2. What is sociology?
Sociology and journalism/psychology
Culture, norms and values
Socialization
The research process
Sampling methods – probability and non
probability
Research methods – their advantages and
disadvantages
3. Questionnaires - postal
Interviews – formal and informal
Group interviews
Longitudinal studies
Participant observation – covert/overt
Non-participant observation
Secondary data – quantitative and qualitative
Ethical issues
4. The examples will only be from education or
the family.
You will be asked for definitions and
explanations.
You will be asked to read sources and obtain
information
You will be asked about ethical issues
You will have to justify your decisions
5. Effects of primary and secondary socialization and how this
differs between the sexes.
Effects of social and educational policy on life chances, further
education and career choices.
6. Think about what method you would use to obtain a sample and why are
you choosing this method. In order to make your study representative.
Why it is important for a sample to be representative?
You need to be able to gain a sample which will enable you to make
generalisations to the rest of the population.
7. Think about the key ethical issues – consent, privacy, confidentiality
Think about the age of the research participants – who would you need
consent from?
How does ethical issues limit the researcher – what would the researcher
need to do to make the research ethical.
8. Think about…
The method you would use and why this method would be good for
obtaining the information you require.
Why is it better than other methods?
Can it make your research more representative or valid?
Does it help to overcome ethical issues?
Does it help to make generalisation from your study?
9. What information can sociological research provide?
Social factors – peer relationships, deprivation, ethnicity, gender, class
What could educational authorities do with the information?
Create policy to address the issues – anti-bullying, funding strategies
for high risk social groups
10. Definition of official statistics
What are they good for – looking at trends, identifying at risk
groups, looking for patterns of change over time.
But…they are socially constructed, not all truants are recorded as
such, they may not reflect the true extent of truancy – why? How can
truancy be masked?
11. Think about the group being studied. Are they a hard to reach group?
What method might be the most suitable? How does the method make
the sample representative and your research valid?
Would you have to sacrifice on for the other?
