Sociological Theory And Methods

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Science:

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1) Scientists collect data through experiments, observation and measurement in order to test hypotheses.
2) Science values objectivity. Scientific statements are based on evidence which has been collected using systematic, logical methods.

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Science - Logical Positivists:

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1) The researcher observes something, and decides it needs to be explained.
2) The researcher thinks up a hypothesis to explain the observed phenomenon.
3) The hypothesis is tested by experiments.
4) If the experiments agree with the hypothesis, then the hypothesis becomes scientific law. Scientific laws are universal - they explain all phenomena which are similar to the one observed in the first place.

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Science - Popper (Falsification):

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1) The idea is that you can't ever prove a hypothesis 100% correct, no matter how much evidence you've got - but you can prove it wrong with just one piece of contradictory evidence.
2) Popper believed that it wasn't possible to know absolute truth, because you can't prove things are correct.

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Science - Thomas Kuhn:

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1) Kuhn believed that science uses an accepted body of knowledge to solve puzzles. He called this 'normal science'. He was pretty critical of it.
2) He thought that scientists took a lot of assumptions about the world for granted. This assumed way of looking at the world is called a paradigm. He said that what scientists do is constrained by the paradigm they take for granted.
3) Kuhn argues that big leaps of scientific progress come about when evidence which doesn't fit the paradigm builds up to the point where it can't be ignored. Then, scientists come up with a new paradigm. This process is called scientific revolution.

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Is Sociology Scientific?:

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1) Comte was one of the founders of sociology, and he thought of it as a science. He thought sociology should be used to develop a rational theory of society.
2) Popper said that some sociological concepts weren't scientific as they couldn't possibly be proved wrong. Sociology could only be a science if it made hypotheses which could be falsified.
3) Kuhn argues that sociology doesn't have a paradigm - there isn't a consensus as to what it's about and how it's done. So in his view, it doesn't count as a science.

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Subjectivity of Sociology:

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1) Subjective knowledge depends on your point of view. Subjective methods give data that can't be easily tested. Subjective research requires interpretation.
2) Sociology is more subjective than the physical sciences, but it aims to be at least partly objective.
3) Some postmodernists like Lyotard claim that it's impossible to be objective at all. Lyotard sees knowledge as something that people construct, not something that people discover.

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Objectivity of Positivists:

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1) Positivists think sociology should be scientific and analyse social facts. Positivists define social facts as things that can be directly observed and measured. Positivists claim that social facts are external to individuals, and constrain their behaviour.
2) Positivists look for correlations in data, and cause and effect relationships. To do this, they use quantitative methods like questionnaires and official statistics, which are objective and reliable.

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Interpretivist Sociologists:

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1) Interpretivist sociologists reckon sociology doesn't suit scientific methods. They try to understand human behaviour from the point of view of the individual, so they use methods that let them discover the meanings, motives and reasons behind human behaviour and social interaction.
2) Weber said it's important to use empathy to figure out why an individual is doing what they're doing.

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Value-Free Research:

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1) Value-free research doesn't make judgements about whether the things that are researched are good or bad. It also doesn't let the researcher's own beliefs get in the way.
2) In order for this to happen, the researcher must interpret all data objectively.
3) The end use of the research shouldn't matter to researchers.
4) Positivists argue that quantitative research methods are, in general, more value-free than qualitative methods. Qualitative methods mean the researcher is more involved and so there's more risk their attitudes and feelings will influence respondents

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Why Sociology can't be Value-Free:

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1) The decision to research in the first place is value-laden. Some say that research which the state or businesses want to see is most likely to get funding.
2) It's difficult to completely avoid bias and interviewer effects.
3) Some Marxist and feminist sociologists deliberately choose research with an end use that they approve of. They believe that sociology should make value judgements about society and suggest ways it could be better.

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Functionalists - Organic Analogy:

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1) Talcott Parsons used this to show how society acts like a living organism. An organism has a series of organs that are interconnected and interdependent, and Parsons says that likewise society is a set of parts that are all interconnected, and all interdependent.
2) Functionalists describe change as 'evolutionary', which means that if there's a change in one part of society, other parts will slowly evolve to adapt to this.
3) Social ills (e.g. excessive crime) have a disabling effect on certain parts of the organism (society), and they can gradually 'infect' other parts.

