british education schools

Sociology notes (unit one)

 Unit one
Theory and methods

Sociology: the study of human social life, groups and societies, sociology explores the social factors that shape human behavior and the way that
society influences our daily lives.

Structuralism Interpretivism
 Macro approach.  Micro approach starts at the level of
 Societies are seen as sets of structures, individuals.
individuals have finite roles.  Individuals control society, they give
 Emile Durkheim –suicide rate: not meanings to social events.
different in a country but different in  People have different socially available
different countries, stronger connections labels they can choose from like age,
lead to lower rate. gender, social class, etc….
 Prefer quantitative data.  Prefer qualitative data.

Conflict Vs consensus perspectives:

Consensus: basic agreement on a set of shared values.

Conflict: disagreements between groups with different interests, mainly as a result of inequality in the distribution of wealth, power and status.

Functionalism Marxism Feminism

 Consensus approach.  Conflict approach.  Conflict approach.
 Focus on social  Fundamental conflict  Societies are patriarchal
functions of the between upper class (dominated by males).
different social (bourgeoisie) and  Liberal feminists: not
institutions and events. working class necessarily emphasizing
 Biological Analogy: (proletariat). on conflict, some
viewing society as the  The relationship advancements have
human body, different between the two been made.
organs but functioning classes is exploited.  Radical feminist:
 to promote only one  Radical change and societies are patriarchal
objective which is the equality are required. and radical changes
stability of the body. must be made.
 The American Talcott  Marxist feminist: class
Parsons is an example and gender produce
of functionalists. fundamental divisions
in society.

Positivism Vs Interpretivism:

Positivism Interpretivism
 Societies can be studied in a scientific  Provide explanations for peoples’
manner. behavior.
 Prefer quantitative data.  Prefer qualitative data.
 Can establish social facts or social laws.  Interested in why people act in a certain
 More objective. way rather than how many times they do
so.

The research process:

The main steps in implementing a research:

1) Research aims and selection of topic:

 Identification of a problem (a puzzle).
 Selection of a topic may be influenced by these factors:
1. The personal interests, experiences and observations of the researchers.
2. The existing information about the topic.
3. Social changes and development.
4. The availability of funding.
5. Practicality.
6. The ethical issues.

2) Hypothesis setting and revision:

Hypothesis: a theory or explanation at the start of the research that the research is designed to test.
The hypothesis might suggest a cause and effect relationship but sometimes research is only able to establish a correlation.
Positivists will have a hypothesis, while Interpretivists will have a broader aim like to find out what a group of people thinks about
something.
3) Pilot studies:
 a small-scale test of a piece of research project before the main research.
 Very useful in identifying problems and errors and correct them before the main research takes place.
4) sampling:
 Means selecting some of all possible respondents.
Survey population: the people that the research is about.
Sampling frame: a list of everyone in the population.
 Sometimes samples are not necessary, for example if you have small population or in case of census which is social survey done by the
government to get information about every single person in the country.
 Generalisability: when the findings about one group can be applied to a larger group or similar groups.

Types of samples:
1/ Random samples: when each person has an equal chance of being selected. They are not always representative.
2/ Stratified samples: when sampling frame is divided, for example by gender or age.
3/ Quota sampling: deciding in advance how many people with what characteristics to involve in the research and then identifying
them. Often used in market research.
4/ Snowball sampling: when one respondent puts the researcher in contact with others.
 Difficulties in implementing a research strategy:

Ethical issues:

 Issues that have a moral dimension, such as when harm or distress may be caused to participants.

 Ethical guidelines:

1/ The participant must not be harmed.

2/ The participants’ informed consent must be obtained.

3/ The researcher must not invade the participants’ privacy.

4/ Participants should not be deceived.

 The researcher must ensure that as far as possible and whenever appropriate the research is:

 Anonymous: the participants’ name (or anything else which might identify an individual) doesn’t appear on the survey form; this is not
always done if it might be necessary to contact someone again for further information.

 Confidential: it’s not possible to trace an individuals’ answers from the published findings.
Questionnaires & social surveys:

 Questionnaires: a standardised list of questions used in social surveys.

 Social surveys: the systematic collection of information from a sample, usually involving a questionnaire or structured interviews.

 Types of questions in questionnaires & surveys:

1. Closed or pre-coded questions: have a set of answers a respondent can choose from them. Each answer is coded by being given a
number therefore the result is easy to be analysed (statistical table). The disadvantage is that some respondents may want to give
answers that are not available, the way out of such limitation is to provide ‘please specify’ option.

2. Scaled questions: even number of answers is preferred, produce data that seem to prove something but run the risk of making people
agree (or disagree) when they really don’t have a preference.

