Research methods
2) Factors that affect the choice of research methods
There are several factors that can influence what type of research method a sociologist chooses to use, these factors include:
Time and money available – large surveys or observations can be time consuming and expensive to complete and take a long time to analyse
Aims of the researcher – researchers could sometimes try and twist the data so it confirms hypothesis, so they might choose a method they think will give them the results they want
What is known about the field you are investigating – if someone has already carried out a survey in one field a sociologist might choose to interview participants instead, for example.
Whether the researcher is interested in the subject or not – if the researcher is not interested in the subject area they might choose a quicker and less time consuming method than if they were very interested by it
Whether the research is ethical or not – it could be that in one scenario using a certain method could be unethical. For example, interviewing a recently bereaved family could be unethical, so they would choose a different method.
Whether the method is suitable - for example using a written questionnaire could be difficult for investigating criminals, many of whom could be illiterate.
Theoretical beliefs of the researcher – different researchers will have different views on what research type to use. For example positivists are more likely to choose something that will yield quantitative results such as a closed survey.
3) Qualitative Secondary Sources
A secondary data is that which is found by another researcher that you then use yourself. Where you get this data from is known as the secondary source. Qualitative secondary sources could be newspapers, novels, art, autobiographies, diaries, TV programmes, historical documents, school reports, as well as many other examples.
Advantages of qualitative secondary data
They can provide rich data with little work from the
There are several factors that can influence what type of research method a sociologist chooses to use, these factors include:
Time and money available – large surveys or observations can be time consuming and expensive to complete and take a long time to analyse
Aims of the researcher – researchers could sometimes try and twist the data so it confirms hypothesis, so they might choose a method they think will give them the results they want
What is known about the field you are investigating – if someone has already carried out a survey in one field a sociologist might choose to interview participants instead, for example.
Whether the researcher is interested in the subject or not – if the researcher is not interested in the subject area they might choose a quicker and less time consuming method than if they were very interested by it
Whether the research is ethical or not – it could be that in one scenario using a certain method could be unethical. For example, interviewing a recently bereaved family could be unethical, so they would choose a different method.
Whether the method is suitable - for example using a written questionnaire could be difficult for investigating criminals, many of whom could be illiterate.
Theoretical beliefs of the researcher – different researchers will have different views on what research type to use. For example positivists are more likely to choose something that will yield quantitative results such as a closed survey.
3) Qualitative Secondary Sources
A secondary data is that which is found by another researcher that you then use yourself. Where you get this data from is known as the secondary source. Qualitative secondary sources could be newspapers, novels, art, autobiographies, diaries, TV programmes, historical documents, school reports, as well as many other examples.
Advantages of qualitative secondary data
They can provide rich data with little work from the