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68 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Define sociology |
Its the study of society; it explores the social factors that shape human behaviour and the way that society influences our daily lives |
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Whats the difference between sociology and physiology ? |
Psychologists focus on individual behaviour, they study topics like mental illnesses. but sociologists focus on a groups behaviour and study the social influences on human life. |
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Whats the difference between sociology and biology ? |
Biologists look for biological causes or characteristics when studying human behaviour. However, sociologists view behaviour as social or cultural rather than biological. |
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Whats the difference between sociologists and journalists ? |
Sociologists and news sometimes research into similar social issues. However, journalists research is less thorough and reporting may be biased or one sided. However, sociologists must select and use evidence in a balanced way or heir research may be criticised by other sociologists. |
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What does social structure mean? Give examples. |
The different groups and institutions that make up society. Examples include: the education system, families, the legal system, the social stratification system. |
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What does social processes mean ? Give examples. |
The means by which something takes place in society. Examples include: primary / secondary / gender socialisation, labelling, discrimination, formal/ informal social control and the development of subcultures. |
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Define social issues and give examples. |
Issues and problems that affect individuals, groups and communities in their daily life. |
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What is a society ? |
A group of people who share a culture. |
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What is culture ? |
Its the way of life of a society including its values, norms, beliefs and language. |
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What is social stratification? |
The way society is divided or structured into hierarchical strata or layers with the most privileged group at the top and the least privileged at the bottom. |
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What is socialisation ? |
The process through which we learn the culture and values of the society we are born into. |
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What is social control ? |
This refers to the control that a group or society exercise over peoples behaviour and actions. |
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Define norms. |
These define appropriate and expected behaviour in particular social contexts such as class rooms, cinemas, restaurants etc. |
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What are social policies |
Sets of plans and actions put into place by governments, local authorities or other organisations in order to address particular social issues or problems, in the fields of e.g. Welfare, criminal justice and education. |
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Whats meant by values ? |
Beliefs or ideas about what is desirable or worth striving for. Values such as privacy and respect provide general guidelines to follow. |
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Whats peer pressure? |
The social pressure that a peer group put on its members to encourage then to conform to the groups norms. |
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Whats a population ? |
A particular group of people under study. The populations might consist of people( such as higher education students) or institutions (such as schools) depending on the aims of the research. |
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What are the two types of poverty and what do they mean? |
The two types are: 1) absolute poverty- people experience this when their income is insufficient to obtain the minimum needed to survive. 2) relative poverty- when people can't afford to meet the general standard of living of most people in their society. |
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Whats the difference between social issues and social problems ? |
Social problems are problems that society faces that are damaging or harmful to society. However, social issues can be social problems but aren't necessarily always social problems. |
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Whats primary socialisation ? |
The process of early childhood learning, usually within families, during which babies and infants acquire the basic behaviour patterns, language and skills needed in later life. |
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Whats secondary socialisation? |
During secondary socialisation, which begins during later childhood and continues through out our adult lives, we learn societies norms and values. |
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Name the agencies of secondary socialisation ( there are 5) |
Peer groups Schools Mass media Work places Religion |
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Whats gender socialisation? |
The process through which individuals learn what is seen as appropriate masculine and feminine and acquire a gender identity. |
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Whats the difference between ethnicity and race ? |
Race is a term that refers to differences in culture that are biological e.g. nationality, skin colour etc. on the other hand, ethnicity refers to the difference in culture that aren't biological and more based on social differences. |
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Whats a subculture ? |
A smaller group of people who share norms, values and beliefs that are different to the main culture. |
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What are the 6 stages of research ? |
1)Developing research aims and hypothesis. 2) carrying out a pilot study. 3) selecting a sample. 4) collecting the data. 5) analysing the data 6) evaluating the study's aims, methods, findings and conclusions (e.g. Write articles or reports and present it at conferences and present to other sociologists to give peer review) |
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Whats a hypothesis ? |
A hunch or an informed guess and is written as a statement that can be tested. It will either be supported by the evidence or proved wrong. |
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Whats a pilot study ? |
A pilot study is a small scale trial run carried out before the main research. |
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Whats a sample ? |
A sub group of the population that is selected for research. |
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Whats a sampling frame ? |
A list of members of the population, such as the school register. |
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Whats a representative sample? |
A sample that has the same characteristics as the population but is a smaller version of it. |
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Describe the 4 different sampling techniques ? |
1) simple random sampling- each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected. 2) systematic sampling- researchers take every nth item from the sampling frame , for example every 20th name on the register. 3) stratified random Sampling- researchers divide the population into strata (subgroups) according to characteristics 4) snowball sampling- through contact with one member of a population, the researcher is introduced to, or identifies others in the same population. |
