Professional Documents
Culture Documents
in an hour
Why sociologists do research
What you need to know:
Quantitative and qualitative research methods
their strengths and weaknesses
Sources of data
Evaluation of research validity, reliability,
representativeness, generalisability
Primary and secondary data
Sampling
Positivism, interpretivism and their effect on
choice of method
Ethical considerations
Theory
A theory is a collection of linked ideas
which explain some observable facts
think of Darwins theory of evolution
Sometimes the theory comes first and
sociologist attempts to test it (e.g.
Durkheim and suicide)
Sometimes the theory comes as a result
of exploratory research (grounded theory)
Data and quality issues in research
Types of Data
Primary those collected by the researcher
themselves experiments, surveys,
observations, interviews. All of these methods
together are known as Empirical research.
Covert or overt
Participant observation
+ -
Experiences Bias
Getting to the Researcher influence
truth Ethics
Depth Too close
Dynamic Going native
Getting to hard to Studying the
reach groups powerless
Keeping accurate field
notes
Non participant
Less likely to go native
Less likely to accidentally influence group
But: