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Flashcards by Daniel Cormack, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Daniel Cormack
almost 9 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Research Methods - Ethical Considerations in Research | Ethical Considerations - Researchers must make sure full info about purpose of research and participant's contributions is made when selecting and involving people in research. - Honesty is important so participants know expectations of researcher. - Participants need re-assured about confidentiality and they themselves have to be aware of this. - Anonymity is important - means you cannot identify respondents based on their responses. Makes follow-up difficult but encourages respondents to be more honest in their responses. - Confidentiality means respondents identity is not revealed despite them knowing. |
| Research Methods - Primary/Secondary | Primary and Secondary Sources of information - Primary - surveys, formal interview, case studies, gov stats, informal/unstructured interviews. - Secondary - analysis of stats from govt, study of official documents, analysis of media reports. |
| Research Methods - Primary/Secondary | Primary Data Advantages - Researcher in control of how info is gathered. - Can ensure certain questions are asked. - Amend/modify research is necessary. Disadvantages - Time consuming and costly. - Qualitative methods tend to be biased. Secondary Data Advantages - Saves time/money - res already available. - Provide info not easily found elsewhere. Disadvantages - Reliability questionable and could be time consuming (sifting through large amounts of info). - Other people's research may be biased. |
| Research Methods - Observation * | Observation - primary source of info, can be qualitative or quant, quick and cheap. Advantages - Video evidence can be examined and verified by others - improves reliability. - Researcher cannot influence behaviour - method is fairly objective and unbiased. Disadvantages - Researchers can always be biased when analysing data. - Covert observation - raises ethical questions. - Time consuming and expensive. |
| Research Methods - Participant Observation | Participant Observation - Aim of method - observed group behaviour as naturally as possible. - Qualitative research with in depth info about feelings, interactions etc. - Primary source; covert - not knowing behaviour is being researched; overt - knowing behaviour is being researched. - Advantages - Realistic in-depth study of social behaviour and interaction. - Gives validity to an understanding of actions of the group as researcher can learn what the group does rather than think what it does. - Participant learns far more than outsider. - Disadvantages - lacks reliability - research cannot be repeated or checked by other sociologists. - Research is qualitative - can't quantify the results. - Reliability could be affected by researcher's role within the group. - Cost could be substantial |
| Example of Participant Observation | - A good example of the qualitative approach is given in the work of J. Patrick A Glasgow Gang Observed 1973. - In this study Patrick uses the method of participant observation in order to gain an understanding of the beliefs, values and motivations that underlay the delinquent behaviour of a street gang in Glasgow. - The advantages of this method are that Patrick simply records and describes what he saw and heard whilst with the gang. Unlike the quantitative approach, he does not have to create any explanations, the gang members in effect speak for themselves. - He provides a deep insight into the motivation of the gang members, why they commit acts of vandalism and violence, which could not be obtained by quantitative research methods. - This disadvantage of this method is that it is open to bias. Patrick could have grown to like the gang members and made them look more moral than they actually were. - This kind of research could not be repeated or checked by another researcher and is therefore unreliable. |
| Research Methods - Non-participant observation | - The researcher is merely observer; withdraw from participation. Advantages - Bias - as the researcher is less likely to be drawn into the group, he or she will also be less likely to be biased in their views. - Influence - as researcher is not making any decisions or joining in, the group may be less influenced than in participant obs. Disadvantages - Superficial - whole point of participant obs is to be a member of group and experience life as they experience it, so group may be less influenced if not involved. - Altering behaviour - people may act differently if they know they are being watched. |
| Research Methods - Covert/Overt Research Background | Observational res is normally carried out among deviant/unusual groups eg religious cults. Usually these groups will be unwelcoming so before researcher begins their work they must decide whether to conduct res in cover or overt way. |
| Research Methods - Covert Research | Advantages - Researcher can enter forbidden areas, be fully accepted and trusted and immerse themselves in the group they are studying. This can generate a real understanding of the views of the group. - Normal behaviour - the group will continue to act naturally and won't be aware they are being studied. Disadvantages - Danger - if researcher's true role is uncovered then they could be placed in danger. - Ethical dilemmas - if group engages in illegal activities, then researcher may have to engage in these too. They may have to hold on to knowledge which would be immoral not to report to authorities. |
