SY4 Research Methods.
What you need to know
Question a) 10 marks – 5/10 minutes
You will be given an example of some research on a topic and could be
asked about why the researcher has chosen a particular method, sampling
methods, ethics or even theoretical things like advantages/disadvantages of
positivism/interpretivist. You need to know advantages and disadvantages
of all the methods in the textbook and how to evaluate each method in
terms of GROVER (generalisability, representativeness, operationalisation,
validity, ethics and reliability). Your answers must be in the context of the
source material given. You could also use other examples of research you
know about (see SY4 research summaries handout.)
Question b) 30 marks – 40 minutes
You will be asked to outline a research design on a topic which will be given
to you. It will also state whether the study should be qualitative or
quantitative. You will then have to discuss any problems which may occur
with your design. You should design a study which is fitting for the topic
given to you. So don’t try to write one you have pre-prepared, just practice
doing them. You need to cover the sub-headings below in your design.
 Aim, a statement about what your overall aim is
 Hyposthesis (If quantitative) a prediction about what you think will
be found
 Operationalisation (how are you measuring/defining the concept e.g
class inequalities)
 Sampling method (how will you get access to your participants and
select them?)
 Method used (primary or secondary data collection and actual
method)
 Procedure used, how you would actually carry it out
 Analysis of the data, how would you analyse it and what you might
expect to find.
 Evaluation. A couple of paragraphs at most explaining any problems
you might anticipate with data collection e.g time, cost, access to
sample, and problems with the design itself in terms of GROVER, see
above.
A way to remember order of above list:A Hippo Only Smells Monkeys Properly After Eating.
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Definitions
 Primary data: first hand original research (e.g. participant observation,
focus group, social surveys)
 Secondary data : data already collected; used for different reasons such
as reanalysis (e.g. official statistics)
 Quantitative: data that is largely numerical in form(e.g. large
scale social survey)
 Qualitative: data consisting of words/meaning/interpretations
(e.g. participant observation)
 Positivist: objectivity, causes, reliability, sociology should be
scientific
 Interpretivist : sociology and research should report on how people
understand the world (meanings)
 Validity: does the data provide a true picture of what is being
studied or measured? Are the findings an accurate account of
social reality?
 Reliability: the extent to which repeated measurements, under
the same conditions, produce the same results. If other
researchers using the same methods, under the same
conditions, produced the same results then the data is reliable.
How constant are the findings? Quantitative methods often lack validity
but are often reliable. Qualitative methods are criticised for being
unreliable.
 Representativeness: Is the group of people being studied
typical of others? Sampling techniques are important in gaining a
representative group of participants. Random techniques are used to
quantitative research and non-random for qualitative.
 Target population: The group of people being studied e.g young
offenders
 Sampling frame: A representative list of people from the target
population from which the sample will be drawn e.g young offenders
institutions
 Random sample: participants are selected randomly by computer or by
hand e.g from a hat, this ensures every person in the frame has an equal
chance of being selected
 Stratified random sample: the sample frame is separated into strata e.g
gender, age, ethnicity and then random samples are drawn separately
from the stata to ensure a representative sample
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 Systematic sampling: the first participant is drawn at random and then
every nth (5th or 10th etc) is drawn after that.
 Quota sampling: Non-random as it involves the researcher selecting a
quota of groups e.g gender from the sampling frame.
 Snowball sampling: used when participants are difficult to access e.g
gang members. One contact asks friends if they will take part and the
friends ask more friends and so on. This is non-random.
 Purposive sampling: non-random, selecting a groups of people for a
specific purpose e.g Car workers in Luton.
 Gatekeepers : These are the people who work in institutions like
education or a care home that can facilitate access to a group of
participants e.g school children or disabled people.
 Generalisability: can the findings from one setting be applied
to similar settings? Are the findings from a study of student drug
users in London similar to findings if we studied drug users in
Manchester?
 Bias: distortion of results; difference from true value
 Hawthorne effect: When participants behave differently because they
know they are being observed.
 Objective: to what extent is the research value free and a reflection of
reality?
