Scientific methods often involve quantative data. For example: the number of breathes in a minute or weight kg. Qualitative research involves collecting data that cannot be easily measured and instead can only be recorded using language. Qualitative data tends to be gathered using unstructured interviews, audio recording of conversations or narrative observations. Type of research | Advantage | Disadvantage | Primary research method Survey | Surveys are easy to develop.
Outline the sources of secondary data that sociologists use and assess their advantages and disadvantages. (33 marks) Sociologists have two types of data available to them: information they have self-generated for their own research purposes (primary data), and already existing data that was not specifically created for sociological purposes (secondary data). In focusing on Secondary sources of information, this comes in many forms. These can range from official statistics produced by the government on areas such as schools and crime and data published on the internet or in books by other sociologists who did their own research. Many sociologists as well as doing their own research use secondary data to back up what they may have found or also sometimes they use it so they don't have to have the hassle of doing a long winded study when they can just use other findings instead and publish their facts and figures more quickly.
One person, normally the selecting official, conducts and evaluates the interviews. Advantage: This method is more efficient because one person does all the interviewing and evaluating. Also, it is less intimidating to the candidate because most candidates are used to one-on-one interviews. Disadvantage: One perspective may not be enough to accurately evaluate candidates for highly complex jobs. 2.
Examine the reasons why some sociologists choose to use questionnaires when conducting research (20 marks) Questionnaires are surveys which are sent out to the public with pre-set questions which are usually closed-ended, and they are defended by positivist’s sociologists who favour using them over qualitative methods as questionnaires meet the main positivistic goal of reliability. Questionnaires are reliable because every questionnaire within a pack will be identical. So then this should generate similar answers. It also shows that if there is large differences it shows that it is because that is what the public think, not because the questions are worded differently for different people. Also this can rule out fluke answers which can be ignored.
This study shows that the children found it much easier to speak to William Labov when he took on a more relaxed manner with them. When people are spoken to in an informal and relaxed way it makes them feel more comfortable with speaking to the researcher. Putting them in a relaxed situation means they are more prepared to speak openly and freely about situations that may be sensitive. Unstructured interviews allow you to speak informally with the participants and so is the best method for when dealing with topics that may be sensitive. The interviewer can show the
Websites are really easy to use and contain a variety of information, such as pictures, tables and diagrams/graphs. Websites can be really inviting, they can be colourful, this is better than a website looking really dull and boring as nobody would want to read the information there. Books are a suitable resource too as they are reliable. Books are reliable as they have to be checked by a number of agents before they get published therefore there won't be anything made up in there. Books are also a good resource as they include case studies and real life situations.
One of the major strengths of questionnaires is their practicality. The fact that they are cheap and easy to create means that sociologists can target a high number of parents in a small time frame. For example, Rutter used questionnaires to collect large quantities of data from 12 inner London secondary schools in which he correlated achievement, attendance and behaviour with variables like class size. This was simple to do unlike a method like observation which would be extremely time consuming. Time is also saved as researchers would not need to recruit people to talk to the parents individually.
Positivists tend to use empirical research methods such as experiments and questionnaires to study sociology (Andrews). By using these methods, Positivists can be certain that they are obtaining the correct information. Not only that but by using empirical research methods, it is much easier for other sociologists to reproduce the same results they received. Durkheim, a strong believer in positivism, said that positivists are “in the same state of mind as a physicist, chemist or physiologist when he probes into a still unexplored region of the scientific domain” (Gordon). When Durkheim said that, he was saying that sociologists study sociology just like how a biologist studies photosynthesis.
An advantage of a survey is that you can get lots of data in a relatively short space of time and a disadvantage is that the responses may not always be specific. The most common form of qualitative research is face to face interview which is basically a meeting with someone to discuss various issues. Quantitative data is data that is usually in the form of numerical or statistical data while qualitative data is a categorical measurement expressed not in the terms of numbers but rather by a means of a natural language description. One way to acquire quantitative data is surveys while participant and non participant observations , case studies and unstructured interviews to get qualitative data. If the researcher decides to use any of the quantitative research method , they should always consider the size, cost and the purpose of the research whereas with the qualitative, they should take into
The approach, for this research technique, uses closed-end surveys, experiments with a control group, and second hand data. It is well tested and structured. Quantitative research reduces empirical data to numbers. The researcher knows well in advance, what information they are seeking in the study. The qualitative research tactic incorporates participants’ personal insights, into research results.