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How is data analyses done ? |
Data analysis involves interpreting or making sense of the information and presenting the main findings or results. |
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Whats a structured interview ? |
A trained interviewer asks the set questions and records and respondents answers. Structured interviews are conducted either face-to-face or by phone. |
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What are the advantages of structured interviews? |
-interviewer can explain questions. - with standardised questions, all respondents answer the same questions. Sociologists can compare respondents answers. Any differences are seen as reflecting real differences in their attitudes or opinions. -identify connections between different factors. -structured interview can be replicated or repeated to check reliability. - sociologists can generalise from reliable results taken from the representative sample. |
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What are the disadvantages of structured interviews ? |
- Interviewees have few opportunities to raise new issues. - the interview effect- in a formal interview setting the interviewees may give socially acceptable answers or that show them in a positive light. Which will make results biased and invalid. - the interviewer effect- the interviewers personal or social characteristics ( such as age or class) can influence the interviewees response. Making answers biased and not valid. |
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Define reliability. |
This refers to consistency. Research findings are reliable if the same or consistent results are obtained a second time using the same method. |
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Define replication. |
Standardised methods such as questionnaires can be replicated or repeated by other researchers to check the reliability of the research findings. Getting the same or similar results a second time round confirms reliability. |
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Define validity. |
This refers to truth or authenticity. Research findings are valid if they provide a true or authentic picture of what is being studied. |
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What is an unstructured interview? |
An unstructured (or informed) interview is like a guided conversation. Its guided with a short list of prompts that they have prepared in advance e.g. Group interviews. |
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Advantages of group interviews are: |
- the trained interviewer can rephrase questions and clear up any misunderstandings. - interviewers can probe and ask follow up questions. This allows them to explore complex issues. - interviewees can develop their answers and explain their views in detail. - they give an in-depth and rich account of the topic being studied. - they provide a more valid or authentic picture of the topic. |
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What are the limitations of structured interviews ? |
- often time consuming and expensive for the amount of data that is collected compared to other techniques. - interviewer must have skills needed to keep the conversation going and encouraging interviewees to open up. - the interview effect. - the interviewer effect. - they are difficult to replicate an check reliability. - only few interviews can be carried out so the sample size is smaller. Which makes it difficult to generalise findings. |
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Whats a participant observation ? |
In participant observation, the researcher studies a group by becoming a full member of the group and participating in its daily life. In an overt PO study the group are aware that the participant is observing them. In a covert PO study, the research does not tell the group that they are carrying a research. |
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What does generalisation mean? |
General statements and conclusions that apply not only on the sample studied but also the broader population. |
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Whats the difference between qualitative and quantitative data? |
Qualitative data is information presented in visual or verbal form, e.g. As words or quotes. Quantitative data id information presented in numerical form e.g. Graphs and tables. |
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Whats the difference between primary and secondary research/ sources ? |
Primary research are data that are collected first-hand by doing research using techniques like surveys or observation. Secondary sources are sources of information that already exists and has previously been generated or collected by other people e.g. Official statistics, mass media, studies by other sociologists etc. |
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Whats a longitudinal study ? |
Studies of the same group of people conducted over a period of time. after the initial survey or interview has taken place, follow-up surveys or interviews are carried out at intervals over a number of years. |
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What are surveys used for ? |
Surveys are used to produce statistical data (quantitative) that counts or measures something from a large amount of people. The results are presented as graphs or tables of statistics with sociologists comments and analysis. They may be based on questionnaires or structured interviews. |
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What are postal questionnaires ? |
Self-completion questionnaires that are sent to a respondent by post or email. |
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What are the advantages of postal questionnaires ? |
-One of the cheapest and quickest ways of getting information from a lot of people. - As the research isn't present, the respondent may be willing to answer personal or sensitive questions. - with standardised questions, the responds can be compared. -you can check reliability by seeing if the results are consistent the second way around.
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What are the disadvantages of postal questionnaires? |
- questions aren't explained face to face. - it might not be completed by the person it's sent to. - the questionnaire might not be appropriate for some populations e.g. Homeless people. - response rate usually low. Those who respond may not be representative or typical of the population being studied, the researcher can't generalise from the sample to the population. |
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What are hand-delivered questionnaires? |
The research hands the self-completion questionnaire to the respondent and returns to collect it later. |
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What are the pros and cons of doing an overt PO study? |
Pros- - it removes the observer effect. - it allows the observer to join in illegal activities as long as they aren't harmed as a result of the research. Cons- - its morally unacceptable because participants are not informed that they are being studied so they don't get the chance to withhold or withdraw their consent. - observer cant ask too many questions because they can get caught. |
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What are the pros and cons of an overt PO study? |
Pros- - its more ethical because it gives an informed consent.