| Example of Covert Research | - Donal MacIntyre - covert and participant research in the Chelesea headhunters. - Went undercover to gain greater understanding of football hooliganism and the nature of the activities they were involved in. - Was able to uncover information that would not be gained from quantitative sources as secret filming uncovered details that would not be expanded on or even mentioned in a survey. |
| Research Methods - Overt Observation | Advantages - As someone who has no role within the group, the researcher may be in the position of the trusted outsider and receive confidences from group members. - Researcher can also play an open, clear and honest role which will help minimise ethical dilemmas. Disadvantages - Outsider - there will be many situations where only a trusted insider will be let into the secrets. Anyone else would be excluded. |
| Research Methods - Background on Interviews | - Structured - Interviews are simply questionnaires which are read out by interviewer who then writes down the respondent's answer. - Unstructured - more like an everyday conversation. Informal, open ended and flexible. Questions unlikely to be preset. |
| Research Methods - Unstructured Interviews | Advantages - Examines attitudes and opinions; not just facts. - Researcher can clarify parts or explore particular points further. - Not restricted to a fixed set of questions. - If taped; easy to analyse. Disadvantages - Open to bias - researcher can easily influence respondents' replies - eg by giving clues etc. - Samples too small to get quantified info. - Diff to ensure objectivity when questions are not standardised. |
| Research Methods - Structured Interviews. | Advantages - Standardised questions - analysis done quickly and accurately on PC. - Comparisons can be made between gender and age groups. - Results are easy to quantify. Disadvantages - Time consuming if sample is large - Questions could be biased and not allow for certain answers. - People may not be honest - may be embarrassed or say what they think the researcher wants to hear. |
| Research Methods - Background on Semi Structured Interviews | Technique used to collect qualitative by setting up interview that allows respondent time and scope to talk about their opinions on a particular subject. Researcher attempts to build rapport with respondent - interview is like a convo as questions are asked when interviewer feels it is appropriate to do so. |
| Research Methods - Semi-structured interviews | Advantages - High validity - people are able to talk about something in detail and depth. This is because interviewer can speak for themselves with little direction from interviewer. - Pre-judgement - problem of researcher pre-determining what will or won't be discussed in interview is resolved. With few pre-set questions involved, the interviewer does not pre judge what is important info and what isn't. - Positive rapport between interviewer an interviewee - simple, efficient and practical way of getting data about things that cannot be easily observed. Disadvantages - Not very reliable - difficult to repeat a semi-structured interview as respondents may be asked different questions. Sample also tend to be small. - Personal nature of interview may make findings difficult to generalise - respondents may effectively be answering different questions. |
| Research Method - Focus Group | Focus groups are groups of people who get together to discuss issues and come up with ideas. The number in the group can vary and so does the composition. Sometimes it is a group of like-minded people and other times it is made up of a representative sample of different people. These aim to find out peoples opinions on a variety of issues through organised discussion and interaction They would be chosen when an in-depth study was wanted from different perspectives The range is very wide, any topic could be covered. The scope would be considerable, as you would get a more considered view than from individual interviews. |
| Research Method - Focus Groups | Advantages - Direct Interaction - benefit of being able to see participants and monitor their body language and other actions. They will be able to provide more in depth, clearer answers than perhaps those which are put across in writing. - Wider range of opinions - focus groups allow you to choose sample and having a diverse range of people means a range of views which could not be measured online or over the phone. Disadvantages - Aren't always suitable for everyone - those looking to gain widest range of views possible may not be able to do so with a small sample which may not be representative. You may not get results you want and subsequently lose time and money. - It can also be difficult to check and verify results when a group is involved as opinions of participants are all subjective so there is potential for bias and mis -representation. |
| Example of Focus Groups | - Focus groups explored public attitudes to youth crime for the UK government. - The topics included the respondents’ views of the extent of crime and anti-social behaviour in the local community; appropriate disposals for young offenders and the role of the community in supporting youth justice. - Focus group methodology was considered appropriate for researching attitudes to youth crime. - This is a complex topic that provokes diverse views that are often strongly held and expressed, but can also be nuanced and ambivalent. These views can be closely scrutinised during focus group discussions, allowing participants to reflect upon the issues, challenge one another‟s views and, possibly, revise their opinions. - However, there are limitations to the conclusions that can be drawn from focus group research as the findings are not derived from a representative sample of the general public. - Focus groups also provide limited scope for exploring the impact of social and demographic variables on public perceptions. They do not allow the views of specific individuals to be tracked |
