Research Methods

Extra Help for NAB

PRIMARY METHODS

SECONDARY METHODS

QUALITATIVE DATA

QUANTITATIVE DATA

Qualitative Methods

• Unstructured Interview

•Participant Observation

•Non-Participant Observation

•Personal Documents

•Telephone Interview (AH MS)

Key Features – Unstructured Interviews Between interviewer & respondent –

Questions cover ‘General areas’ eg ‘Your School’ or ‘Living in Your Area’

Open Questions – producing Qualitative, detailed data

No interview schedule or list of questions

Advantages – Unstructured Interviews Respondent can elaborate on

interesting points/ areas Interviewer can clarify/ explore

particular points mentioned (things seen as important by the RESPONDENT)

Produces detailed qualitative data – deep understanding of attitudes, feelings of each respondent.

Disadvantages – Unstructured Interviews Can be difficult to quantify/ compare results of

respondents – can only interview small sample so findings can’t be generalised

Can be very time consuming Can be expensive eg travelling, paying

interviewers (HAVE TO BE THERE) Interview may have to be terminated early –

refusal to answer? Emergency? Situation?

Participant Observation – KF’sParticipant observation involves the researcher

becoming a full participant in the group being

studied, and is accepted into the group as a

member. The other members are not aware

they are being ‘studied’ by the researcher. This

produces qualitative data in the form of notes

based on the researcher’s observations as a

group member.

Key Features – Participant Observation Researcher becomes a participant in the

group being studied and is accepted as a member

Researcher goes through 3 phases ‘Get in – be accepted as a member…stay in…act, talk same as other group members to continue to be accepted….get out…leave group without causing upset or harm to future functioning of the group’

Participant Observation – KF’s 2The researcher as to get in (gain access thegroup) stay in (be accepted as a member) andget out (remove himself from the group withoutconsequences). These studies have high

researcher involvement – the researcher must spend lots of time with the study group, so this can be very expensive. The data can be biased because it’s only one person’s view/ interpretation of the group’s behaviour

Participant Observation: Disadv’sThis type of research can be very dangerous,eg if the researcher is observing a criminalgang, football hooligans, etc. The researcherneeds time alone to write up observations andthis may be difficult as part of the group.It is also difficult to quantify the results –observations and findings are specific to thegroup studied and can not be generalised orapplied to the whole population

Disadvantages – Participant Observation Very high cost & high researcher input (time) High

researcher involvement – 24 hours a day? Over several months or years?

Can be biased – researcher interprets reasons/ meanings of observed group

Can be dangerous – criminal activity? Researcher perhaps begins to ‘justify’ illegal activity – begins to think like one of the group?

Difficult to record behaviour and reflect on it when being a member of a group – need time alone

Difficult to quantify results/ generalise & apply to findings from group to whole society – observations are sample-specific

Participant Observation – Adv’sThese studies DO give realistic pictures ofNORMAL group behaviour, but the Hawthorne effect unlikely to be a problem – as

group member’s behaviour will be typical as they will not realise they are being studied.

Observer is ‘submerged’ in the culture, behaviour and thought-process’ of the observed group, so gets an in-depth understanding of observed behaviour – more than would be obtained from a non-participant observation

Advantages – Participant Observation Gives very realistic picture of ‘normal’ group

behaviour - Avoids Hawthorne Effect where group members change their behaviour if they think they’re being studied by outsider – if researcher is an insider (group member) then observed behaviour is ‘real’ and ‘typical’

Very detailed data relating to behaviour, thoughts, motivations of a small group – great understanding of that small group – but can’t generalise to whole population

Difficult to get a sociologist accepted into a ‘private’ group eg criminal gang, monks…how do you gain access to study these groups’ behaviour?

Key Features – Non- Participant Obs.vn

Researcher observes behaviour – does not participate in group activity

Primary method – qualitative data produced Could be covert (ethics?) Overt (Hawthorne

Effect) Researcher interprets behaviour and

records details of observed behaviour

Adv’s – Non- Participant Obs.vn

By not being involved, observed behaviour is not influenced by researcher presence (if covert) so recorded behaviour is ‘real’

Qualitative data produced – gives detailed understanding of behaviour and reasons for behaviour of a small group

Good method of gathering information about eg criminal behaviour (can’t do eg participant obs, or questionnaire for eg)

Disadv’s – Non- Participant Obs.vn

High researcher involvement -- Time consuming, need to BE THERE all the time to observe behaviour (unlike questionnaire)

Has to interpret observed behaviour – takes it at face value/ may be wrongly interpreted

Difficult to quantify/ compare results Can’t check details or explore issues further High cost – paying researcher for time spent

observing/ analysing can be expensive method Unethical? Should inform subjects they’re involved in

a study – but then behaviour wouldn’t be ‘typical’ Can’t Generalise findings to wider population –

behaviour observed/ conclusions are ‘sample specific’

Key Features – Personal Documents Eg: Diaries/ Journals, Poetry, Emails, texts,

letters, Good source of in-depth account or case

study – thoughts, actions etc of one person Provides social comment on society within

which person lives/ lived By reading these personal documents, an

understanding of the thoughts/ behaviour of one person or small group

Disadvantages – Personal Documents May be biased: only one person’s personal view of

events and author may be aware someone would read it – may contain exaggeration, lies, may not be factual - Authentic? Is it a REAL account or made up – fact or fiction?