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Functionalism - Instrumental and Expressive Needs:

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1) Functionalism says all members of society have needs and desires that the social system must cater for. These needs can be broken down into instrumental needs and expressive needs.
2) Instrumental needs are material. These needs are supported by the economic subsystem (industries) and the political subsystem (political parties etc).
3) Expressive needs are emotional. They're looked after by a kinship subsystem (family) and a cultural subsystem (schools, churches etc).

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Functionalism tries to Explain Everything:

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1) Functionalism was the first real attempt to create a theory to explain the operation of the whole of society. This kind of theory is called a macro-theory.
2) It's useful in showing how all the main institutions of society, e.g. education and family, are linked.

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Criticisms of Functionalism:

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1) Functionalism focuses on harmony and cooperation and it fails to take into account the differences and conflicts between groups in society, looking for the positive purpose in all aspects of society.
2) Functionalism is seen as a conservative approach to society that upholds inequality and injustice, with an almost fatalistic approach, seeing these issues as inevitable.
3) Conflict in society is seen as minimal because people accept the inevitability of inequality. Conflict theorists definitely disagree on this.

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Marxism - Capitalist Society with Two Classes:

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1) According to Marx, the ruling class owns and controls the means of production, and the working class work for the ruling class.
2) Change in society is explained as a result of a conflict of interests between the classes.
3) The job of superstructure (institutions within society) is to legitimise the position of the ruling class through ideological messages.
4) The proletariat are lured into a false consciousness, meaning they aren't fully aware of the oppression they suffer and how to break free of it. This can only be solved through revolution.

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Neo-Marxism Focuses on Ideology:

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1) Neo-Marxists such as Althusser and Gramsci redefined the focus of Marxism by developing the theory of ideology.
2) For example, Gramsci argued that the ruling class can only maintain power through gaining the consent of the working class by manipulative use of ideology. Althusser talks about ideological state apparatuses - e.g. the education system.

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Criticisms of Marxism:

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1) Marxism is deterministic - oppression is inevitable for the working class, until a revolution happens.
2) Marxism fails to see everyday life in any other terms than 'class conflict'. Ethnicity and gender are largely sidelined.
3) The fall of Communism in Eastern Europe has been used as evidence for flaws in Marxist theory, although it is debatable as to how true this 'Communism' was.
4) The increased affluence and consensual nature of many Western societies highlights the lack of conflict.

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Criticisms of Marxism - Weber:

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1) Weber said that there could be conflict between all kinds of groups in society. He rejected Marx's idea that the division between owners and workers was the only important division.
2) Weber claimed that people were divided by class, status and political grouping. Weberian conflict theorists argue that conflict is much more complicated than Marx claimed, arguing that conflict is based on power and authority, not economics.

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Social Action - Individuals as 'Social Actors':

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1) Social action theorists see people as making their own choices, and taking their own action, rather than being controlled by social structure or reacting to social structure. The see people's actions as key to studying society.
2) Social action theory claims society is constructed from peoples' meanings, interpretations, behaviours and negotiations.

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Labelling:

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1) The process of labelling is important for understanding how people interact on a daily basis.
2) People observe the behaviour of others and classify that behaviour into various categories - e.g. responsible, or delinquent etc.
3) Social action theorists see labelling everywhere - in the family, in education, in health care, etc.

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Social Action Theory - Social Order as a Social Construction:

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1) Social action theorists argue that social order isn't something generated by institutions, either through consensus or conflict. Social order is part of everyday life, and they see everyday life as a series of interpretations.
2) They say social order is a social construction - a product of individuals' minds. They say people want to believe that there's order in society so they behave towards others in a way that convinces them that there is order. For example, they follow social norms.

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Social Action Theory Rejects Sociology as Objective:

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1) People put their own meaning and labels on the world, and they can all put different labels and meanings on the same action. Every person will interpret an action slightly differently to others depending on the meaning they attach to it, meaning that sociologists can't predict people's behaviour as easily as structural approaches would suggest. People don't passively react to external stimulation in exactly the same way every single time. They act differently according to the circumstances, and to their own personal opinions.
2) In other words, social action theory says sociology isn't an objective science. It's all very, very subjective.

