Social Surveys
Involves the systematic collection of mainly quantitative data from a fairly large number of people
Social surveys usually obtain this information through questions or structured interviews
Longitudinal Surveys
Longitudinal studies gather data from a single group over a long period of time
Data gathered repeatedly using questionnaires and structured interviews over a period of years from the same group of people
Provide clear image of changes in attitudes and behaviour
National child development study followed 40’000 children born in one week in March 1958 they had follow up surveys tackled the group at the age of 16, 23 and 33
Give sociologists fascinating insights into the influence of class, education and family on life chances
Such surveys can be problematic
| Strength | Weakness |
| Produce qualitative data and valid data focused on people’s interpretation of reality – verstehen | Original sample might become too survey and end up working out what they want so gives bias result |
| Document how the influence of social factors such as social class impact on people’s lives over a period | Original sample drop out, move away or die and remaining members may no longer be representative |
| Allow hypothesis to be modified as the impact of long-term hypothesis to be clear | Research is expensive |
Questionnaires
Composed of standardised lists of questions that result from operationalising a hypothesis
Main method for gathering large amounts of data from large numbers of people in social surveys
Handed to people for self-completion or spent through the post
They can also be found in magazines, newspaper or posted on websites
Made up of closed questions with fixed choice tick boxes attached which produce quantitative data or statistical data
Simply a list of questions written down in advance that are handed or posted to the respondent
Some become interviews schedule in which they have read out and fill in on behalf of respondent by trained interviewers = structured interviews
To ensure a question we need:
- Focused questions on operationalised key concepts of hypothesis or research question
- Asked clearly and simple and avoid technical and vague vocabulary so that they are not misunderstood or misinterpreted by the research subjects
- Questions are free of bias so they are leading respondents into giving the answers that support the hypothesis nor should they be loaded and provoke emotional response that undermine validity
- Questionnaire should be relatively short in order to avoid alienating the research subject
Subject may not be complete it or send it back if it seems like hard work
- Normally use closed questions
Question that is accompanied by a number of categories
Questionnaire Design
Variety of question types
Closed questions and open questions
Closed questionnaires contain a series of questions accompanied by a choice of answers
Open questionnaires ask open-ended questions which produces qualitative data
Tend to use questionnaires that employ a combination of mainly closed questions with occasional open questions and called semi-structured questionnaires
- Self-report
- Attitudinal questions
Important that the questionnaire is as short as possible because people cannot be bothered to spend a long time completing a questionnaire
Questions need to be asked straightforward and clear and simple
They should be neutral and objective
| Strength | Weakness |
| Postal questionnaires can be used if research population is geographically dispersed across the country | Suffer from non-response or low response which can undermine both representativeness |
| Ensures sociologists has minimum contact with respondent they won’t directly influence the results by being present | Misunderstand or misinterpret questions as sociologists is not present to explain their meaning |
| Positivists are keen to produce statistical data which can be compared and correlated | Questionnaire about deviant activity so may refuse to co-operate |
| Low cost method | May be sensitive or embarrassing topic so they may lie |
| Not time consuming | Interpretivists sociologists believe that questionnaires produce data low in validity because they are artificial measuring tools rather than naturalistic or ethnographic |
| Distributed to very large sample which increases representative and generalising to large research populations | Using closed questions with tick box responses suffer from the ‘imposition problem’ so they measure what they think and not the experiences |
| Accompanied by a letter asking for informed consent | |
| Anonymity and confidentiality can easily be ensured | |
| Positivists like them as they are standardised, highly reliable, objective and neutral so can be replicated | |
Interviews
Recorded manually or tape recorded/videoed in order to produce a transcript from which quotes illustrating the point of view of the respondent can be used to support a hypothesis
Carried out in a public space
Useful when studying areas that are not accessible to sociological study using other methods
Interviewing can be expensive business especially if an interviewing team needs to be recruited and trained
Success of interviewing often depends on how well the interviews are trained in interviews techniques such as listening skills and observation of body language
Structured Interviews
Involves the researcher reading out a list of closed questions from an interview schedule
Ticking boxes or writing down answers according to pre-set fixed categories on behalf of respondent
Interviewer plays a passive and robotic role