No way of checking accuracy of details if person no longer alive

Doesn’t tell you any important facts that are missed out Difficulty of getting permission (consent) to use quotes

from the personal document in research project publication?

Qualitative and Secondary: Difficult to generalise/ compare, time to analyse, secondary – no control over data collection – days missing? Letters missing

Advantages – Personal Documents Excellent in –depth source of qualitative

data – lots of details about feelings, thoughts and actions of case study person(s)

Can give us info about behaviour of people or feelings about events in the past – eg diaries of Anne Frank (but only tells you about HER)

? Secondary Source – saves time as data already collected

Telephone Interview/ Q’re

Contact respondents via telephone, to conduct verbal interview on given issue. Questions could be open or closed, as in written questionnaire/ survey.

Contacts may be contacted in a random or semi-random way (phonebook) or may be sampled in a way to include particular postcodes, socioeconomic or ethnic groups (targeted sampling)

To what extent is telephone interviewing effective as a research method? AH MS - (10)

Massive contact potential Unaffected by weather etc Cheaper than travelling in person to int Can be carefully constructed

but: • Not all have phones – generalising? • Researcher cannot be sure of identity of

respondent – IS it who I THINK it is? • Can cause offence – ‘cold call fatigue’ • Lack of personal contact – you’re just calling up

ANYONE whereas if you INTERVIEW me in person, you want to talk to ME…do you even know the person’s NAME you’re phoning?

respondents may lie as not ‘face to face’ with researcher

Quantitative Methods

•Postal Questionnaire•Surveys•Structured Interviews•Official Statistics

Key Features – Postal Questionnaire A questionnaire sent by post Can cover large sample (1000’s) Can get responses from wide geographical area

(eg whole city, or all Scottish regions) Low researcher involvement (researcher doesn’t

have to be with person when they complete it) Low cost (even cost of postage and return

postage is cheaper than paying interviewer/ travel costs for interviews)

Can get low return rate – so can’t generalise results

Key Features – Postal Questionnaire (cont) Limited to short-answer/ usually closed questions

so can’t explore reasons for responses Some people will respond to difficult/ personal

questions because questionnaire is anonymous, they are less comfortable answering these questions in interview (crime/ sexual/ personal)

Can easily quantify results – put overall results into table/ graph and make conclusions (most people - 90% - said…. Very few people -10% -said ….)

Good for factual information, less useful for opinions/views/ feelings

Key Features – Structured Interview Carried out by researcher face to face with

respondent Set questions in an interview ‘schedule’ Only those questions – can not explore

answers given for further detail, reasons, meaning for responses given to set questions

In same order for every respondent Q1, Q2, Q3….. Accounts for interviewee boredom/ tiredness

Adv’s – Structured Interview Good response rate – people will answer questions in an

interview because they’re in the situation – they feel they ‘might as well’

Good response rate – people will likely turn up for an arranged interview – as opposed to throwing a questionnaire in the bin

Can compare answers given by different respondents, as ALL have answered the SAME questions (unlike unstructured int’s) or look for comparisons by group (gender?) eg boys were more negative than girls about ….issue answers can be pre-coded allowing groups’ responses to be compared

Quicker than unstructured interviews -can go on as long as respondent wishes – structured interview quicker as only answering schedule questions

Disadv’s – Structured Interview Respondent can only talk about issues raised in

interview schedule – interviewer therefore decides what’s important to discuss, not the respondent

Can still take up researcher time and money – more than a postal questionnaire anyway!

Can NOT ask for clarification or details of interesting/ controversial responses given to schedule questions – must just ask the next question on the list without further probe

Produces qualitative data, but can be coded into quantitative data – still difficult to generalise findings – really only reflect the views of the particular people / group interviewed, (eg sample of pupils) not ‘generally’ the views of the whole population (ie ALL pupils)

Disadvantages 2 – Structured Interview High researcher involvement Can be time consuming People may not answer honestly – please

the researcher – say what you think they want to hear, embarrassed about truth so lie?