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Social Action Theory - Criticised for being so Subjective:

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1) Social action theory is criticised for its subjective and relativist nature. To them, nothing is true or false, reducing sociology to a mess of individual opinions.
2) Structuralists argue that social action theory fails to properly address the large-scale structure of society. They accuse social action theorists of concentrating too much on the small scale.
3) Social action theory also doesn't really explain social norms. They're taken for granted as something we believe in, maybe because we want there to be some kind of social order.

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Structuration combines Structuralism and Social Action:

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1) Structuration theorist Anthony Giddens believes that there's a place for a strand of sociological theory and research that looks at both the relationship between individuals and their social setting.
2) Structuration theorists say that individuals are subject to restrictions and pressures generated by social structures and social systems, and they respond to these in different ways.
3) They say social structures are open to change, and can be changed by the actions of individuals.

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Modernity:

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1) Modernity refers to the industrial world. It's linked to urbanisation and the rise of state bureaucracy.
2) Modernity refers to a period of time when studies of the world were guided by ordered, rational scientific thinking. Science was seen as the answer, rather than traditional sources of knowledge (religion)
3) The modernist theories are the structuralist theories of Marxism and functionalism. These are called 'grand narratives'.
4) Modernist theories like Marxism claim a monopoly of truth.

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Postmodernism - Society has Progressed from Modernity:

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1) Work has become more flexible, and service industries have partly taken over from manufacturing industries.
2) Globalisation has affected both production and communication. There's been globalisation of consumption and culture.
3) There's an emphasis on consumption of cultural products.
4) There's pluralism of culture and roles. People interpret society, and their own identities, in different ways according to their circumstances.
5) Sociology has moved into a time when 'metanarratives' don't answer all the problems of the social world. No theory can claim a monopoly of truth.

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Criticisms of Postmodernism:

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1) Postmodernists emphasise the role of culture and the media in driving the creation of identities, norms and values. This largely ignores the interaction between individuals, which upsets social action theorists. It also ignores the relationships between social institutions, which upsets structuralists.
2) Giddens actually argues that we're in a state of 'high modernity', with high risk of war, economic collapse or environmental disaster.

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Feminist Theory - Gender Inequalities:

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1) Feminists believe that society is patriarchal.
2) Feminist theory aims to unmask patriarchy and to empower people to campaign against it.
3) Feminists are often interested in studying issues which have been ignored in traditional sociology, for example domestic violence, power relationships within the family, and gender inequalities in school.
4) There are many different strands of feminism, including liberal, radical, black, Marxist and socialist.

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Liberal Feminists:

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1) Liberal feminists believe that the main cause of inequality is a lack of legitimate opportunities for women in education, employment and politics.
2) They believe the most effective way to bring about greater gender equality is to work within existing power structures to create equal opportunities, e.g. Equal Pay Act (1970).
3) They have been criticised by radical feminists for failing to recognise that patriarchal values are rooted in other areas of social life such as the family, as well as in formal institutions.

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Radical Feminists:

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1) Radical feminists argue that the very structure of society is based on the oppression of women.
2) Millet argued that patriarchy was the first and is the most fundamental form of inequality. There's a form of politics in all relationships featuring an imbalance of power - women are kept in a subordinate role.
3) The ideology of patriarchy manifests and maintains itself in the family, education and religion. Women largely internalise patriarchy and come to see themselves as inferior - but that the final guarantee of male dominance is force and threat of violence.

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Friedan - Feminine Mystique:

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1) Friedan argued that women were limited by ideas of femininity, and that women were victims of an ideology she called the feminine mystique.
2) This promoted the idea that a good woman gloried in her own femininity, and focused her life on trying to 'catch' a man, please her husband, and be a good mother. This limits the possibilities in spheres outside the home, and women brought up only to be wives and mothers often ended up feeling unfulfilled with no real identity of their own.
3) She believed women were ashamed of these feelings, and so didn't talk about them - 'the problem with no name'.

