Starter Outline each part of the PERVERT wheel What does each part stand for? How do we use it in research methods?

Positivists and interpretivits… Positivism and Interpretivism are the two basic approaches to research methods in Sociology. Positivists prefer scientific quantitative methods, while Interpretivists prefer humanistic qualitative methods

Positivists Positivists prefer quantitative methods such as social surveys, structured questionnaires and official statistics because these have good reliability and representativeness Positivists see society as shaping the individual and generally believe that one’s position in society shapes one’s actions. The positivist tradition stresses the importance of doing quantitative research such as large scale surveys in order to get an overview of society as a whole and to uncover social trends, such as the relationship between educational achievement and social class. This type of sociology is more interested in trends and patterns rather than individuals. In positivist research, sociologists tend to look for relationships, or ‘correlations’ between two or more variables. This is known as the comparative method

Interpretivists Interpretivists, or anti-positivists argue that individuals are not just puppets who react to external social forces as Positivists believe. According to Interpretivists individuals are intricate and complex and different people experience and understand the same ‘objective reality’ in very different ways and have their own, often very different, reasons for acting in the world. Interpretivists argue that in order to understand human action we need to see the world through the eyes of the actors doing the acting. An Interpretivist Approach to social research would be much more qualitative, using methods such as unstructured interviews or participant observation.

Why do positivists and interpretivists prefer different types of data? Positivists = quantitative Interpretivists – qualitative They make different assumptions about the nature of society and why we should study it. Complete page 5 of your booklet using page 94 of the textbook

Factors influencing the choice of topic Practical, funding and values Read and highlight page 7 Complete ‘values’ using page 95 of the textbook.

Preparing research… How do we conduct research? What are the steps we need to take as sociologists? Hints: Hypothesis, aim, operationalising, pilot studies.

Formulating an aim or hypotheses… Hypothesis: is a possible explanation that can be tested by collecting evidence to prove it true or false. E.G “differences in class cause differences in educational achievement” We can then collect evidence to test whether or not this is true. If we find it is false we must discard it. This may seem like a bad thing, but this leads to further focus on the question/hypothesis we want to find out.

Formulating an aim or hypotheses… Positivists  hypothesis as a starting point for research. This is because they seek to discover cause-and-effect relationships e.g class differences cause underachievement They will use quantitative methods such as questionnaires they formulate questions designed to discover whether and why these factors are linked.

Formulating an aim or hypotheses… Interpretivists often favour a broad aim rather than a hypothesis, since they are interested in understanding people’s meanings to find out what people think is important, rather than to impose the researcher’s own possible explanations in the form of the hypothesis.

Research Methods Lesson 3 Preparing research sampling Objectives: To explain some of the factors influencing the choice of research methods To describe what is meant by practical, ethical and theoretical issues

Lesson Objectives To define key words such as sampling unit and sampling frame To describe different types of sampling techniques To explain the strengths and weaknesses of each sampling techniques

Sampling Sociologists aim to produce generalisations that apply to all cases of the topic that they are interested in However it would not be possible to include everyone in the research so they would have to select a sample which is a smaller sub group, drawn from the wider group that we are interested in The sample must be representative of the research population if they are wanting to generalise the findings

The Sampling Frame From this we can choose our sample This is a list of all the members of the population we are interested in studying From this we can choose our sample Sampling unit The individual thing or person in that population

Sampling Techniques They use a range of techniques to obtain their sample: Representative sampling Non-representative sampling Random Systematic Stratified Quota Snowballing Opportunity

Representative Key Term: a cross-section. A researcher may choose to study a sample of a larger group. If the sample is representative, those in it will be typical of the larger group. This will allow the findings to be generalised i.e applied to all members of the group, not just those in the sample.

Sampling techniques Read through each sampling technique – make sure you know the differences between them… Use page 98 of the book to add more detail onto stratified

Advantages/Disadvantages You need to know the advantages and disadvantages of using each of these sampling techniques Using the gap fill, fill in the gaps as a group Copy them up into your table when you’re finished

Non representative sampling Due to practical and theoretical reasons, representative sampling may not always be used For instance, people may refuse to take part in a survey...would this be practical or theoretical? Case studies are another form of un representative sampling…what are they?

Name some practical reasons why it might not be possible to create a representative sample? Social characteristics of the research population such as gender and class, may not be known – it is therefore impossible to create a sample that is an exact cross-section of the research population Difficult to find or create a sampling frame for that particular research population e.g all truancies may not be recorded Potential respondents may refuse to participate Snowball or opportunity samples may be used instead here

Name some theoretical reasons why it might not be possible to create a representative sample? Researchers may not choose to create a representative sample due to their methodological perspective (positivists/interpretivists) Are positivists/interpretivists more likely to create a representative sample? Why? Interpretivists are less concerned about making generalisations, so therefore there is less need for representative samples.

Test yourself – no notes! Which type of sampling? the researcher stratifies the population in the sampling frame by class, age, gender ect. The sample is then created in the same proportions. E.g if 40% of the population are males, the sample would also have 40% males. stratified

Test yourself – no notes! Which type of sampling? Every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample, e.g picking names out of a hat Random

Test yourself – no notes! Which type of sampling? Using sample frame, names are selected at fixed points. E.g every 10th name or every 25th name. systematic

Test yourself – no notes! Which type of sampling? This is similar to stratified, but instead of choosing the samples for each category randomly, the researchers look for the right number of people for each category. E.g 500 men and 500 women to find Quota

Complete page 10 of your booklet. Task Complete page 10 of your booklet.

Complete the questions on page 11 Apply your knowledge Complete the questions on page 11 Work in pairs if you feel you need help.

Plenary- learning triangle 3 things you have learnt today, two things you already know, 1 thing you still want to know!