Transcript Slide 1

Do now!
Review your Self Assessment checklist from last
lesson.
• In the second column, complete again for bullet
points 1-4. Have any changed?
• Remember green tick if confident, blank if
reasonably happy and red cross if concerned.
• If you were not here last lesson then please
complete the whole self assessment now.
Revision Topic
Week 1
• Social Inequality mock exam
• Studying Society (Social structures, processes & issues)
Week 2
• Studying Society (Research methods, ethical issues)
Week 3
• Education
Week 4
• Family
Week 5
• Crime & Deviance
EASTER
Week 6
• Mass Media
Week 7
• Power
Week 8
• Social Inequality
• Revise all topics / exam practice
Week 9
• Revise all topics / exam practice
UNIT 1 Exam (prov. 17th May)
UNIT 2 Exam (prov 22nd May)
Studying Society Revision 2
Key concepts revised today
 Describe research process
 Advantages & disadvantages of forms of social survey
 Advantages & disadvantages of direct, participant & non-participant
observation
 Distinguish between primary & secondary sources of data & state advantages
& disadvantages
 Be aware of ethical issues that might arise as part of research process
Starter:
1) List as many methods of research as you can remember.
Ext: Are they quantitative or qualitative?
The process of research
Research aims &
hypothesis
A theory you’re looking to
prove/disprove
Evaluating
Carrying out a pilot study
Did you prove/disprove
your hypothesis?
Small-scale trial run to
check your questions etc
Analysing the data
Selecting a sample
Interpreting/making sense
of the data. Making
graphs etc
Who are you going to
ask? How?
Collecting the data
Primary/secondary?
Quantitative/qualitative?
Exam Practice
Identify and explain one reason why sociologists use a pilot
study in questionnaire-based research. (4 marks)
One reason is because a pilot study often shows up
mistakes or problems. For example, by piloting a
questionnaire, a sociologist can check whether the
wording of questions is clear to the respondents. The
sociologist can also check that the questionnaire doesn’t
take too long to complete. If it takes up too much time or
some questions are unclear, the sociologist can change
the questionnaire before sending out lots of copies.
Picking the questions…
Open questions: Respondents can give a full
answer
Closed questions: Respondents choose from a
small selection of answers e.g. yes/no
Graded responses: Respondents grade their
answers e.g. strongly agree, agree, disagree etc
This will depend on whether
you are looking for quantitative
or qualitative data
Qualitative or quantitative?
Quantitative
(i.e. quantity – numbers,
stats, graphs etc)
Qualitative
(i.e. quality – interviews,
open questions etc)
Why might a sociologist
• Interviews (open questions,
• Social survey use secondary
data?
unstructured)
• Questionnaires
• Most forms of observation
• Structured interviews
Why might they
prefer
(participant/non-participant,
(closed questions)
primary covert/overt)
data?
• Some forms of observation
• Focus group
(e.g. counting number of times
boys are told off in a lesson)
• Questionnaires (open
questions)
• Government official
statistics
• Historical documents
• British Crime Survey
• Personal documents
(letters, diaries etc)
•Census
• Mass Media (films,
documentaries etc)
Quantitative research – i.e. counting or measuring
Questionnaires, Surveys etc
Advantages
• Can compare data easily
(graphs, statistics etc)
• Can reach large samples (e.g.
postal questionnaires)
• Can be less time consuming (as
don’t have to meet face to face)
• Accurate data as not led by
observer
• Can carry out longitudinal
studies i.e. over a long period of
time
Disadvantages
• Statistics don’t answer question
of why?
• Closed questions may be
misunderstood so may lack
validity
• May limit responses
Think of an example
of research that would
be suited to
quantitative research.
Qualitative research – i.e. ethnographic (whole
answer rather than just statistics)
There are two main methods of qualitative research:
1) Observations
2) Interviews
3) (Questionnaires – open questions)
Observations
Participant observation
Respondents do not
know they are being
observed.
Researcher takes
part in activities in
order to study it e.g.
joins a gang.
Non-participant observation
Overt observation
Covert observation
Researcher
observes from a
distance e.g.
observing a lesson.