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Feminist Sociology - Not Value Free:

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1) Feminist sociologists don't believe in value-free research - they want their work to help combat patriarchy and the oppression of women.
2) Feminist sociology attempts to counter 'malestream' sociology, which largely ignored the situation of women, by focusing on previously ignored topics.
3) Much feminist sociology has been qualitative and interpretivist in nature, although some quantitative data and analysis is sometimes used, e.g. for studying statistics like domestic violence incidents etc.

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Realistic Sociology - Sociology can be Scientific:

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1) Realists believe that sociology can be scientific, but defined in a different way, divided into two kinds:
2) The study of closed systems - where variables can be closely controlled and lab experiments are done.
3) The study of open systems - where variables are difficult or impossible to control.
4) Science isn't fundamentally defined by the collection and recording of observable data - it's the search for the underlying causes of things, even if those causes aren't directly observable. The mechanisms behind social trends and phenomena are real and can be scientifically studied.

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Giddens - Four Practical Benefits of Sociological Research:

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1) An understanding of the world.
2) A heightened awareness of the needs of individual groups.
3) An assessment of 'what works' - evidence-based policy.
4) An increased personal knowledge of ourselves and others.

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Social Policy:

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1) Social policies are those parts of the government policy that deal with the well-being of their citizens.
2) New ides for social policy are generated by governments, political parties and pressure groups.
3) Most research into social policy issues is carried out by government agencies such as the departments for education and health.

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Sociological Research gives Policy Makers insight into Poverty and Inequality:

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1) The creation of the Welfare State after the Second World War gave many the impression that poverty had been largely eradicated from the UK.
2) However, empirical evidence showed that poverty was a hidden problem. Sociologists did more research to come up with theories of why certain groups were more vulnerable to poverty.
3) These theories, plus empirical data, guided social policy about welfare, poverty and inequality.

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Weber - Sociology Shouldn't Tell Decision-Makers How to Fix Society:

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1) Weber believed that sociology shouldn't make value judgements.
2) Weber argued that sociological research can tell decision makers whether a particular policy is likely to have the desired result, and what social costs the policy will incur.
3) Weber thought it was important to have good methodology to give the most useful information to policy makers.

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Postmodernists - Link Between Research and Policy:

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1) Bauman believes that sociology should inform social research, and worries that society may get worse if sociological theories about poverty and warfare aren't listened to.
2) On the other hand, Lyotard is worried that scientific methods of sociological research cold be used to construct oppressive metanarratives. Lyotard sees modernist metanarratives as leading to strict doctrine and oppression.

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Marxists - Sociology is Too Close to the Capitalist System:

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1) Marxists believe that sociology is too closely intertwined with the capitalist system to make a difference to society - it is a tool used to justify unjust social policy.
2) They believe research is controlled by ruling class interests, which prevents it from being used to change the system to socialism - sociology is being bought. Sociology is being used to justify social policy designed to further oppress and marginalise the working classes by focusing on crimes committed by the poor rather than looking at the underlying causes.

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Some Feminists Believe Sociology Can't Affect Gender Inequality:

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1) Liberal feminists believe that sociological research and analysis has influenced governments and had beneficial results for women's lives.
2) However, radical feminists argue that society is inherently patriarchal, and must be dismantled before women's lives can ever be improved.
3) Social feminists claim that social policy oppresses women in particular, as it undervalues women's labour.

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The Link Between Sociology and Social Policy Isn't All That Strong:

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1) Governments often seek to implement social policy that's popular with the electorate.
2) Some groups in society may be marginalised because they don't vote in large numbers.
3) Governments must consider the financial implications of any policies they introduce. Expensive policies also tend to make voters worry that taxes might have to increase to pay for them.

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Research Questions:

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1) Research questions should be narrowed down and specific to a single question, and it should be clear and easy to research.
2) Questions should be as value-free as possible. They shouldn't be biased, or suggest possible social changes.

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Hypotheses:

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1) A hypothesis is a statement that makes a prediction. It acts as a starting point for research.
2) A hypothesis states a relationship between two factors.
3) Research aims to show the hypothesis as true or false by testing it against evidence.