3. Open questions: produce some limited qualitative data but makes it more difficult to analyse the data.

Ways of administering surveys:

1. Self-completion questionnaire: respondents answer the questions without the presence of the researcher.
 Postal questionnaires: sent and returned by post, can reach huge number of people but the response rate is very low, here
are some ways to increase the response rate:
 Sending a letter explaining the research in some details.
 Sending stamped and addressed envelope.
 Following up with those who do not respond.
 Making the questionnaire as short and easy as possible.
 Giving clear instructions.
 Using people’s names in a letter.
 Offering an incentive of money or a prize draw.
 Strengths & limitations of self-completion questionnaires:
 Strengths:
1. Cheap because they can be distributed by post.
2. Large numbers of questionnaires can be posted to people who may be geographically distant.
3. The researcher is not present so s/he can’t influence the answers.
4. The respondents can choose the suitable time for answering the questions.
 Limitations:
1. Low response rate.
2. Questions may be misunderstood.
3. The researcher can’t be sure who answered the questions.
4. Participants often leave some questions unanswered.
2/ Structured interviews:
 An interview in which the questions are standardised (the same questions are asked in the same order and the replies are
codified to produce quantitative data.
 They can be done as telephone questionnaires or face- to-face.
 Telephone questionnaire: when the researcher reads the questions to a respondent over the telephone and records his/her
answers.
Strengths & limitations of structured interviews:
 Strengths:
1. The interviewer can explain unclear questions.
2. The interviewer can ask additional questions, or avoid questions that are not relevant to the participant.
3. High response rate.
4. The interviewer may be able to set up a good relationship with the participants, winning their trust and getting valid answers.
 Limitations:
1. The interviewer effect.
2. Take more time (expensive).
3. Participants may give socially desirable answers.
4. If several interviewers are used, they may approach their work in different ways.
 Social surveys are usually high in reliability; however, they are not always valid.

TYPES OF INTERVIEWS:
• Structured interviews.
• Unstructured interviews.
• Semi-structured interviews.
• Focus group.
• Group interview.
Unstructured interview:
• An interview without set questions that usually involves probing into emotions & attitudes, leading to qualitative data.
• Do not have to keep to a schedule of questions.
• More flexible & more like a conversation.
• Generate qualitative data.
Semi-structured interview:
• An interview with some standardised questions but allowing the researcher some flexibility on what is asked in what order.
• Generate qualitative data.
Guidelines for good interview:
• Make the interviewee feel comfortable with the research situation.
• Create a certain amount of order, so questions flow reasonably well (but the order can be altered in the interview).
• Make sure the language used is understandable & relevant.
• Avoid leading questions or questions that make assumptions.
• Keep a fact sheet record.
• Make sure the setting is quite & private.
• Use a good quality recorder & microphone.
Focus group interviews:
• A group brought together to be interviewed on a particular topic (the focus); a special type of group interview.
• The researcher is able to find out what individuals say & how they respond to the views of others.
• Brings out a wide variety of views.
• The researcher needs to intervene if the interviewees went off point (to put them back on track)
• The researcher needs to deal with silence, reluctant speakers and also with those who speak too much.
• Generate qualitative data.
Limitations:
1. Time consuming.
2. Can be difficult to make generalisation when standardised questions are not used.
3. Less reliable than structured interviews because they are difficult to replicate.
4. The interviewers need to be highly skilled.
5. The responses may be affected by interviewer bias (intentional or unintentional effect of the way that the interviewer asks
questions or interpret answers.
6. The responses may be affected by interviewer effect (ways in which an interviewer may influence participants’ responses, by
their characteristics or appearance or by verbal cues such as facial expressions & tone of voice).

Experiments:
• They are usually a positivist method, producing quantitative data and often used to find cause & effect relationships or
correlations.
• In experiments sociologists try to minimise subjectivity (bias) and to remain objective throughout the research.
• Mainly experiments have two types:
1. Laboratory experiments: taking place in a laboratory, that is, artificial setting created for the research where external
variables are excluded as far as possible. (people will get affected by the Hawthorne or observer effect).
2. Field experiments:
• Experiments that take place in the natural setting of the real world rather than in a laboratory.
• Can present many problems such as: ethical issues regarding harm, deception and invasion of privacy. Also the researcher
can lose control (external variables). Moreover, they involve a great deal of risk (anger). However, they are a very effective
way of getting inside group behaviour.
Case studies:
• Case study: a detailed in-depth study of one group or event.
• Can involve any method or combination of methods.
• John Goldthorpe & David Lockwood case study on workers of car assembly industry is a good example of how wider
conclusions may be obtained out of a case study.
Strengths:
1. Allow different aspects of the case being studied to be explored using appropriate methods.
2. Can provide deep and detailed account of the case.
3. If the case is carefully chosen it may be possible to draw wider conclusions.
4. Can produce findings that can be tested by other research elsewhere.
Limitations:
1. The findings may only apply to the case so generalisation can’t be made.
2. The findings can’t be replicated.
3. The deep involvement of the researchers may lead to them being influenced by their own feelings.
Longitudinal studies:
• Are carried out periodically over a period of time, rather than a one-off piece of research.
• Mostly funded by government-funded research organisations.
• Longitudinal survey: a survey taking place at intervals over a long period.
• Panel studies: when the same sample is used each time