Cons- - observer effect: group members can change the way they behave because they know their being studies. |
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What are the advantages of a participant observation? |
a participant observer can study a group in its natural setting so participant observation is less artificial than standarised methods. it can provide rich and detailed qualitative data. by participating, the researcher can see the world through the group members eyes and develop a deeper understanding of the group and its behaviour. it enables the researcher to develop a more valid or authentic picture of the topic. in some cases, PO may be the only method that could be used. For example, violent football supporters may not agree to be interviewed. |
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Whats the disadvantages of a participant observation? |
it can be difficuult for for the research to gain entry to a group at the outset.
it may be difficult to be accepted by the group members and to gain their trust. the research may find it hard to record notes and info and may have to rely on memory. the research may become too involved with the group their studying which can invalidate the research and give biased/ one-sided results. if the observers presence is know it can invalidate the research (observer effect) can be time consuming and expensive for the amount of info gathered. it can be hard to repeat to check reliabiltiy of the findings. |
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Identify two advantages of non- participant observation ? |
as a non-participant, the research is less likely to be drawn into the groups activities e.g. taking part in illegal activities.
the researcher may be less influenced by their personal views on the group and its activities. |
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Identify two disadvantages of non- participant observation ? |
the researcher is less likely to see the world through the groups eyes. if group members change their behaviour because they are being observed (the observer effect), this may invalidate findings. |
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Whats an opinion poll? |
it can be a useful source of secondary data. They are a type of survey and use fixed choice questions to find out people`s opinions topical issues or peoples voting intentions.
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Give examples of quantitative primary and secondary data sources. |
Primary : Questionnaire , structured interview
Secondary : Official statistics, statistics on GCSE results published by the government. |
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Give examples for sources of qualatitative primary and secondary data sources. |
Primary: Unstructured interviews, observation
Secondary: Mass media sources w.g. Magazines and news papers. Written documents e.g. Biographies, letters, diaries and novels. |
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What are official statistics ? |
Existing sources of quantitative complied by government agencies such as the home office. |
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What are the advantages of official statistics ? |
official statistics are relatively cheap, easy to access and cover many aspects of social life. -in some cases, they are one of the few sources of data available on a topic. - official statics allow sociologists to examine trends related to issues such as divorce, teenage pregnancy, crime and poverty. -they can be used with primary sources of data to get a fuller picture of a topic. For, example, in research on ethnicity and educational acheivement, official statistics on GCSEs can be used alongside classroom observation and unstructured interviews with teachers.
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What are the disadvantages of official statistics? |
official statistics are put together by officials so sociologists have little say on definitions used. -sociologists cant check the validity i.e. whether they give valid or true picture of what they claim to measuring. e.g. offical statistics may not give a true image of classroom violence. -official statistics are socially constructed - they are outcomes of descisions and choices made by people involved in their construction. e.g. statistics on domestic violence are publishes as statements of fact. however they are outcomes of decisions made by people such as the victims or police officers.
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Name three things that can make your research ethical . |
1) informed consent - participants should be talked clearly what the study is about and why its done before they take part in the research. 2) anonymity- participants should not be identified by name or other ways in books or articles about the research. 3) confidentiality- personal information about participants should be kept private. |
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What are ethical issues ? |
These relate to morals and in the context of sociological research, raise questions about how to conduct morally acceptable research which protests the rights of research participants and safe guards their well-being. |
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identify three advantages of group interviews
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through group interviews, the researcher can gather a wide range of views and experiences and build up a lot of rich information about a topic.
participants in group interviews can sometimes be recruited to take part in individual interviews at a later point of the research. some interviewees may feel more comfortable when discussing their experiences in a group setting because they are supported by others in the group. |
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identify three disadvantages of group interviews
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group interviews requires a skilled interviewer who can keep the discussion going, encourage interviewees to open up but be aware that the topics may be sesitive to others.
some interviewees may dominate the discussion and, in this case not everyones voice will be heard. Others may feel intimidated in a group setting and prefer a one-to-one setting. in a group setting, the researcher cannot guarantee confidentiality or anonymity to the interviewees. |
