Research Methods
What type of data is expressed primarily through numbers and statistics?
Quantitative data
What are the three levels used to analyse society?
Micro, meso and macro.
What term describes the process through which a popular culture becomes accepted by a large audience?
Globalisation
What is the term to describe the view point of someone.
Worldview
What research method involves an extended conversation between a researcher and participant?
Interview
What is the difference between power and authority?
Power is the capacity to influence others/outcomes, whereas authority is power recognised as legitimate.
Identify TWO characteristics that distinguish popular culture from traditional or folk culture.
Examples include mass consumption, widespread accessibility, commercial production, mass media distribution and association with consumerism.
What is secularisation?
The declining influence or significance of religion/religious institutions within society.
A researcher surveys only students from their own friendship group about school satisfaction. What problem could this create for the research?
Sampling bias; the sample is unlikely to be representative, potentially reducing validity.
What type of social change involves significant and rapid alteration to existing social structures?
Transformative change.
How can mythology contribute to the continuity of a popular culture?
Mythology creates shared stories, characters, symbols and meanings that can maintain audience attachment and allow a popular culture to be reproduced across time.
How can a belief system contribute to an adherent's identity?
Belief systems provide values, practices, symbols, worldviews and a sense of belonging that can shape personal and social identity.
A researcher uses interviews and questionnaires to investigate attitudes towards social media. Explain ONE advantage of using these methods together.
Mixed methods can provide different forms of evidence, allow findings to be cross-checked and potentially improve validity
Explain ONE way resistance can influence the direction of social change.
Resistance can slow, prevent or redirect change and can contribute to continuity.
Explain how ownership can influence the development and direction of a popular culture.
Owners can control production, distribution, representation, marketing and access, thereby influencing how the popular culture develops.
What is secularisation?
Secularisation may reduce institutional religious authority or encourage individuals to question traditional beliefs, although it may also cause adherents to reaffirm or reinterpret their beliefs.
A researcher finds evidence that contradicts their original hypothesis. Explain how ignoring this evidence would affect the validity of the research.
Selectively ignoring contradictory evidence creates researcher bias and weakens validity because the conclusions no longer accurately reflect the collected evidence.
Which social change theory would BEST explain change resulting from competition between groups for power and resources? Justify your answer.
Conflict theory; it explains social change through inequality, competing interests and struggles between groups over power, authority and resources.
What is ONE way power and authority can influence access to and control of a popular culture.
Ownership/control to power and authority, shows how producers, corporations, media platforms or other gatekeepers can influence production, distribution, access, representations and consumption.
Explain how globalisation can simultaneously contribute to continuity AND change within a belief system.
Globalisation can spread beliefs through migration, media and communication technologies, producing change through new interpretations and cultural interaction, while also helping adherents maintain beliefs and practices across geographic boundaries.