampled, which needs to be accurate, complete and without any duplicates
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Systematic - Involves choosing a random starting point in the sampling frame and selecting every nth value
Multi-stage - Selecting a sample from within another sample, often used for opinion polls to measure voting intention
Stratified-random - The population is put into segments called 'strata' based in things like age, gender or income and then names are selected randomly within each section
Quota - Bit like stratified random, but it's not random, the selection is made by the interviewer who'll have a quota to meet
Tend to pick people who look 'nice', introduces bias
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Operationalising
Sociology prides itself on giving names to concepts and ideas that aren't easily explained or measured
E.g. It's tricky to measure things like 'democracy', 'development' and 'culture'
End up measuring these concepts by measuring something else that's linked to the concept - sociologists call this an indicator
This is called 'operationalising' a concept - making it workable, by finding a way to measure it
Do this every time they conduct research, because you can't research something if you can't measure it
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Career in Sociology
Have their eye on their careers, they would jump at the chanced to conduct a study that improves their employability
Interesting, original or popular topics that are well researched, with good clear results, improve an academic's chance of having their work published
Getting work published, particularly in one of the big sociological journals, really improves a researcher's standing in academia
A quick way for a sociologist to progress in their career is to respond to another sociologist's work
The aim can be either to prove them wrong, or to add something to their research
E.g. investigating the same topic using a slightly different method or investigating a different group of people
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Reviewing the Field
Reviewing and critiquing existing data and literature is an important feature in any sociological report
It requires the researcher to spend time reading articles, publications and other sources of information already produced on the subject
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Reviewing the field gives the researcher useful information on the types of methodology used in previous studies
They can see whether specific methods, e.g. structured interviews, worked in the past
They can see if research samples were big enough, and form ideas about how big their own sample should be
Research Questions
Once they've chosen a topic, the need to narrow down the focus of their research so they don't spread their work out too thinly and end up with little detail
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A good research question should focus on one part of the topic, an it should be clear and easy to research
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Pilot Studies
Lets you test the accuracy of your questions, and check if there are any technical problems in your research design
You can use them to make studies more valid and reliable, test how long the research will take, and train your interviewees
Though they can be time-consuming, expensive and create lots of work, they show that the project is feasible, and can help you secure research funding
Social Surveys
Collect information about large target populations, using questionnaires or interviews
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