Experiments
Name the two types of Experiments used in sociological research
Laboratory and Field
What is the difference between open-ended and closed-ended questions?
Open-ended > People are free to give detailed responses
Closed-ended > People repond to a limited range of answers
What secondary source provides substantial data about the composition of UK Households that sociologists can use?
UK Census (every 10 years)
What do structured interviews (SI) lack that unstructured interviews (UI) would be good at providing and explain why?
Valid data > Respondents can talk more informatively in open-ended questions in an UI than an SI. People may lie in thier response as well.
NPO - Researcher merely observes the group
PO - Researcher is actively taking part in the group
Overt - Researchers are aware of their observation
Cover - Researchers are unaware of their observations
Laboratory experiments allow you to control more vairables than Field experiments but what will it lack as a result?
Validity
Provide 2 Practical advantages of using questionnaires, with explanations
Quick/Cheap - gather large amount of data
People dont need to be trained to deliver questionnaires as completed by respondent
Data is easily quantified and can be used to estbalished correlations.
Why do interpretivists not trust soft stats like crime statistics?
They are a social construction and do not provide the full picture (Dark Figure) - so therefore lacks validity.
What are you more likely to develop with the interviewee in a UI than a SI and how can this affect the data?
Rapport/Relationship - more valid data as trust has been established.
What is the three step process that sociologists must consider before engaging in participant observation?
Getting in > Staying in > Getting Out
Experiments are favourable to Postivists because they are good at establishing what?
Cause and Effect/Correlations to understand social patterns
Having a low response rate may result in a lack of what?
Representativeness
Provide an example of a sociologist who used historical documents in thier research
Aries - Painting, diaries (Rise of Childhood)
Laslett - Parish records in study of families in pre-industrial England
Why is 'interviewer bias' more likely in UI than SI?
> Leading questions (no restrictions on how questions are phrased in SI)
> Physical indicators can influence the response.
What do we mean by 'going native'?
Reseacher develops loyalty to the group under study and abandons their research
Name two studies that can be used as an experiment in sociology.
Rosenthal & Jaconson S.F.P. study
Hawthorne Factory study
Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment
What do we mean by operationalising concepts and which group of people may not understand it the most?
Turning sociological concepts (e.g.cultural capital) into a measureable form. Difficult for pupils.
Why do Marxist's critique Offical Statistics?
Only benefits the Bourgeoisie in that they play an ideological function.
Interviewees may feel the need to win approval of the interviewer and not give authentic information - this is called?
Social Desirability
Provide an example of Covert participant observation used in sociological research
Humphrey - Tearoom Trade Study
Durkheim's suicide study uncovered what and what is it an example of ?
Various social groups were more likely to attempt suicide due to social facts -Comparative method
Postivists favour Questionnaires because they allow a level of what?
Detachment and objectivity
Scott argues that there is a 4 criteria when evaluating documents, what are they?
Authenticity, credibility, representativeness and meaning
How can the social characteristics of the interviewer impact the responses of the interviewee?
Feminists - Interviews are patriarchical and do not show women's full experience, particularly if the researcher is a man and is interacting with a woman.
Also, considering Class, Age, Ethnicity
Why would structualists (Functionalist, Marxists) disafree with participant observations?
They only focus on a 'micro' level and do not consider wider structural forces that shape behaviour.