 Operationalisation : Expressing a concept in a way that can be
measured. For example; it is pointless to talk about social class if no
indicator of what social class means is provided. The basic point is
sound; if you cannot define something then you cannot measure it.
 Ethical issues: involve informed consent, deception,confidentiality,
protection from harm, right to withdraw.
 Practical issues: Time, cost, practicality of method, availability of sample,
funding, going native.
Methods
 Social Survey: a quantitative study on a large scale to find information
regarding issues like crime, attitudes, habits etc- uses questionnaires or face
to face structured interviews.
 Questionnaire: requires respondents to answer in writing – can be large
scale or small, open or closed questions but are usually quantitative.
 Interviews: Face to face interaction between researcher and interviewee.
Can be structured and quantitative or semi-structured or unstructured
which are qualitative.
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 Observations: observing groups or individuals either from afar (covert) or
with their consent (overt). Can be structured and quantitative or
qualitative as in participant observation where the researcher becomes
part of the group.
 Experiments: Not usually done in Sociology although there are some
examples. Can be laboratory (in a closed environment) or field (in a natural
setting) Involves manipulating and controlling variables such as gender to
see the effect on behaviour. I.e do people behave differently towards baby
boys or girls.
 Statistical data: form of secondary, quantitative data used to gather
numerical data on phenomena e.g GCSE results.
 Content Analysis: usually quantitative data collecting by analysing the
content of media publications, tv shows etc e.g How many minutes do
women appear in Eastenders compared to men.
 Focus Groups: uses qualitative methods to explore issues relating to a
group e.g community wellbeing.
 Personal Documents: Include letters, diaries, photographs and are useful
for qualitative research particularly for Historical comparisons.
 Longitudinal studies: conducted over a long period of time comparing data
from participants to see changes. Can be quantitative or qualitative.
 Pilot Studies: Only carried out on quantitative studies to test quality of
questions for questionnaires or interviews- checks validity and reliability
before a large scale study is done.
 Case Studies: carried out on individuals or small groups – in depth account
of their stories so is qualitative.
 Mixed methods:Triangulation - several different methods are used to
conduct the same study so that the reliability and validity can be checked.
 Methodological Plurism - the use of mixed methods to conduct one single
study.
Example Question and design.
As an A level Sociologist, you have been asked to discover whether old people
feel that they are the subjects of age discrimination in the UK. Suggest a simple
research design and justify your choices. Explain the difficulties that you might
experience in carrying out your design and suggest how you would avoid them.
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Aim
This quantitative study would aim to collect primary data to discover the
extent of age discrimination in the UK by asking a sample of older people about
their experiences and perceptions. I have chosen to use a quantitative study as
I will be able to discover statistically whether a high proportion of the sample
feel they have been discriminated against.
Hypothesis
The percentage of older people who feel they have experienced age
discrimination in the uk will be lower than those who feel they have not.
Operationalisation
For the purpose of this study ‘old people’ will people who are over 75yrs of age
in Torbay. Whether or not those people have been ‘subjects of discrimination’
will be defined as whether or not they feel they have been refused health
services, jobs or benefits on the basis of their age.
Sample
The sampling frame would be anyone over age 75. The study will use random
sampling as this is appropriate for a quantitative study. A random sample of
100 participants who are over 75 could be selected by entering names into a
computer and using a random generator of names. This could be done via the
electoral roll for Torbay.
Method
The method will be a written questionnaire in survey format using closed yes
or no questions. Using this method will make it easier to analyse the results
and discover the numbers of people who feel they have been discriminated
against on the various issues. Using this method as opposed to interviews
would also cut down the cost and time consumed.
Procedure
First I would need to design my questionnaire considering validity, reliability
and ethics, making sure not to ask offensive or ambiguous questions. The
questionnaire would ask simple questions such as ‘Have you been refused any
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health services in the past 5 years ? yes/no’ followed by ‘if yes, do you feel this
was due to your age? Yes/no.