Strengths:
1. Longitudinal research is like a film, can show us how people’s lives change over time.
2. It becomes possible to see what factors may have brought about changes in people’s lives over time.
3. Because of the commitment, there’s a good chance of getting valid data.
Limitations:
1. Require considerable commitment of time and research over a long period.
2. Inevitable drop out (sample attrition).
3. Hawthorne effect.
Participant observation:
• When the researcher is participating in what the participants are doing. There are three stages in participant observation:
1. Getting in: in most cases needs gatekeepers.
2. Staying in: sometimes the researcher may find him/herself participating in acts they do not agree with.
3. Getting out:
Covert & overt observation:
• In covert the researcher becomes a full member, the group doesn’t discover his/her identity. Sometimes requires illegal
activities (criminal group study), note taking without raising suspicions is very hard.
• In overt the identity of the researcher is known but the group may behave differently (Hawthorne/observer effect).
Strengths & limitations:

Strengths Limitations
 Validity.  Overt can affect the behaviour as
 Deep understanding of the group. respondents know that they are being
observed.
 Reliability is low as observation can’t
be replicated.
 Can’t make generalisation.
 The researcher needs to have the
social characteristics of the group.
 A lot of effort is devoted for
maintaining covert.
 Researcher loses objectivity as he/she
becomes close with the group.

Non-participant observation:
• The researcher is just observing or video recording.
• Generate quantitative data – how many times an action is taken.
• Used when groups are unwilling to cooperate.
• Avoid Hawthorne effect.
• Do not provide explanations.
• Researchers may be accused for using their own assumption.
Content analysis:
• Study the content of documents and mass media.
• Define a set of categories and classifies the material according to how frequently it appears.

Strengths Limitations
 Provides statistical data which can be  Statistics are interesting but they do not
used to test sociological theories and provide explanations.
to change the content of the media.  What category to use.
 Reliable.  How to allocate material to different
 Does not involve people as categories?
respondents, so avoiding ethical
issues.

Triangulation:
Use of two or more methods in the same research project.

Strengths limitations
 Can allow the researcher to support  Time consuming & expensive.
quantitative data with qualitative  The researcher needs to be skilled in
examples, thereby providing a study several research methods.
with reliability & validity.  Positivist & interpretivist approaches
 Can be used to check validity of the are based on very different ideas, so it
 research. may be difficult to combine them in
 Can be used to check reliability of the one piece of research.
research.
 Can be used for cross-referencing
(more accuracy).
 Can provide balance between
methods, where one may be weaker
than another in that particular area of
research.

Research evaluation:
Three issues need to be considered when implementing a research:
1. Practical issues: time, money, availability of respondents.
2. Ethical issues: anonymity, confidentiality, informed consent, invasion of privacy and harm are all very important ethical
concerns.
3. Theoretical issues: positivists & interpretivists, validity, reliability, representativeness and research bias.
Issues need to be considered when evaluating a research:
1. Validity: when reality is accurately reflected.
2. Reliability: when the research can be repeated and similar responses will be obtained.
3. Representativeness: the degree to which research findings about one group can be applied to a larger group or similar
groups.
4. Research bias: where the researcher’s views or beliefs affect the research. Positivists try to eliminate it while interpretivists
consider it inevitable. It’s called the imposition problem which could happen through the social characteristics of the
researcher.
Types of data:
• Primary data: information collected by sociologists at first hand.
• Secondary data: information collected earlier by others and used later on by a sociologist.
• Qualitative data: information and facts like attitudes and kind of actions that are not able to be presented in numerical form.
• Quantitative data: information and facts that take a numerical form.

Quantitative secondary data:

Official statistics: produced by governments & official agencies.
Non-official statistics: produced by non-governmental organisations such as charities & think tanks.
Official statistics strengths & limitations:

strengths limitations
 Readily available, cheap and easy to  They are socially constructed
use. according to interpretivists.
 They are produced by a research that  Are not accurate or incomplete.
is well planned & organized, using  Can be affected by politics.
large sample; they are likely to be  Comparison over time can be made
valid reliable and representative. only if the same phenomenon has
 They are often part of longitudinal been measured in the same way at
research which will make it possible every stage.
for researchers to identify trends.  Marxists argue that statistics reflect
 They allow comparison to be made. the interests of the ruling class.
Strengths & limitations of secondary qualitative data such as letters & diaries:

strengths limitations
 They may be high in validity.  They may be unrepresentative.
 They may offer first-hand account by  They need to be checked against
people involved. other sources.
 They provide descriptive detail and  They may be biased and they may
insight missing in statistical sources. reflect the emotional state of the
writer at the time.

BEST OF LUCK