THEORETICAL ISSUES OF RESEARCH METHODS LO Know and

THEORETICAL ISSUES OF RESEARCH METHODS LO: Know and understand what theoretical issues are, and, how to answer THAT exam question

POSITIVITIST I want to do some Sociological research Not – I want to into theme educational know the facts. achievement of traveller children. But where do I start? INTERPRETIVIST Me too! But I’m stuck – I want to find out the reasons and the meanings behind this achievement rather than just a statistic. . .

POSITIVITIST INTERPRETIVI ST So what kind of method should I use and what kind of data do I want?

POSITIVITIST INTERPRETIVIST A QUALITATIVE method is better for me as it would allow me to find out the true meanings behind traveller achievement. A QUANTITATIVE method would be better for me, as it would give me a better overall picture of traveller achievement.

POSITIVITIST INTERPRETIVI TIST QUALITATI VE QUANTITATIVE OBSERVATION UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS PERSONAL DOCUMENTS QUESTIONNAIRES OFFICIAL STATISTICS EXPERIMENTS STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

And now – THAT question EXAMINE THE VIEW THAT THEORETICAL ISSUES ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR INFLUENCING SOCIOLOGISTS’ CHOICE OF RESEARCH METHODS. 20 MARKS

EXAMINE THE VIEW THAT THEORETICAL ISSUES ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR INFLUENCING SOCIOLOGISTS’ CHOICE OF RESEARCH METHODS. 20 MARKS

EXAMINE THE VIEW THAT THEORETICAL ISSUES ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR INFLUENCING SOCIOLOGISTS’ CHOICE OF RESEARCH METHODS. 20 MARKS Positivist or Interpretivist approach? What other factors are there? Practical? Ethical? What’s going to influence a Sociologist more? Practical? Ethical? Theoretical? when choosing a research method?

POSITIVITIST INTERPRETIVI TIST QUALITATI VE Ethically more problems However – my results are likely with qualitative to be more valid, and will be as they involve fullmethods of rich meaningful data. more deceit. Practical problems with qualitative methods include: costly, take a long period of time and are difficult to generalise. QUANTITATIVE Ethically less problems However – my results will be with quantitative easy to replicate, but will lack methods as participants depth. can give informed consent. Practical problems with quantitative methods include: ? ? ? Oh wait – they’re great! Or are they. . . Response rates?

What about now – do you think you could answer that question? ? ? EXAMINE THE VIEW THAT THEORETICAL ISSUES ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR INFLUENCING SOCIOLOGISTS’ CHOICE OF RESEARCH METHODS. 20 MARKS