Next I would contact local government to find out if it was possible to gain a
list of all those over 75 on the electoral roll for Torbay or if they could generate
a random sample of 100 names for me. Once I had received the list I would
conduct a pilot study by randomly selecting out of a bag 5 names of people to
post questionnaires to with stamped addressed envelopes. The questionnaire
itself would be returned anonymous to protect confidentiality. Once the pilot
questionnaires have been received back I would check responses for obvious
misunderstandings which may affect validity and make alterations to my
questionnaire. I would then post questionnaires to the remaining 95 people
and await their responses.
Analysis
I would analyse the raw data from my study by placing all responses in
categories first. Those with all no answers, and those with all or some yes
answers. I would work out the percentage of pps who felt they had been
discriminated against on any issue. I would then work out which issue was of
most concern by finding out the percentage of pps who answered yes for
health, jobs and benefits separately. I could then represent this data using a
bar chart . I would return to my aim and hypothesis and come to a conclusion
about whether age discrimination was a significant issue for the sample of pps
involved in the survey.
Evaluation
Using a positivist approach means that the study would lack qualitative data
and therefore I would not gain rich data about the pp’s experiences of
discrimination. This means that the study may lack validity. This could be
rectified by changing the study to a mixed method approach using some open
questions. Another issues related to validity is the questionnaire itself. There
may be wording in the questions which leads to misunderstandings and/or
encourages pps to give socially acceptable answers which may affect the
accuracy and truthfulness of the data. For example they not wish to disclose
that they have been refused treatment because they are overweight. This
could be dealt with by using the pilot study as suggested or by checking the
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questionnaire with an experienced Sociologist. The random sample will also be
selected only from one small area of the UK and therefore this sample may be
too small and specific to generalise to the whole population of over 75s. This
could be dealt with by selecting pps from several different parts of the UK.
Furthermore the random sample may turn out to be uneven in terms of males
and females and the study may therefore lack representativeness of both
genders equally. This could be rectified by using a stratified sampling method.
Due to the method used it is possible that some pps will not respond to the
questionnaire and therefore the actual sample could be even smaller. This
could be improved by using interview method but this could be timeconsuming. There is also the time and cost involved in sending out
questionnaires with no guarantee of a response and in collating and analysing
the data. This could be dealt with by using existing secondary sources in
relation to age discrimination but then the data would not be so current.
This study uses a positivist approach to research using quantitative methods
and primary data. This makes my study more scientific and value-free. It uses
random sampling therefore producing a higher probability that the results can
be generalised to the wider population of those over 75. The study should
have high reliability as the questionnaire uses closed questions making it easily
replicable therefore producing consistent data. The study does not involve
much inconvenience or offense to the participants and would be anonymous
and voluntary and therefore meets ethical guidelines.
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SY4 - Social Inequality Research summaries
In the compulsory section on research methods you might find it useful to refer to existing
research to explain your points better. e.g if you are trying to explain why the researcher in
the source material has used participant observation, you might refer to Paul Willis’ Learning
to Labour study as an additional example. You should also look to include at least one study
in your essays in the Social Inequality section where you can evaluate the methods used.
This will boost your AO2 marks. Below are some recent examples of research into social
inequality and their methods .
TASK Try evaluating their methods in term of advantages and disadvantages and GROVER
Royal Commission of Distribution of Income
Collected official government statistics on income distribution and found that conservative
policies have consistently benefitted the wealthy whilst labour government policies have
closed equality gap a little these policies were unable to keep up with rise in wealth at the
very top e.g footballers and celebrities.
Oxford Mobility Study (Goldthorpe and Payne (1986) looks at official employment
statistics from census information. No change in social mobility and a continuing practice of
elite self-recruitment in upper classes HOWEVER – when women’s income is taken into
account instead of just the man in the household the mobility picture is different.
Devine (2005) used 50 unstructured interviews with doctors and teachers and found that
they were generally not at ease with a middle-class identity and often referred to themselves
as working class.
The Future Foundation (2006) used statistical data from British Household survey which
showed 43% of people in Uk define themselves as middle-class compared to 53% defining
themselves as working class and only 1% as upper class.