Little or no flexibility in the way questions are asked
Interviewer is not allowed or encouraged to add new questions
Merely repeat those in interview schedule
Reponses to these types of interviews are converted into a quantitative form and expressed in many forms
Very similar to questionnaires and consequently they share many of strengths and weakness
Take form of the questionnaire of closed questions and fixed choice responses which produces quantitative data
Interview schedule or questionnaire is completed by the interviewer rather than by respondent
Interviewer behaves as much like a machine or robot as possible
Cannot deviate from the interviewer schedule in order to ask supplementary questions or ask people to clarify vague responses
| Strength | Weakness |
| Use of closed questions and fixed choice tick boxes generate large amounts of quantitative data easily converted | Artificial devices that are not a normal part of everyday reality and give false information = interview bias so lack validity |
| Conducted quite quickly because they follow a pre-set range of questions increases the possibility of representative sample | Only snapshots taken at one moment in time and they fail to capture the dynamic and changing nature of social capture |
| The right person responds to the questions unlike postal questionnaires | Interpretivists sociologists argue that interviews use closed questions with category/list responses suffer from the imposition problem |
| Interviewer can explain aims and objectives of the research, clarify so reduce potential non-response | Success of interviewing depends on what people known about their own behaviour so reduces ability to answers questions |
| Better response rates than postal questionnaires as they can return if they are not at home | Expensive and time consuming |
| Positivists are keen as the method is regarded as scientific as they are standardised | Inflexible as the questionnaire or interview schedule is drawn up in advance and they must stick to it rigidly |
| Scientific as interview schedules are highly reliable | Gomm argues that the major problem is demand characteristics |
Gomm
Observes that some research subjects may wish to please the researcher or want the research team to think well of them
May underreport activities or opinions that may regard as undesirable and may affect disapproval such as racial prejudice, domestic violence or smacking of children
Secondary Data
Refers to any data that the sociologists have used that they did not collect themselves
Statistical Data
Official statistics refer to numerical data collected by the government or state agencies such as the Home Office
Gathered through surveys carried out by government agencies
Commonly available sources of official statistics are those from the census
Questionnaire survey carried out every tenth year of the population last one was 2011
Other government surveys include the General Household Survey, the Family Expenditure survey and British Crime Survey
Some are made up of registration data by law, all births, deaths and marriages and divorces have to be registered and recorded
Information about age, gender, occupation and cause of death so gives important insights into the relationship between morality, life expectancy and inequality
Non-statistical Data
Unofficial statistics are quantitative data produced by non-state governments such as trade unions, businesses, charities, thinks-tanks so on
Publicise a social problem or state of affairs in which they have a vested interest
| Strength | Weakness |
| Extremely cheap and easy for sociologists to access so involve little effort on behalf of the sociologists | Official statistics may be based on state definitions that sociologists do not agree with |
| Statistical relationships or correlations can be identified by comparing official statistics from regularly conducted surveys | Don’t represent a complete picture of whatever social or sociological problem the sociologists are interested |
| Allow sociologists to make comparisons between groups and to identify trends over a period of time | Open to political abuse, statistics can be manipulated or massaged by governments for political advantage |
| Positivists are highly reliable and scientific as they have been complied by trained staff who use standardised categories techniques so replicated | Interpretivists are socially constructed so they don’t just appear or happen they end of someone making a decision or judgement of particular set if activities |
| Statistics are representative as they are produced by large-scale studies | Statistics tell us little about human stories or interpretations that underpin them |
| Quantifiable data is established correlations between possible variables so can uncover social laws | |
| They are up to date and sociologists a very contemporary picture of patterns and trends in human behaviour | |
| Often form the basis of hypothesis that motivate sociological research | |
Media Products/Content Analysis
Newspaper, magazines, advertisement, radio, music products, posters, films, books, internet and computer products which tells us something about society that we live in
Gives sociologists an insight into how particular societies operate
Often use media extracts or items such as adverts or television programme to examine and analyse the values, priorities or concerns of a society at any one point
A technique used is analyse media reports or products is content analysis
Aim of this type of research is to identify how particular social groups or social situations are portrayed in the product being analysed