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Triangulation:

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1) Triangulation is when sociologists try to combine different methods or data to get the best out of all of them.
2) Its more valid, and you can check different sets of data against each other. It combines strengths and weaknesses of different types of data.
3) However, it can be expensive and time-consuming, and sometimes it's not possibly to use triangulation.

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Reliability:

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1) Reliable research can be repeated to get the same results. Reliable data means data that another researcher would be able to get by using the exact same methods.
2) Sociological research isn't generally as reliable as research in the natural sciences.

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Validity:

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1) Valid data is a true picture of what the researcher is trying to measure.
2) Reliability doesn't always mean data is valid.

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Primary Data:

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1) Information gathered by the researcher. It's new, original and not taken from any existing data set.
2) Primary data is as valid and reliable as the researcher's method makes it.
3) Collecting primary data can be time-consuming and expensive.

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Secondary Data:

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1) Information gathered from existing data sets or documents - e.g. official statistics, diaries etc.
2) The researcher has to trust that the data is valid and reliable - this is easier if the researcher can find out the original methodology.
3) Using secondary data can save the researcher time and money.

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Qualitative Methods:

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1) These produce stories, and include people's motivations, and the meanings they give to what they do and think.
2) Qualitative methods aren't reliable, but they can be very valid.
3) They're time-consuming, so they only use small samples. This means they're less representative than quantitative methods.

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Quantitative Methods:

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1) These produce numbers and statistics.
2) Can be very reliable, but may not be valid.
3) These allow the use of large samples, so they can be highly representative of the population.

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Random Sampling:

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1) Names are taken completely at random, e.g. randomly selected from a list by a person or a computer, so each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.

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Systematic Sampling:

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1) This involves choosing a starting point in the sampling frame and selecting every nth value, e.g. every fifth name. There may be bias, if there's an underlying pattern in the sampling frame.

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Stratified Random Sampling:

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1) The population is put into segments called 'strata' based on things like age, gender, or income - e.g. age 18-24, 25-34, 35-44 etc.
2) Names are then selected at random from within each segment.

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Quota Sampling:

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1) The selection is made by the interviewer, who'll have a quota to meet - e.g. 'interview 20 women between 25 and 34'. It's a bit like stratified random sampling, but it's not random - interviewers tend to pick people who look 'nice', which introduces bias. It's quick and useful, though.

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Multi-Stage Sampling:

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1) This means selecting a sample from within another sample. It's often used to select samples for opinion polls to measure voting intention. First, a selection of constituencies is chosen to represent the whole country, then postcodes within that constituency are selected, then houses from those postcodes.

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Snowball Sampling:

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1) This means finding initial contacts and getting them to give you more names for your research.

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Purposive Sampling:

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1) This is when researchers select non-representative samples that will yield information-rich cases for in-depth study. There are many different ways of doing this.
2) Extreme or deviant sampling means selecting the most extreme or unusual individuals for study.
3) Typical case sampling involves studying those who are average or typical of a particular group.

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Pilot Study:

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1) A pilot study lets you test the accuracy of your questions, and check if there are any problems in your research design. You can use them to make studies more valid and reliable, test how long the research will take, and train your interviewers.
2) Though they're time-consuming, expensive and create lots of work, they show that the project is feasible, and can help to secure research funding.

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Ethics:

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1) Consent - All participants must have openly agreed to take part.
2) Confidentiality - The details of all participants and their actions must remain confidential and private.
3) Avoidance of harm - Participants should not be physically or psychologically harmed by the research.
4) Avoidance of deception - Researchers should be open and honest about the study and its implications.

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Informed Consent:

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1) The researcher should get participants' consent before they conduct their study. Sociologists should be open and honest about their work.
2) Children or people with learning difficulties may not fully understand what participation may entail.
3) Consent can be difficult to obtain, especially from secretive groups (e.g. gangs) or when research is about a sensitive topic (e.g. crime, sexuality).

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Criticisms of Covert Studies - No Informed Consent:

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1) Covert methods involve not telling the group being studied that they are actually being studied. They're often criticised for their lack of honesty and the absence of true informed consent.
2) Covert participant observers argue that to negotiate access into sensitive or dangerous groups such as criminals, the researcher often has to either pretend to be part of the group, or not inform the group of the true purpose of the study.

