Examine the Extent to Which Practical Issues Are the Most Important Influence When Selecting Research Methods and a Research Topic.

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Examine the extent to which practical issues are the most important influence when selecting research methods and a research topic. There are many important issues which influence the decision of selecting which research methods to use and a research topic. There are many difference research methods to consider such as experiments, surveys, questionnaires, interviews, observation, case studies and official statistics. The researcher has to take into account many issues which will decide upon which is suitable for the research topic the researcher is interested in. Almost all sociological experiments have practical issues that must be looked at and sorted out. They are therefore very important to be considered when embarking upon an investigation, as well as ethical and theoretical issues. Some practical issues that must be considered are the: Cost - how much money will the experiment cost to the researcher? For example, participant observations are more expensive than questionnaires, and money will also affect the amount of researchers involved to contribute to the investigation. Time - how much time would be required for the research? E.g. Whyte spent 4 years on his study of a gang in the USA and this may be too long for many researchers. Funding - where will the money needed come from? For example, interpretivists who produce qualitative data are less likely to get funding than positivists with quantitative data as the government might fund research which favours quantitative methods such as questionnaires as they have more scientific credibility for governments. Also, access is important as the research method will only be possible if the researcher can gain access to a group that you may want to study, as some groups such as prisoners would be harder to gain access to than teachers. Some researchers may need skills to find the results needed, for example,
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