Design content analysis schedule as a list of things that the sociologists is looking for in the thing occur
Normally done by counting the frequency of certain images such as those contained in adverts and photographs or words contained in newspaper/magazine articles or headline
Content analysis is mainly a quantitative method
Quantitative research methods which is mainly used by sociologists to analyse mass media products such as advertisements, magazines, newspaper and television
| Strength | Weakness |
| Content analysis is cheap as all sociologists needs to do is buy the magazines or newspaper or watch TV | Often be a very subjective method it can be categories used by content analysis largely depend on what they interpret |
| Allows sociologists compared media representations of groups or issues over a period of time | Sociologists who have used it have been accused of analysing text out of context |
| Regarded as very reliable by positivists sociologists as other sociologists can cross-check and verify the results by looking at same media | Very time consuming |
| Media products assumes that media content actually has an effect upon their audience which has not been proven or unproven | |
| Media products tell us about the personal and political beliefs and those who produce media products | |
Content Analysis of the Media Coverage of Amanda Knox – Freyenberger (2013)
Newspaper coverage can have a positive or negative impact on the image of an individual
Study examined the framing of Amanda Knox in newspapers published worldwide for 4 years that she was imprisoned in Italy
American foreign exchange student that she was studying in Italy when her roommate was murdered
Content analysis of 500 major world newspapers was conducted
Study’s purpose was to determine the tone, story placement and page placement of each mention of Amanda Knox
Results showed that mentions of Amanda Knox were more negative in the UK and Ireland
Stories about her were more likely to be found on the front pages of the newspapers in the USA
General tone of these stories was sympathetic to her plight
Ethnography
Def. qualitative research project that is focused on providing a detailed and in-depth description of the everyday lives and practices of a group of people that is as faithful
Means writing about the way of life or culture of social groups
Sociological research involves ethnography or field work carried out in the naturalistic and everyday setting or environment of the research subject
Ethnographic methods are mainly preferred by interpretivist researchers as the believe the researchers should focus on how people interact socially and how they interpret and socially construct their social reality
They are very keen to get inside the heads of the people they are studying so they can see the world through their eyes
Main idea underpinning ethnography therefore is to get an insider’s point of view and tell it like it is rather than seek causes and explanations which are generally the main motives of positivists survey style research
Interpretivists let hypothesis emerge
Long term involvement in everyday setting in which the research subject is active
Mean spending many months or even years in the places where the research subjects are to be found
Ethnographic methods are designed to depict and fully describe the characteristics of the research population is fully possible
Ethnographic methods normally produce qualitative data which is normally descriptive data and difficult to analyse
These involve a degree of interpretation by the researcher and has potential to reflect the unconscious and subjective biases of the researcher
Unstructured interviews and participant observation are the most ethnographic methods used by sociologists
It is about achieving verstehen so being able to empathise with or think like the people who are being studied
Closeness to the research has led interpretivists to claim that ethnography produces the most valid and authentic type of qualitative data
Unstructured Interviews
Resembles an informal conversation so guided
Researcher usually has a list of topics but no pre-determined questions
Emphasis on interviewer asking open-ended questions and questions asked are often flexible response to what they say
Interviewer plays an active role as they manage the questions to ensure that the participant keeps to the subject of the research
Interpretivists sociologists argue that this is ethnographic as it is normally is carried out in natural setting of the respondent feels comfortable
Type of interview is enhanced by the fact that such interviews are often in depth and carried out over a period of hours rather a minute
Often more than one interview takes place with a single respondent
Researcher plays an active role
The emphasis in these types of open-ended interviews is likely to be one in which the interviewee feels relaxed and unthreatened as situation is the questions are being asked feels natural
A skilled interviewer expertly and flexibility probes and follows up responses in such a sympathetic and empathetic way that he feels a bond or rapport has been established
Interpretivists are keen for 4 reasons:
- Style of type of interview is likely to put the interviewee at ease so they are more likely to open up and say what they really feel and mean so they can achieve verstehen to authentically see the world from point of view of those being researched