Respondents know
they are being
observed.
n.b observations could also be quantitative if noting statistics
Observations
Participant observation
Researcher takes part in activities in order to study it e.g.
joins a gang.
Non-participant observation
Researcher observes from a distance e.g. observing a
lesson.
Overt observation
Respondents know they are being observed.
Covert observation
Respondents do not know they are being observed.
n.b observations could also be quantitative if noting statistics
Each method of observation has its advantages and
disadvantages…
Research
method
Advantage
Participant
observation
Observer can be a part of the
process so can really see &
experience what is going on
Non-participant
observation
Observer remains safe
Overt
observation
Ethical
Covert
observation
Respondents act as they
normally would
Disadvantage
Can be dangerous for
observer
Observer cannot get a
feel for what is
happening
“observer effect” means
respondents may act
differently
Unethical
Qualitative research – i.e. observing or
interviewing
Advantages
Disadvantages
• Can provide full picture of
answers and reasons behind
them (ethnographic)
• Can be used to inform
answers to social issues
• Not easy to compare
• May be time consuming to
analyse
• Observer may be biased
when interpreting
Think of an example
of research that would
be suited to qualitative
research.
Which research method & why?
1)
2)
3)
4)
Criminal behaviour at football matches
Attitudes towards single mothers
GCSE subject choices of boys and girls
Which political parties are most popular
The best research method is triangulation i.e. test the accuracy of one
method by checking it against research from another method.
The process of research
Research aims &
hypothesis
A theory you’re looking to
prove/disprove
Evaluating
Carrying out a pilot study
Did you prove/disprove
your hypothesis?
Small-scale trial run to
check your questions etc
Analysing the data
Selecting a sample
Interpreting/making sense
of the data. Making
graphs etc
Who are you going to
ask? How?
Collecting the data
Primary/secondary?
Quantitative/qualitative?
Sampling – who are you going to ask?
Random
Stratified
Systematic
Quota
Snowball
Opportunistic
Set quota controls e.g. age, sex, ethnicity etc. For example
“I will only question teenage girls.”
Use a sampling frame (list) and choose respondents using
a pattern e.g. “I will question every 10th person on this list.”
Ask a small group of people and then get them to pass it
on to another set of people e.g “I will ask 10 single mums
and then get them to ask another 10 single mums.”
Use a sampling frame (list) and choose respondents
randomly so that everyone has an equal chance of being
chosen e.g. “I will choose a random 10 people from this
list.”
Select the group based on the makeup of a certain strata
e.g. “There are 60% girls and 40% boys in this school.
Therefore, 60% of those I sample will be girls and 40%
boys.”
Questioning anyone available
Sampling – who are you going to ask?
Random
Stratified
Systematic
Quota
Snowball
Opportunistic
Set quota controls e.g. age, sex, ethnicity etc. For example
“I will only question teenage girls.”
Use a sampling frame (list) and choose respondents using
a pattern e.g. “I will question every 10th person on this list.”
Ask a small group of people and then get them to pass it
on to another set of people e.g “I will ask 10 single mums
and then get them to ask another 10 single mums.”
Use a sampling frame (list) and choose respondents
randomly so that everyone has an equal chance of being
chosen e.g. “I will choose a random 10 people from this
list.”
Select the group based on the makeup of a certain strata
e.g. “There are 60% girls and 40% boys in this school.
Therefore, 60% of those I sample will be girls and 40%
boys.”
Questioning anyone available
Ethical issues
Anonymity = can you ensure that no-one finds out who your respondents
are?
Confidentiality = can you ensure that private answers are kept private?
Informed consent = do your respondents understand what they are
consenting to?
Exam Questions – There will always be a set of questions
asking you to plan a research project
(e) As a sociologist, you have been asked to investigate attitudes
towards citizenship education among students in a large
comprehensive school.
(i) Identify and explain one possible ethical issue that you might
need to address while you are carrying out your research (4 marks)
(ii) Identify one secondary source of information that you would use in
your study and explain why you would use this source (4 marks)
(iii) Identify one primary method of research that you would use in
your study and explain why this method would be better than
another primary method for collecting the data that you need (6
marks)