| Research Methods - Surveys | - Involves obtaining information in a standardised manner from a large group of people. - Usually obtain information from through questionnaires or through interviews. - Survey methods differ - eg pilot study, postal questionnaire, internet questionnaire etc. - Online surveys and mobile surveys tend to be the most cost-effective modes of survey research, yet they may not reach those respondents that can only respond using alternate modes. - Results of online surveys and mobile surveys may suffer and differ greatly if important respondents are left out of the research. - Hard-to-reach respondents may be easier to reach using more traditional methods such as paper surveys or face-to-face interviews. |
| Example of a Survey | - 2009/10 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) - 16,036 interviews were conducted in respondents’ homes by professional interviewers using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing - 40 minute interviews, representative sample. - Overall it is hard to argue that this is anything other than a trustworthy piece of research and like all research is only valid for the time of the survey. |
| Research Methods - Surveys - Pilot Study | Pilot Study - This means one does a brief trial study. Means you can check that your questions are easily understood and that they elicit the information you are looking for. Problems can be dealt with easier at this stage. Advantages - Sharpens focus of the study and improves design of the survey. - Problems can be dealt with before time and effort is wasted on the main survey. Disadvantages - Can be time consuming and expensive - Survey could be out of date by the time you’ve finished the pilot |
| Research Methods - Survey - Face to Face | Advantages - Higher response rate - Responses can be elaborated, especially if an interviewer is skilled. - Questions may also be clarified. Disadvantages - More private as anon, less of an embarrassment factor. - Could be costly to get a good interviewer. |
| Research Methods - Survey - | Phone Interview Advantages - Higher response rate - Easy access, will get sensible responses if interviewer skilled - Still fairly anonymous so less of an embarrassment factor Disadvantages - May not be suitable for certain groups without phones eg homeless. - Time of phoning could affect type of person that respond, eg age. - Difficult to ensure that you get a representative sample or indeed know who is answering. |
| Research Methods - Questionnaires | - A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents Advantages - Straightforward method of collecting a lot of info and usually cheaper than other research methods. - Results for qaires are verifiable by other so are reliable. - No issue of interviewer bias, just completed by respondent. Disadvantages - Need a high response rate, can be diff to achieve. Low response rate can affect reliability and validity of the questionnaire. |
| Research Methods - Questionnaire Example | - A study based in Bristol asked nearly 2,000 people to fill out a questionnaire on how many times they went to the toilet during the week and the shape, size, consistency and texture of their faeces. - They were required to tick whether it was "like a sausage or snake but with cracks on its surface" or "fluffy with ragged edges" and so on. |
| Research Methods - Open and close questions | - A researcher can choose one of two basic types of questions: closed-ended questions and open-ended questions. - Closed-ended questions limit respondents’ answers to the survey. The participants are allowed to choose from either a pre-existing set of dichotomous answers, such as yes/no, true/false, or multiple choice with an option for “other” to be filled in, or ranking-scale response options. ranking-scale response options. |
| Research Methods - Open and closed questions | Advantages of closed questions - Closed-ended questions are more easily analysed. Every answer can be given a number or value so that a statistical interpretation can be assessed. - Closed-ended questions are also better suited for computer analysis. - Closed-ended questions can be more specific, thus more likely to communicate similar meanings. Because open-ended questions allow respondents to use their own words, it is difficult to compare the meanings of the responses. - In large-scale surveys, closed-ended questions take less time from the interviewer, the participants and the researcher, and so they are a less expensive survey method. - Generally, the response rate is higher with surveys that use close-ended questions than with those that use open ended questions. |
| Research Methods - Open and Closed Questions | Disadvantages - A limitation of closed-ended questions is the assumption that the researcher knows enough about the phenomenon being studied and about the respondents’ perceptions to be able to build an appropriate and sensitive set of categories. - If that is not true, the responses might be grouped into inappropriate categories or concepts. When using closed-ended questions, the researcher might first have an exploratory survey during which a small sample is asked open-ended questions. The answers obtained can be |