- Emphasis in types of interviews is to make the interviewee the centre of the research as if subjects of the research can see that researchers are genuinely interested in experiences so willing to discuss sensitive topics
- Unique and original material can lead to the development of fresh and novel hypothesis
- Spontaneity, flexibility and trust generated by interviews mean they produce highly valid data of first-hand accounts and interpretations of the issue that is being studied
| Strength | Weakness |
| Allows researcher to establish a qualitative interaction or relationship so can gain trust more likely to open up | Gather large amounts of data and inconsequently it has to be selective in what they published – material may be biased |
| Suited to researching sensitive groups and allow researcher to explain the purpose as anonymity and confidentiality so more valid | No pre-coded answers in unstructured interviews the qualitative data is difficult to analyse and categorise – positivists don’t like this |
| Provide rich, more vivid and more colourful data so highly valid | Uses this as it tends to use fewer participants than surveys so difficult to generalise |
| Flexible method as no interview schedule is being used, they can ask questions based on response as to why people think and behave | Expensive as training needs to be more thorough and specialised and need inter-personal skills |
| Result in expected findings they allow sociologists to learn as they go along | Highly dependent on what people know about their behaviour |
| Natural environment so reduce threat perceived by the group being researched | Unscientific because they lack a standardised questionnaires or interview |
| Unreliable as data collected is a product of unique relationship between the sociologists and interviewee cannot be repeated | |
| Subjective so they are not detached enough to be objective | |
Group Interviews
Carried out with groups rather than individuals
May involve the interviewer talking to a group or panel of respondent
Often used to interview children, who may feel threatened if interviewed by an adult in one-to-one situations
Children may feel reassured if their friends are present
May also to be used to investigate the dynamics of how particular groups operate such as a nursing team
Sociologists may believe that a truer and more valid picture of their behaviour will only emerge when the group is interviewed together
Focus Group Interview
Encouraged to talk to one other
Involve people getting together to discuss an issue rather than simply giving an answer to a question
Method was first used by market researchers to see how consumers responded to particular products and has since been adopted by media organisation, political parties and sociologists
Involve introducing a group of people to an issue
Researcher lies on the dynamics of the group to keep the discussion going
Minimal interference from the sociologists
Interaction between members of the group is recorded an audiotape or video
A danger is one or two strong personalities can dominate and influence other participants opinions
Semi-Structured Interviews
Sociological interviews are a mix of the structured and unstructured interview
Semi-structured interviews contain lots of closed questions in order to generate facts but also contain few open questions
Open questions allow the interviewer some flexibility to ask for clarification of vague answers
Jog respondents’ memories and ask them to give examples
All things can add depth and detail to the responses
Assess whether the interviewee is telling the truth
Reliability of semi-structured interviews has been questioned because an interviewer may find that some interviewees may need more probing than others
Mean that every interview is different – the data may not be strictly comparable
Working-Class Boys and Educational Success – Ingram (2009)
Two catholic boys’ schools were selected for the study: one secondary school and one grammar school
Research focused on two groups of pupils with those aged 11-12 and 15-16 as these pupils were respectively beginning and coming to the end of compulsory secondary education
Most children lived in a working-class catholic community in Belfast
Area ranks within top 10 in Northern Ireland in terms of deprivation, skills and training
2006, 60% of children were eligible for free-school meals compared with 19% of the population in Northern Ireland
Two types of interviews were conducted in order to generate qualitative data
First, group discussions were carried out in each school with 8 of the younger and 8 of the older pupils
Discussions lasted an hour and issues raised became the basis of questions used for the second stage of the research
Second, individual semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions that allowed students to digress were carried out with working-class boys in both schools
Observation
Interpretivists sociologists are interested in understanding how people live their everyday lives and argue that the research method of observation is the best possible ethnographic way of understanding why we behave
First-hand insight into how people interpret the social world around them
Can be observed in their natural environment everyday behaviour is manged effectively, he or she should see that world in much the same way that the research population do
Types of Observation
Non-participant/Direct Observation
Def. type of observation in which the observer does not engage or interact with the group being studied
Observer uses an observation schedule which lists certain types of behaviour that the observer should record by counting
Commonly used in studies of the classroom