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Rights to Privacy and Anonymity:

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1) All respondents taking part in a piece of research must have their basic right to privacy valued and upheld. The data gathered from them and their personal details must not be distributed.
2) When the report is produced, respondents must be made anonymous.

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Avoidance of Harm in Research:

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1) Emotional and physical harm is never acceptable in sociological research.
2) Researchers studying topics such as mental health or geriatric care may stumble across situations and experiences that cause individuals harm.
3) Some topics that are discussed may be traumatic for respondents.

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Justifications of Breaking Ethical Rules:

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1) If the data that they'll gather is likely to make a beneficial contribution to society, bending of ethical rules can be justified by sociologists.
2) This becomes even stronger if potential ethical problems are minimised.
3) Cost-benefit analysis.

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Questionnaires:

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1) Closed questions and standardised multiple-choice answers give quantitative data - positivist research.
2) Open-ended questions allow for qualitative data.
3) Questionnaires should use clear, simple questions.
4) They should give clear instructions with a clear layout.
5) Multiple-choice questions must give an appropriate number of responses.

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Advantages of Questionnaires:

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1) Easy to administer, and can collect a lot of data in a short time. Closed questions provide quantitative data which can be quickly analysed too.
2) They are reliable.
3) They are anonymous and don't require face-to-face interaction - suitable for sensitive topics.
4) Can collect data from a large sample - representative data.

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Limitations of Questionnaires:

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1) Respondents may not tell the truth.
2) Questions may be misleading or mean different things to different people. Hard to accurately measure
3) Respondents can't give extra information.
4) Nobody to explain the questions if they're not fully understood.
5) Postal questionnaires have a low response rate.

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Structured Interviews:

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1) These are like face-to-face questionnaires.
2) The interviewer can explain/clarify questions.
3) They have a higher response rate than questionnaires, unless the research topic is sensitive.
4) The interviewer must follow a list of questions, so no follow up questions.

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Social Surveys:

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1) Social surveys collect information about a large population, using questionnaires or structured interviews.
2) There are three main types - factual, attitude and explanatory. Some surveys are a mixture.

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Unstructured Interviews:

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1) Unstructured interviews are informal, without a rigid structure. They use open-ended questions and give qualitative data, so they're quite valid. Interviews are also flexible, and conversation develops naturally.
2) Interviews can be done with individuals or small groups. Group interviews let the researcher observe interaction.

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Advantages of Unstructured Interviews:

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1) They're more representative than participant observation.
2) They're good for researching sensitive issues, and appropriate for interpretivist research.

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Disadvantages of Unstructured Interviews:

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1) They're less representative than questionnaires due to their smaller sample size.
2) The interviewer needs to have skill to probe.
3) There are lots of interviewer effects, like demand characteristics.
4) It takes a long time to write up an unstructured interview. Long time to analyse results.

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Longitudinal Surveys:

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1) These are done at regular intervals over a long period of time, with the same people. They're often large-scale quantitative surveys.
2) You can analyse changes and makes comparisons over time, and you can study how attitudes change.
3) It's hard to recruit a committed sample.
4) You need long-term funding and you need to keep the research team together, potentially problematic.

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Lab Experiments:

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1) Lab experiments are done in controlled environments. They analyse one variable in terms of another.
2) They can be very reliable and give quantitative data, but may not be valid.

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Field Experiments:

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1) Field experiments take place outside of the lab in real social settings and those involved are often unaware - ethical issues. They tend to be used by interpretivist sociologists.
2) They're highly valid, but much less controllable and reliable than lab experiments.

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Covert Observation:

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1) In covert observation, the researcher doesn't tell the group they're being observed. The BSA advise that you should only use covert observation when there's no other way of obtaining the data.

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Overt Observation:

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1) Overt observation is when the group is aware of the research and they know who the researcher is.

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Participant Observation:

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1) Participant observation is when researchers actively involve themselves in the group.
2) Provides a first-hand insight and is extremely flexible. However, it lacks reliability, it's not representative, its hard work, time-consuming and expensive, and the researcher may get too involved. Also there are ethical and practical problems.