Thiel (2007) used participant observation of builders at a construction site in London. Found
that masculine practises of larking about, piss-taking, defying authority was still very strong
part of working-class working culture similar to Paul Willis’ findings in Learning to Labour.
Shows we cannot separate social class and gender.
Jones (1997) used mixed methods of questionnaires and interviews to study causes of the
underclass. Focused on young homeless people. Found that circumstances were a mixture
of individual choice and structural contraints.
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Seager (1997) used time diaries to explore time spent on tasks by men and women. Found
that women spend more time on domestic chores whilst men more on paid work. Men also
had more rest and leisure time.
Heth and Yi Cheung (2006) used statistical analysis of existing data and found that there is
a greater ethnic penalty (disadvantage) for Pakistanis and Bangladeshis and Caribbean
people.
Skeggs (1997) used a longitudinal design using qualitative interviews to explore attitudes
towards class in females. She found women were consistently concerned with escaping
what they saw as people who were not respectable. They sought respectability through
going to night classes, wearing particular types of clothing etc.
Palmer et al (2006) Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion. Used 50 indicators to
measure poverty in the UK, used secondary sources see textbook pg 234.
Midgley and Bradshaw , Should I stay or should I go. Focus groups and interviews
exploring rural youth transitions. Found that many young people have to move away from
home town to get a job. This was backed up by 24 semi-structured interviews.
September 2005 – release of tv programme series 49UP (from original 7UPLongitudinal
study) based on class differences in the UK. Can be watched on the net.
Other famous Sociological studies
Official Statistics
 The Census – every household every 10 years. Full picture of population of
UK
 Crime statistics from police/courts, and British Crime survey
 ‘Suicide’ Emile Durkheim (& J Maxwell Atkinson as criticism)
Comparative method
 ‘Suicide’ Emile Durkheim
Questionnaires
 The Census – closed questions
 ‘Hite Report’ – Shere Hite – open questions, feminist
 ‘The Making of a Moonie’ – Eileen Barker
 British Crime Survey
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Interviews
 ‘From here to Maternity’- Anne Oakley – in depth interviews
 ‘Sociology of Housework’/’Housewife’ – Anne Oakley – structured and in
depth interviews
 ‘Interviewing women – a contradiction in terms’ - Anne Oakley (journal article
on feminist views on interviews as a research method)
 ‘The Making of a Moonie’ Eileen Barker – in depth, interpretivist
Experiments
 Counselling experiment – Harold Garfinkel – field experiment –
ethnomethodological
 ‘Pygmalion in the Classroom’ – Rosenthal and Jacobsen – field experiment interpretivist
 ‘On being sane in insane places’ – Rosenhan – field experiment –
interpretivist
 Bobo doll experiments – Bandura etc – lab experiments – social
psychology
 Zimbardo Stanford Prison Study
Observation
 ‘Analysing Teaching Behaviour’ – N Flanders – overt, structured, non
participant
 ‘A Glasgow Gang Observed’ – James Patrick – largely covert, participant
 ‘The Tearoom Trade’ – Laud Humphreys – covert and overt, semi
participant
 ‘Learning to Labour’ – Paul Willis – largely overt, mostly participant
 ‘The Making of a Moonie’ – Eileen Barker – overt, participant
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Table to use for revision
Quantitative:
Qualitative:
Primary data:
Secondary data :
Positivist:
Interpretivist :
Feminist:
Realist:
Validity:
Reliability:
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Representativeness:
Target population:
Sampling frame:
Random sample:
Stratified random
sample:
Systematic
sampling:
Quota sampling:
Snowball sampling:
Purposive sampling:
Gatekeepers :
Generalisability:
Hawthorne effect:
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Objective/
subjective:
Operationalisation :
Ethical issues:
Practical issues:
Social Survey:
Questionnaire:
Structured
Interviews:
Semi or
unstructured
interviews:
Non-participant
observation
(Overt):
Participant
Observation
(Covert):
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Structured
Observation:
Statistical data:
Content Analysis:
Focus Groups:
Personal
Documents:
Longitudinal studies:
Pilot Studies:
Experiments:
Case Studies:
Triangulation and
mixed methods:
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