Researchers plays no active role
Uses coded observation schedule that directs what it is observed
Positivists who stress the need for scientific method because it produces facts in the form of quantifiable
Argued by supporters of this type of observation that because the researcher is detached and therefore objective so less likely to take sides and be biased
Researcher is not making any decisions or joining in activities, the group itself should not be influenced by the observer
Critics disagree and note that the observer is likely to observing artificial behaviour caused by their actual presence
This also give sus little insight into the reasons why people behave in the way they do
Others disagree with the interpretation of what counts as a significant event which raises the issue of how reliable such recording is
Participant Observation
Most common type
Involves sociologists immersing themselves in the lifestyle of the group they wish to study
These sociologists participate in the same activities as the group being researched and observe their everyday lives
Main method used by ethnographers because it is research driven from inside rather than research imposed from outside
Research methods such as questionnaires and interviews involve sociologists as the outsider looking in and consequently run the risk of imposing the sociologist’s own values and interpretations of those being studied
Involves sociologists being on the inside looking in as they join activities of those being studied and shares their experiences of social reality
Sociologists using this method observe everyday activities
Overt
Researchers joins in activities of a group but some or all of the group know that the researcher is sociologists and is actively observing them
Covert/Complete
Researcher inserts themselves into groups and conceals the fact that they are doing research as they pretend to be an authentic member of the group
The aim of participant observation is to understand what is happening from point of view of those involved to get inside their heads and understand meaning they give in situation
Research is ethnographic which means its naturalistic and not based on artificial situation
Produces qualitative rather than quantitative on how people interpret the world around me as data gathered often speaks for itself and gives real insight into people’s feelings, motivates, experiences and attitudes
Mainly overt type is often dependent on a gate-keeper so a person can have smooth the entry of a sociological observer into a social group
Fielding (2001) argues that gate-keepers are the unsung heroes of ethnography as they can speak to a group beforehand and allay their suspicions about the researcher
Sponsor and validate the researcher and the research
Fielding also notes it is important to understand that some may have their own agenda of their own so they may wish to control what is observed
Important to understand choice of whether to use covert is shaped by social characteristics of the research team
Social class, age, gender and ethnicity of the researcher may make it impossible to infiltrate particular situations
Focus on looking and listening and going with the flow in social life
A participant observer should not try to force the pace of group activity and interfere with or disrupt normality
A great deal of participant observation involves informally hanging around
Important to be patient but vigilant
Maintains a delicate balance between being an inside
Brewer notes ethnographers earn peoples trust by showing a willingness to learn their language and their ways
Consequently, researchers may have to spend considerable periods of time in the field so that people get used in their presence
Fielding recommends the role of acceptable incompetent acting in naïve fashion, so group members feel obliged to explain things to them
Marvasti (2004) suggest showing interest in the respondent’s culture and way of life can help to establish rapport as people are often flattered by the attention
Suggests self-disclosure is another way in which rapport can be maintained as it can help to establish trust
| Strength |
| Produces qualitative rather than quantitative data and how people interpret the world and data speaks for itself and gives real insight |
| See things through the eyes and actions of the people they experience same thing so highly valid research data |
| What people say or do are different as people lie and exaggerate and mislead |
| Supplemented with asking informal questions as this might arouse suspicion and mistrust |
| Generate new ideas and lead to new insights |
| Researcher observes first hand and not the product of what they think is important |
| Long period of time and allows understanding of how changes in attitudes and behaviour |
| Only practical method available to research hard to reach groups |
| Practical Limitations |
| Observer effect mainly with overt |
| Get too close or attached to the group so become biased |
| Recording can be a real problem as taking notes and arouse suspicion |
| Keep a dairy which documents everyday activities so they reflect on ways they might have influenced behaviour |
| Difficult for researchers to gain entry to a group and even if this is achieved so may be difficult for researcher to be totally accepted by all members of the group |
| Ethical Limitations |
| Object to the covert form as it involves lying to people and misleading them |
| May be forced to take part in criminal or immoral activities in order to gain trust |
