'Notes on Sociology\r'

'Choosing a search recite Webb, R. , Westergaard, H. , Trobe, K. , Steel, L. , (2008) AS Level Sociology, Brentwood: Napier Press p. 162 Sociologists hire a range of disparate search modes and sources of info to collect education and mental campaigning their theories. In this Topic, we sh further in all identify the main methods and sources utilise in Sociology. We shall excessively t adeptness at the contrastive types of entropy that these methods bugger off. We shall alike determine the f meanss that crook sociologists’ plectrum of what topic they try on, and at close to of the main pragmatical, abstractive and good (moral) factors that impinge on their survival of which methods to call.Types of info P. 163 Sociologists employment a broad variety of divergent methods and sources to find whizself selective information ( nurture or evidence) most association. To produce sense of this variety, we butt end classify them into: â₠¬Â¢ old and secondary coil sources of data. • valued and soft data. Primary and secondary sources of data Primary data is information collected by sociologists themselves for their own habits. These purposes whitethorn be to make a send-off †hand ‘ tantrum’ of a radical or society, or to test a hypothesis (an immature theory).Methods for record ining primary data entangle: • Social surveys: these involve asking tidy sum questions in a create verbally questionnaire or an inter cod. • Participant observation: the sociologist joins in with the activities of the root he or she is understanding. • Experiments: sociologists r arly habituate laboratory experiments, but they some snips occasion field experiments and the comparative method. A large-minded advantage of victimization primary data is that sociologists may be able to gather precisely the information they need to test their hypotheses.However, doing so brush off a great deal be followly and snip consuming. Secondary data is information that has been collected by mortal else for their own purposes, but which the sociologist hindquarters past intent. Sources of secondary data take on: • authoritative statistics produced by goernment on a wide range of issues, much(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) as crime, divorce, health and unemployment, as well as opposite statistics produced by charities, businesses, churches and other organisations. • Documents much(prenominal)(prenominal) as letters, diaries, photographs, official ( giving medication) reports, novels, newspapers and television broadcasts.Using secondary data can be a quick and cheap way of doing question, since person else has already produced the information. However, those who produce it may not be interested in the aforementioned(prenominal) questions as sociologists, and so secondary sources may not provide ingestly the information that sociologists n eed. Quantitative and qualitative data Quantitative data refers to information in a numerical form. Examples of valued data hold official statistics on how many girls passed atomic number 23 or more GCSEs or on the percentage of marriages ending in divorce.Similarly, information collected by opinion canvass and market query surveys often comes in the form of duodecimal data †for example, on the proportion of the electorate intending to vote for a finicky party or how many concourse take holidays abroad. Qualitative data, by bloodline gives a ‘feel’ for what something is similar †for example, what it feels same(p) to get good GCSE results, or for one’s marriage to end in divorce. Evidence gathered by apply musician observation aims to give us a sense of what it feels like to be in that person’s ‘shoes.These methods can provide rich descriptions of these plenty’s feelings and experiences. Factors influencing choice of met hod P. 164 Given the wide range of methods available, how do we select the decent one for our interrogation? Different methods and sources of data catch divergent strengths and limitations and we need to be able to evaluate these when selecting which to use. We can look at these strengths and limitations in terms of a number of practical, respectable (moral) and theoretical issues. unimaginative issues Different methods present different practical problems. These include: Time and moneyDifferent methods require different amounts of time and money and this may influence the sociologists’ choice. For example, large †scale surveys may employ dozens of inter bump into to iters and data †inputting staff and cost a great sleep with of money. By contrast, a nonaged †scale stick fall out involving a alone(predicate) canvasser using role player observation may be cheaper to carry out, but it can take several years to complete. The research worker’ s entrée to resources can be a major factor in ascertain which methods they employ. A well †hit the sackn professor w vertiginous probably bugger off entree to more research funds than a young student, for example.Requirements of funding bodies Research institutes, businesses and other organisations that provide the funding for research may require the results to be in a particular form. For example, a government part funding research into educational deed may realize targets for pass pass judgment and so require quantitative data to see whether these targets argon being achieved. This manner the sociologist lead have to use a method capable of producing such(prenominal) data, such as questionnaires or structured interviews. face-to-face skills and characteristicsEach sociologist possesses different personal skills, and this may impact their ability to use different methods. For example, musician observation commonly requires the ability to unite easi ly with others as well as good powers of observation