| Research Methods - Open and Closed Questions | - Open-ended questions do not give respondents answers to choose from, but rather are phrased so that the respondents are encouraged to explain their answers and reactions to the question with a sentence, a paragraph, or even a page or more, depending on the survey |
| Research Method - Open and Closed Questions | - Open-ended questions allow respondents to include morinformation, including feelings, attitudes and understanding of the subject. This allows researchers to better access the respondents’ true feelings on an issue. Closed-ended questions, because of the simplicity and limit of the answers, may not offer the respondents choice that actually reflect their real feelings. Closed-ended questions also do not allow the respondents to explain that they do not understand the question or do not have an opinion on the issue. - Open-ended questions cut down on two types of response error: respondents are not likely to forget the answers they have to choose from if they are given the chance to respond freely; and open-ended questions simply do not allow respondents to disregard reading the questions and just “fill in” the survey with all the same answers (such as filling in the “no” box on every question). |
| Open and Closed Questions - Research Methods | - Because they can elicit extra information from the respondent, such as demographic information (current employment, age, gender, etc), surveys that use open-ended questions can be used more readily for secondary analysis by other researchers than can surveys that do not provide contextual information about the survey population |
| Quantitative Research - what is it? | - Focuses on gathering numerical data and generalising it across groups of people or to explain a particular phenomenon, in this case; people's perception of crime. - As this type of research is about asking for opinions, but in a structured way, there are variety of methods, including surveys and questionnaires, which can be used to gather quant data. |
| Advantages of quantitative r | - Allows researcher to measure and analyse data - makes researcher more objective about the findings of the research, can be used to test hypotheses of experiments - due to ability to measure data using stats. - Allows for broad study, involves great number of subjects - so enhances the generalisation of the results. - Personal bias can be avoided by researchers keeping distance from participating subjects and employing subjects unknown to them. |
| Disadvantages of quantitative research? | - Results can be limited - provide numerical descriptions rather than detailed narrative - generally provides less elaborate accounts of human perception. - Standardised questions - could lead to structural bias - info actually reflects view of researcher per se, rather than participant. |
| Longitudinal Studies | - Can be either qualitative or quantitative method. - Primary source of information. - Researcher studies a particular group of people over an extended period of time, at times can be many years. - The people being researched studied at intervals. - Techniques used with this may involve interviews, groups discussions or forms of testing. |
| Types of Longitudinal study | - Panel Studies -A number of people are selected as being representative of a particular group in society. If people drop out they can be replaced with people of the same age and gender from a similar background. They are used to measure the changing views and attitudes of particular groups in society over time. For example people’s viewing habits or political attitudes. |
| Types of Longitudinal Study | Census Studies - The census is a survey of the total population of the UK conducted by the government every ten years. - It is based on a structured questionnaire and is used to establish absolute figures such as car ownership and family size on a particular date as well as long term trends that can be used to predict future needs for things such as roadbuilding, hospitals and housing. |
| Types of Longitudinal Study | Cohort Studies - In this type of longitudinal study a group of people born at the same time will be studied over a number of years to see how their different social and economic circumstances affect their lives in such things as educational achievement, occupations, relationships, etc. - This type of study is very good for demonstrating the influence of social forces on individual’s lives. - For example, J.W.B. Douglas’s study The Home and the School used a cohort study method to look at the impact of home background on educational achievement. |
| Longitudinal Studies Advantages | - This method highlights social changes and the influence of social forces. - Depending on the scope of the study, longitudinal observation can also help to discover connections between different events over a long period of time; events that might otherwise not be linked. |
| Longitudinal Studies Disadvantages | - Expensive method; time and money wise. - Respondents may drop out or be lost from research because of its long time scale. - Takes a long time to produce results. - It will occupy a team of researcher over a long period of time. - Another weakness is that while longitudinal data is being collected at multiple points, those observation periods are pre-determined and cannot take into account whatever has happened in between those touch points. |