| Dangerous for sociologists as Ken Pryce who was murdered while attempting to carry out a study on a drug crime |
| Researcher must leave the group so is it right to pretend to be someone |
| Researcher will consider whether the research report will get members of the group into trouble or whether it will cause harm to members or expose them |
| Theoretical Limitations |
| Positivists question the reliability of both overt an overt as now way of knowing whether findings of the researcher are true or impossible to repeat |
| Lack of representativeness as those who belong to a non-typical average people and number of people observed at any given time is small so difficult it generalises |
| Regard it as unscientific as researchers’ subjects are not standardised or controlled |
| Non-participant or direct observation is seen more scientific so more reliable |
Gang Leader for a day – Venkatesh (2008)
between 1989 and 1996 he spent time with Black Kings as an organised gang that controlled most of the drugs trade in the public housing projects on Chicago
Managed to get access via an influential gate-keeper, JT, local leader of the gang
Showed JT was able to observe first-hand the subculture of the gang and how it is responsible for overseeing day to day life
His role did create some problems for him, so he put himself in danger
Criticising for behaving unethically in criminal behaviour
These criticisms have stung some ethnographers into developing scientific procedural rules
Inter-observer verification is only suited for structured forms of observation such as non-participant observation
Barker argues that the overt observer should always follow up their observations with respondent validation by conducting informal interviews with members of the group (1984)
Useful as a tool of validation in observer can ask members of the group how they saw certain events to ensure that the field
Influenced by postmodernism as they argue that ethnography should not be concerned with the pursuit of some universal truth as best accounts of social reality can only be relative, partial, partisan and ethnographic accounts are autobiographical
Mixed Methods
Use combination of multiple research methods which collect both quantitative and qualitative data
Triangulation
In order to check or verify the validity of the research findings
Adopted so that the sociologists are able to get a better view of the overall picture of what they are studying by looking at it from a number of different angles
Carry out unstructured interviews with managers and employers to compare what the management thought was happening with the sociologist’s interpretation of what was going on
Hobsons defines triangulation to use of more than one method of research in order to assess the validity of one’s research methods and especially data produced
Involves the use of a method which generates secondary data
Primary data from a survey or secondary data from official statistics
Combined with more interactive method such as unstructured interviews or observation which generates qualitative data
Strengths of Triangulation
Used to check on the accuracy of the data gathered by each method
Qualitative research can produce hypothesis which can be checked using quantitative method
Two approaches can give more complete a picture of the group being studied
Qualitative research can illustrate the statistics by focusing on they why and how of the patterns and trends uncovered
Methodological Pluralism
Def. Combining different research methods in order to build a fuller picture of what is being studied
Refers to employment by the social researcher of more than one method of research
Emphasis here is not on the validity of data
Such approach is useful as the advantages of one method may help compensate and overcome the limitations of another
Stage one – official department of employment statistics can be examined to work out how many people in a particular region are unemployed
Stage two – local newspaper can be examined to assess the impact of unemployment of regions
Stage three – sociologists can carry out a questionnaire of both employed and unemployed to assess local experiences
Stage four – unstructured interviews can be carried out with a sub-sample of long-term unemployed people to gather qualitative data
Stage five – sociologists can carry out direct observation by observing interaction between staff in job centres and unemployed people
Involves the use of primary and secondary methods and collection of both quantitative and qualitative data
Case Studies
Technique involves an in-depth study of a single example of whatever they are interested in
Involves the sociologists using a variety of primary and secondary methods to build up a multi-faceted picture
Stand-alone such as Paul Willis’ Learning to Labour so range of primary and secondary research techniques
Used as a technique in itself as part of a wider society
Limitations of Multiple/Mixed Methods Approach
Expensive and produces vast amounts of data which can be difficult to analyse
Nature of the topic to be investigated will dictate which method will be employed and will rule others out
Priority tends to be given to one method at the expense of the others = equal status so survey researchers do not have the same skills as ethnographers
Produce contradictory findings
Conclusion
Very few sociologists focus entirely on the use of quantitative positivists methods or qualitative interpretivists methods
Guarantee both reliability and validity, most sociological research will mix and match methods
- Wright Mills once argued what works best is best (1959)