and recall, piece in †depth interviews call for an ability to make believe a rapport (relationship of empathy and trust) with the interviewee. Not all sociologists have these qualities and so some may have difficulty using these methods. survey matter It may be much harder to canvas a particular sort or subject by one method than by another.For example, it might attempt difficult for a male sociologist to think over an all †female group by means of participant observation, while written questionnaires may be useless for examine those who cannot read. Research probability Sometimes the opportunity to carry out research occurs minutely and this means that it may not be executable to use ambiguous methods such as questionnaires, which take longer to prep ar. For example, a Glasgow gang leader offered ‘James Patrick’ (1973) the retrieve ‘out of the blue’ to spend time with his gang.Wi th little time to prepare, ‘Patrick’ had no plectron but to use participant observation. In other circumstances, the researcher may have been able to set up the research opportunity carefully beforehand and have plenty of time to select their methods. P. one hundred sixty-five……………… good issues Ethics refers to moral issues of ripe and wrong. Methods that sociologists use to drive great deal may raise a range of ethical questions. The British Sociological Association sets out guidelines for the conduct of research, including the following principles: Informed try forResearch participants (the people being studied) should be offered the right to refuse. The researcher should also tell them nigh all relevant aspects of the research so that they can make a fully assured decision. Consent should be obtained before research begins, and if the study is lengthy, a elucidate at intervals throughout the process. Confidentiality and s ecrecy Researchers should keep the identity of research participants secret in order to foster to prevent assertable negative effectuate on them. Researchers should also respect the privacy of research participants.Personal information concerning research participants should be kept confidential. Effects on research participants Researchers need to be aware of the possible do of their work on those they study. These could include police intervention, harm to employment prospects, companionable exclusion and psychological damage. Wherever possible, researchers should essay to anticipate and prevent such calumniatory effects. Vulnerable groups Special care should be taken where research participants are especially vulnerable be make out of their age, disability, or physical or mental health.For example, when studying children in schools, researchers should have regard for issues of child protection. They should obtain the respond of both the child and the parent, and they shou ld provide information in language that the child can understand. Covert research Covert research is when the researcher’s identity and research purpose are hidden from the people being studied. This can create salutary ethical problems, such as deceiving or lying to people in order to win their trust or obtain information. Clearly, it is impossible to gain informed consent while at the akin time keeping the research or its purpose secret.However, some sociologists argue that the use of back methods may be justified in certain circumstances. These may include gaining access to areas of social spirit closed to investigating by secretive, deviant or effective groups. speculative issues This refers to questions about what we think society is like and whether we can obtain an accurate, fair picture of it. Our views on these issues will affect the kinds of methods we choose using. Validity A legitimate method is one that produces a true or genuine picture of what someth ing is authentically like.It allows the researcher to get closer to the truth. many an(prenominal) sociologists argue that qualitative methods such as participant observation give us a more valid or truthful trace of what it is like to be a member of a group than quantitative methods such as questionnaires can. This is because participant observation can give us a deeper insight through first hand experience. Reliability Another contrive for reliability is replicability. A replica is an exact copy of something, so a true method is one which, when copyed by another researcher, gives the same results.For example, in natural philosophy or Chemistry, different researchers can repeat the same experiment and obtain the same results every(prenominal) time. In Sociology, quantitative methods such as written questionnaires tend to produce more reliable results than qualitative methods such as unstructured interviews. p. 166 Representativeness Representativeness refers to whether or n ot the people we study are a typical transit †section of the group we are interested in. Imagine, for example, that we motive to know about the effects of divorce on children.It would take a great deal of time and money to study every child of break up parents, and we might only be able to afford to study a sample of, say, 100 such children. However, if we ensure that our sample is congresswoman or typical of the wider population, we can then use our findings to make generalisations about all children of divorced parents, without actually having to study all of them. tremendous †scale quantitative surveys that use modern sampling techniques to select their sample are more likely to produce representative data.Methodological persuasion Sociologists’ choice of method is also influenced by their methodological perspective †their view of what society is like and how we should study it. there are two contrasting perspectives on the choice of methods: positiv ism and interpretivism. prescribeds †elect quantitative data, examine to discover patterns of behaviour, see Sociology as a science. Interpretivists †prefer qualitative data, seek to understand social actors’ meanings, reject the view that Sociology is a science.Why do positivists and Interpretivists prefer different types of data? Positivists and Interpretivists collect and use different types of data: positivists prefer quantitative data, while Interpretivists prefer qualitative. This is because they make different assumptions about the nature of society and how we should study it. Positivists: • walk out that society has an objective factual realism †it exists ‘out there’, just like the physical world. • Society exerts an influence over its members, systematically shaping their behaviour patterns. Positivist research uses quantitative data to release and measure these patterns of behaviour. • By analysing quantitative dat a, positivists seek to discover the objective scientific laws of cause and effect that determine behaviour. • Positivists frankincense prefer questionnaires, structured interviews, experiments and official statistics. These produce data that is both reliable and representative. Interpretivists: • Reject the intellection of an objective social reality †we innovation reality through the meanings we give to situations, not the carrefour of outdoor(a) forces. Our actions are establish on the meanings we give to situations, not the product of external forces. • Interpretivist research uses qualitative data to uncover and describe the social actor’s ‘universe of meaning’. • By interpreting qualitative data, Interpretivists seek to gain a subjective understanding of actors’ meanings and ‘life worlds’. • Interpretivists thus prefer participant observation, unstructured interviews, and personal documents. These pr oduce data that is valid. Functionalists and Marxists often take a positivist approach.They see society as a large †scale (macro †aim) structure that shapes our behaviour. By contrast, interactionists privilege an interpretivist approach. They take a micro †level view of society, focusing on small †scale, face †to face interactions. The sociologist’s theoretical perspective is usually the most weighty factor when choosing which method to use. Whenever possible, they will want to obtain the type of data †quantitative or qualitative †that their perspective views as most appropriate.However, practical and ethical factors usually limit the choice of method. Just because a sociologist prefers a particular kind of data, doesn’t mean that they can simply go ahead and gather it. Time, resources, access, consent, privacy and so on are all constraints on their choice. Finally, even sheer chance may determine the method used. For example, Dav id Tuckett (2001) describes how one graduate(prenominal) Sociology student found himself taken ill with tuberculosis and confined to a hospital ward, so he used this as an opportunity to conduct a participant observation study.Choice of topic p. 167. Before choosing which method to use, sociologists need to decide what topic they wish well to study. Several factors influence their choice: Theoretical perspective The sociologist’s theoretical perspective is a major influence upon their choice of research topic. For example, a New practiced researcher may study the effects of welfare benefits on the growth of lone †parent families, since the idea of welfare addiction is central to their standpoint.By contrast, a feminist researcher is more likely to choose to study domestic violence, as opposition to sexual practice oppression lies at the heart of libber theory. Society’s value Sociologists themselves are part of the society they study and thus are influenced by its values. As these values change, so does the focus of research. The rise of womens liberation movement in the 1960s and 1970s take to a focus on sexual activity inequality and the environmentalist concerns of the 21st cytosine have generated interest in ‘ green crimes’ such as serious contamination or the unlawful transport of atomic material.Funding bodies Most research requires funding from an external body. These bodies include government agencies, charitable organisations and businesses. As the funding body is paying for the research, it will determine the topic to be investigated. For example, one of the major social concerns of New wear upon governments after 1997 was the ‘social exclusion’ of some disadvantaged groups. As a result, government departments were keen to fund research projects to investigate the causes and effects of social exclusion. Practical factorsPractical factors, such as the inaccessibility of certain situations to th e researcher, may also restrict what topic they are able to study. For example, although sociologists may wish to study the ways in which global corporations make their decisions, this may not be possible because these are made in secrecy. heavyset Sociologists test their theories using quantitative or qualitative data. Sociologists obtain primary data themselves, using methods including questionnaires, interviews and observation. Secondary data are produced by others but used by sociologists.In choosing a method, sociologists take several issues into account: • Practical issues include time and funding. • Ethical issues include whether the researcher deceives the subjects. • Theoretical issues include validity (does the method give a truthful picture? ), reliability (can it be replicated? ) and representativeness (does it study a typical cross †section? ). Perspective also affects choice of method. Positivists prefer quantitative data; interpretivists favour qualitative data. Choice of topic is also affected by society’s values and funding bodies.\r\n'