Unit 2 AS Sociology Research Methods Examination Technique

Stimulus material The examination will always include an example of recent Sociological research The research will be fairly lengthy but will provide plenty of material even ‘clues’ in order to answer the questions following You must answer all the questions You have 1 hour and 15 minutes this will allow for mins reading time and then you should aim to spend a minute per mark on each question You MUST use Sociological language in your answer

(a) Explain what is meant by the term… (5 marks) This will be a key term from the specification we have studied e.g reliability, validity, objectivity, official statistics, social survey, structured interviewing etc… Here you should explain in detail what the term means AND you should give some examples 5 mins for this one but don’t lost valuable marks by writing too little!!

(a) Explain what is meant by the term ‘structured interviewing’ (5 marks) Structured interviewing is when… …an interviewer asks specifically designed questions for the research being conducted …this is usually in the format of a questionnaire being read out by the interviewer The same questions are read out in the same order to all respondents Why might structured interviews be chosen? Structured interviews are particularly suitable for simple, factual information and are likely to be able to produce data which is easily comparable

(b) Identify and explain the weaknesses of the research described in the above passage (10 marks) As you read through the passage you should train yourself to highlight or underline things which might be clues for you later Give some examples from the text offered to you here – use ROVER!!!! Use the language of methodology to explain the weaknesses you have described

(c) Using both the passage, and your own knowledge, describe and explain the advantages of using trained interviewers for sociological research (15) Advantages?… Comparable data Lack of interviewer bias Open ended questions allowing respondents to go into depth on their answers Trained interviewers used to write down all words of respondents making answers more valid Always use Sociological Language to explain Refer to other studies using similar research methods!!

(d) Discuss the importance of sampling to sociological research (30) You should view this question as an essay and should plan it first It’s worth 30 marks!! Think of key terms that you need to use in this answer You will need to evaluate in this answer so should be using positive and negative points ALWAYS use sociological language ALWAYS try and refer to other relevant research

Essay plan Carry out the essay plan exercise to practise this skill with your teacher Learn this style of writing for future examination practise