Research Methods

What is a social fact?

Social phenomena which exists outside individuals but act upon them in ways which constrain or mould their behaviour e.g. social institutions like family, the law, education, workplace and values, norms and customs

What are examples of types of interviews?

Structured/formal, unstructured/informal, semi-structured, one to one, group, focus group

What is a structured/formal interview?

Having a set of questions that are to be asked in an arranged meeting

What is an unstructured/informal interview?

More conversational, questions based on answers given

What is a semi-structured interview?

Some set questions but also partly conversational

What is a one to one interview?

Individual, just the researcher and the respondee

What is a group interview?

Involved multiple people answering questions

What is a focus group?

Participant led discussing with the researcher only observing

What are benefits of unstructured interviews/problems with structured interviews?

Respondent led - can fully express their opinions

Flexibility - less constrained

Empathy - making people at ease with uncomfortable topics

Empowerment - gives respondents more freedom in the conversation

Practical advantage - relatively quick

What are the benefits of structured interviews/problems with unstructured interviews?

Interviewer bias - undermines validity of the experiment

Lack representativeness - more time consuming so can ask less people

Difficult to quantify - data can’t be compared as easily

Practical disadvantages - time consuming

Interpersonal skills - interview may lack personal skills required for informal interviwes

What are strengths of focus groups?

Measure reactions as well as opinions

Easily replicable

Time-saving

Detailed insight

What are strengths of group interviews?

Less time consuming

High validity - detailed answers + more honest responses

Can get a more representative sample if different genders, ethnicities, etc are used

Who did a study into girls attitudes to education, family and work to find whether they had high future aspirations?

Karen Sharpe (1976)

Who did a study into working class ‘lads’ anti-school subcultures?

Paul Willis (1977)

Who did a study into the Amish community and power relationships between men and women and how sex/sexuality was viewed in the community?

Natalie Jolly (2014)

Who did a study on the experience of becoming a mother?

Ann Oakley

What is an experiment?

Research where the researcher will actively test a hypothesis in an environment where all variables are closely controlled so that the effect of changing one variable can be understood/determined

What is a laboratory experiment?

Takes place in an artificial setting, with an artificial scenario, unknown to the participants

What is a field experiment?

Takes place in the participant’s natural environment with set controls put in place

What is a natural experiment?

In the participant’s natural environment but with no control in place, AKA the ‘comparative method’ - called this as two groups with one factor differing would be studied instead of the researcher putting controls in place

What is an experimental group?

Test sample or the group that receives an experimental procedure, this group is exposed to changes in the independent variable being tested

What is a control group?

A group separated from the rest of the experiment such that the independent variable being tested cannot influence the results

What is an independent variable?

What is changed by the researcher

What is a dependent variable?

What is being measured

What is a control variable?

The factor kept constant which helps ensure what we think is having an impact, is the actual thing having the impact