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Non-Participant Observation:

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1) Non-participant observation is when the researcher observes the group but isn't actively a part of the group.

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Ethnography:

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1) This is the scientific description of a specific culture by someone with first-hand experience of observing that culture. The in-depth research gives inside knowledge about a community - valid data.
2) It relies on the researcher's interpretations and it's difficult to make generalisations from small-scale research.
3) It tends to produce qualitative data, and it tends to primary data.

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Focus Groups:

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1) A focus group is a small sample, perhaps fewer than ten people. The sample are put in a room together, and asked to talk about a particular issue or to try to answer a specific set of questions.
2) Subjects may feel more able to express themselves than in a 1-1 interview. Sometimes they are left alone and recorded, and sometimes researchers take part in discussion, like a group interview.

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Case Studies:

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1) Case studies are detailed investigations of a specific thing, e.g. a life history.
2) Interpretivists like case studies because they can provide very detailed data and insight.
3) Positivists dislike case studies as they aren't representative of wider populations because of the small sample size.

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Official Statistics:

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1) These are a source of secondary data. They're produced by local governments, central government and government agencies.
2) Hard statistics are objective. Soft statistics are more subjective.
3) Social trends is a collection of regular government surveys published every year.
4) The census is a survey of every household every 10 years, and it must be filled out by law.
5) The British Crime Survey looks at victims of crime.

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Non-Official Statistics:

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1) These are statistics collected by organisations other than the government. For example, TV ratings, surveys carried out by charities etc., and surveys carried out by sociologists.

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Documents:

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1) A document is written text. Documents can be personal - e.g. letters, diaries, suicide notes, etc. Documents can also be official - e.g. school records, social work records, etc.
2) Documents can be expressive, or formal. Interpretivists prefer expressive documents because they're a big source of qualitative data.
3) There are problems with documents. They can be difficult to understand if they're old. They might be fakes. They might contain lies - especially personal documents.

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Data must be Valid:

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1) Respondents in an interview may forget things, or just plain lie. They may also try to show themselves in the best possible light.
2) Criminals interviewed by Taylor later claimed that they'd made up lies to see if Taylor believed them.

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Respondents in Interviews:

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1) Respondents in interviews may give the sort of answer they think the interviewer wants to hear - or the exact opposite.
2) Interviewers can give subtle direction towards certain responses - interviewer effects.

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Participants in Experiments:

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1) Participants in experiments may try harder at what they're doing to get a positive response from the researchers - this is called the Hawthorne effect.
2) These effects mean data from experiments may not be valid.

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Cultural Issues Impact on Validity:

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1) Labov found that black American children were much more forthcoming with a black interviewer than a white interviewer.
2) Ethnicity wasn't the only factory - they were most forthcoming in an informal setting.
3) Oakley thought that women responded to a friendly interview style.
4) Some social groups may be less keen on admitting embarrassing or socially undesirable things.

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Honest Publication:

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1) Researchers should present their data and allow other researchers to build on it, criticise it or compare it to other work, ensuring the research is analysed in terms of objectivity, validity and reliability.
2) Accountability to participants is crucial.
3) The report should be fair and representative.
4) The report must not identify the participants without their consent.

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Impact of the Researcher's Background or Opinion:

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1) An individual's social background, their perspective on life, their sociological viewpoint, and their culture will all affect how they perceive the world around them. This goes for sociologists the same as it does for regular folk.
2) What the researcher observes or notes as relevant depends on their idea of what's useful, true and accurate.

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Reflexive Research:

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1) Reflexivity refers to the understanding that a researcher has that their research will be affected by their own opinions and standpoints.
2) Reflexivity forces the sociologist to see social structures and norms and ways of interpreting them as something they have in common with the people they study.
3) Reflexivity could help Sociology to be more objective - it is very important to keep an eye on the way that researchers actually obtain knowledge.

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Reflexive Research on Validity:

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1) A researcher who's aware of potential bias can take steps to avoid it.
2) Reflexive work can often be found in interpretivist sociology. They require the researcher to put themselves in the place of their participants for long periods of time to seek a fuller understanding of the meanings that participants put on their actions.