| Example of Longitudinal Study | Longitudinal analysis of the Offending, Crime and Justice Survey 2003-2006 - Presented longitudinal analysis of self reported data on offending, drug use and anti-social behaviour amongst young people. Analysis set out to look at transitions young people make into and out of offending behaviour. - This was a useful study as it allowed government to identify offending rates and whether they changed as an offender grew older. |
| Case Studies | - Primary sources of information. - Provides both quant and qual data. - Involves an in-depth and detailed study of a particular event, person, group or organisation. |
| Case Studies Advantages | - Case studies allow a lot of detail to be collected that would not normally be easily obtained by other research designs. The data collected is normally a lot richer and of greater depth than can be found through other experimental designs. - Can stimulate ideas and understandings about similar groups of individuals. - Case studies can help experimenters adapt ideas and produce novel hypotheses which can be used for later testing. |
| Case Studies Disadvantages | - One of the main criticisms is that the data collected cannot necessarily be generalised to the wider population. This leads to data being collected over case studies not always being relevant or particularly useful. - Case studies are generally on one person, but there also tends to only be one experimenter collecting the data. This can lead to bias in data collection, which can influence results more than in different designs. - Results apply only to the study. It is not possible to make scientific generalisations about similar groups or individuals. |
| Official Statistics | - Considered primary source of info. - Quant data. - Stats used are gathered by govt or state organisations such as Registrar General's National Census, police records of crime, health statistics, unemployment statistics. - These stats are based on total populations rather than samples and provide info that would be too time consuming and expensive to collect in any other way. |
| Official Statistics | Advantages - Cheap and quick as the information has already been gathered by others. - Good indicator of broad trends in social behaviour. - Most official stats are gathered from the total population. - Ideal for quantitative comparisons over time and from place to place. |
| Official Statistics Disadvantages | - Officials may use different indicators and criteria to those preferred by the researchers. Eg, the govt may use a diff definition of social class. - Official stats may be incomplete. Eg, crime stats only include those known to the police - a fraction of crime that actually takes place. - There can be problems using official statistics for comparative studies because the indicators and criteria may change over time and from place to place. |
| Sampling Random Sampling | - Basic method used is this. - Means a method of sampling in which everyone in population has equal chance of being selected. - Eg, everyone in class writes name on piece of paper, folds papers, put in hat and shaken up. Five names picked from hat - this would form a random sample. - Various way this form can be improved - by doing things to increase the chance that sample will reflect characteristics of total population, to improve accuracy. |
| Sampling Stratified Sampling | - TO produce a stratified sample, one needs to find out general characteristics of population you are interested in. - Eg, what proportion of that population are male, female, working class, middle class, under 28 etc etc. - Then people would be chosen at random from these groups until the same proportion of each groups in sample exists in the total population. - Thus, if 60% of total population are working class, then 60% of sample would be working class. |
| Sampling Quote Sampling | - Most market research companies use a form of stratified sampling called quote sampling. Use this method due to its cheapness and accuracy. - Each interviewer in the research team is instructed to select and interview an exact number of people from each of the groups in the wider population. - The number of people in each group and thus proportion of each group in sample will be same as their proportion to population. - Problems with this form are: you need to already know a lot about population you are studying and this is often not the case. - The interviewers need to be well trained and experienced to be able to accurately select the type of people that they need to fill their quotes. |
| Sampling additional info | Sampling may be defined as the selection of a subset of a population for inclusion in a study. If done properly, it can save money, time, and effort, while providing valid, reliable, and useful results. On the other hand, if done poorly, the findings of a study may have little scientific and practical value. Preparation is important when considering how to select a sample. The preparation should include a careful review of the purpose of the research, the nature of the population, the available resources, and ethical and legal considerations etc. |
| Qualitative Approach | - Rejects scientific methods to understand human behaviour. - In order to understand criminal behaviour, the qualitative approach argues that we must try to grasp the values and motivations, the subjective view, of people who commit crime. - This is achieved by looking at participant observation, interviews and case studies. |
| Qualitative Approach | - Glasgow gang observed - Patrick. |
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