Easy to quantify – can compare results of different respondents as have all answered same questions

Key Features – Social Surveys Researcher asks a sample of people the

same questions, but this time face-to-face eg on the street

Mainly closed questions to gather the views of a large group of people about one issue or a small range of issues – eg Opinion Polls gather people’s views about who they might vote for at the next election

An example of a Primary Quantitative method

Disadvantages – Social Surveys Respondents may not wish to answer questions

of a personal/ sensitive nature (finance, sexual, criminal…) Don’t get required data

Respondents may not give truthful answers, but rather give the responses they think the researcher is looking for

Difficulty getting a large enough sample of people to respond – must be large enough to generalise findings to whole population

Quantitative data produced – no reasons/ meanings for responses given to (closed) questions in social surveys

Advantages – Social Surveys Good way of collecting the views of a cross

section of the population, about any given topical (currently of interest) topic, eg ‘The War in Iraq’ or ‘Gordon Brown as PM’

Closed questions generating quantitative statistical data which can be quickly quantified/ analysed to produce trends or patterns eg ‘support for Labour has declined’ or ‘more people are now in favour of the smoking ban’

Can be generalised as sample can be random so given views can be assumed to be ‘typical’ of views of people in the general population

Key Features – Official (Social) Statistics Figures about unemployment, crime, suicide,

divorce, etc are collected by governmental and non-governmental orgs, and are used to inform government policy for future bills/ laws. Eg if ‘British Crime Survey’ shows crime figures rising, government will address this with policies to increase policing.

Secondary source of quantitative data Can be used ‘second hand’ to make comparisons/

show ‘co-relations’ between data sets, eg linking unemployment and suicide figures (Durkheim)

Advantages – Official (Social) Statistics Good for quantitative studies – eg looking at

how many crimes/ divorces/ suicides in one year in a population – can see patterns of rising/ falling crime, divorce, unemployment….

Can save lots of time if fig’s are already available – secondary data so lower researcher input

Gives good general trend/ pattern of phenomena eg figs show overall increase in crime in Scotland ‘99 to ’02

Disadvantages – Official (Social) Statistics May be biased – way figures were collected? Reason

figures were collected? Were figures collected to make police/ government look good – stats can hide the truth eg ‘crime’ or ‘reported crime’

Changed criteria/ definitions prevents longitudinal studies over several years (can’t compare ‘class’ across several years as definition of ‘class’ has changed)

Researcher doesn’t collect the data, but may still have to interpret meaning of statistics – what do the figures really show?

People may lie when stat’s being collected eg 1991 census ‘are you a home owner?’ question to avoid paying Poll Tax – so data collected may not accurately show the true picture of Britain

Importance of Choosing Appropriate Method What TYPE of data is required – Qualitative? P. Observation, Non-P. Observation, Unstructured Interview

all give meaning, reasons, details, feelings, thoughts, motives, explanations

Quantitative? Structured Interviews, Surveys, Postal Questionnaires all give trends, patterns, figures, general opinion

How much detail is needed – lots or little? Where are respondents – easily accessed or spread over wide

geographical area? What method would get the info in need? Would the method involve illegal activity Be able to give eg’s of studies and appropriate methods for those studies –

and WHY

Appropriate Method

Money! The amount of money a research project has could dictate the method used – lots of money is needed for qualitative research eg interview, observation, whereas a relatively smaller amount of money is needed for quantitative methods like questionnaires

Research Methods - NAB Main features, advantages and disadvantages of

all primary and secondary/ qualitative and quantitative research methods

Why is it important to Choose Appropriate Methods for research?

Describe in detail each of the Steps of the Research Process – Details incl sub-stages of Operationalisation

Compare / Contrast qualitative and quantitative methods of gathering data - use given sources or other studies

Key Feat’s: Postal Questionnaire• Postal Questionnaires are questionnaires sent by post, they can be

sent to a large number of respondents who live across a wide geographical area, such as a whole city, region or even country.

• These questionnaires allow the views of many people to be compared about the same issues; eg comparing the views of pupils about uniform in schools across Scotland. Patterns and trends can be identified eg most people thought… or very few people thought….

• Postal questionnaires are usually limited to short (closed) questions which can be answered quickly (if it takes ages to complete it will not be returned!) so can’t explore meaning/ reasons for responses given.

• It is best to include a pre-paid/ stamped addressed envelope and perhaps also a free ‘gift’ pen to encourage return of the questionnaire.

Advantages: Postal Questionnaire• Postal Questionnaires are useful as they have low researcher

involvement – the researcher does not have to be there when the respondent completes the questionnaire, unlike an interview. The cost of printing questionnaires, postage, return postage and even envelopes and ‘free gift’ pens is relatively cheaper than paying for travel and time of a researcher to interview a similarly large group of people across a wide area.

• The anonymity of questionnaires means people may be more willing than in an interview, to reveal personal, sensitive or embarrassing information. It’s more difficult to do this in a face to face interview.

• Results can be quickly quantified – put results into graph/ table to show 90% said….YES 10% said ….NO – gives clear conclusions. Questionnaires are therefore useful for collecting factual information rather than opinions, views or feelings.

Disadvt’es: Postal Questionnaire• Some people might not return the questionnaire – a

low return rate means the findings can not be generalised / applied to the larger population – if ‘most’ return the questionnaire then results reflect the views of ‘most’ of the population; if not, then they don’t.

• Response rates to questionnaires are often very low – lack of motivation to return it ‘what’s in it for me’ attitude often results in very low return rates, meaning findings can not be generalised to the whole population

• Anonymity may encourage respondents to lie (as it’s not face to face, so they may ‘exaggerate’ eg their alcohol intake, so results may not be accurate

Research Methods 1. Describe KEY FEATURES of … Postal Questionnaire (Quantitative Primary) OR Structured Interview (Quantitative Primary) 2. Describe KEY FEATURES of … Participant Observation (Qualitative Primary) OR Unstructured Interview (Qualitative Primary) 3. Describe KEY FEATURES of … Official/ Social Statistics (Quantitative Sec) OR Historical Documents (Qualitative Sec) OR Personal Documents (Qualitative Sec)

Compare ‘Qual’ & ‘Quant’ Methods Quantitative – Advantages: Large-scale studies – able to collect views about topic

from large number of people, spread across large geographical area – allows comparisons of sub-groups

Cost – much cheaper to carry out survey or postal questionnaire

Low researcher input – doesn’t have to BE THERE when person is responding to questions – respondent does not have to set aside large block of time

Easy to collate responses & to form ‘summary’ of results eg 80% YES, 20% NO – can present findings in graphs easily

Compare Qualitative & Quantitative Methods

Quantitative – Disadvantages: Lacks in-depth details/ understanding of

REASONS why responses are given – eg WHY does someone not like the uniform, not just YES/NO

No opportunity to elaborate on interesting points or to give reasons/ motivation/ explanation

Low response rate – may not return? Dishonesty – respondents may not answer

questions truthfully

Compare Qualitative & Quantitative Methods

Qualitative – Advantages: Gives in-depth details/ understanding of REASONS

why responses are given – eg WHY does someone not like the uniform, not just YES/NO

Gives opportunity to elaborate on interesting points or to give reasons/ motivation/ explanation

High Response rate – most people will turn up for arranged interview – not like questionnaire that can be easily binned

Compare Qualitative & Quantitative Methods

Qualitative – Disadvantages: High Researcher input – have to BE THERE

during interview/ observation High cost – time, travel, researcher wages Time consuming analysing the transcripts of

interviews or notes from observations to make conclusions/ look for patterns

Difficult to generalise results from small-scale studies eg Participant Observation

Durkheim & Atkinson Durkheim: Quantitative Data Large scale study Shows structural influences on suicide (how

institutions affect the individual) Studies suidice as a social fact – something which

has a pattern within society/ social influences on individual to commit suicide – rather than an individual act

Demonstrates trends and patterns across large area Shows suicide differences between different countries

Durkheim & Atkinson Atkinson: Qualitative Data Smaller scale study Gives view of suicide from the point of view of

those actually defining it (people who deal with suicide)

Looks at different meanings and interpretations of particular actions eg suicide

Shows people’s different definitions of suicide

Important to follow a research Strategy A research strategy is important for sociologists as

it shows how they have gone about their research study – it details exactly the methodology used, and shows how they have tested their theories and how they have provided evidence to support their ideas. A research strategy and methods chosen allows other researchers to replicate or re-test the original ideas of the original research using another sample,using the SAME step by step procedure. Different results means changed attitudes/ behaviour if study is re-done exactly the same way

Importance of a research Strategy Sociologists need to carry out research in a systematic

way A research strategy and appropriate method selection

means research can be re-tested making it reliable and valid

Some methods more appropriate for particular theories – eg Action – qualitative small scale methods, structural perspectives – large-scale quantitative methods

Can be ‘replicated’ by other sociologists wishing to carry out same research with different population – only difference measured is changed opinion, not due to any difference in methodology

Compare & Contrast Qualitative & Quantitative Methods Describe the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative

methods and quantitative methods (give eg’s of these methods too)

Compare the quantitative approach of Durkheim’s suicide studies with the qualitative approaches of Atkinson’s studies of suicide:

Durkheim: A Social Fact, Impact of institutions on individual’s actions, quantitative, comparison of trends between countries

Atkinson: Qualitative, individual act, meaning and interpretation of the action, interpretations of those involved in dealing with suicide