Ch 2 Studying Social life: Sociological Research Methods 1. how does quantitativ
ID: 3449080 • Letter: C
Question
Ch 2 Studying Social life: Sociological Research Methods
1. how does quantitative research differ from qualitative research?
2. even if variables are correlated, explain how a change in one variable might not be caused by a change in another variable.
3. in what way does a focus group differ from one-on-one interviews?
4. what are the advantages and disadvantages of asking open ended and close ended questions?
5. why is it important that researchers have a representative sample when conducting survey research?
6. what difficulties does experimental research present for researchers?
Explanation / Answer
1. Quantitative research is a research methodology which focuses on scientifically objective methods of measuring the data and testing the hypothesis in terms of numerical or statistical parameters. The focus here is on generalising the findings obtained from a small specific sample to the larger population. Quantitative researchers try to make some claims about validity or truth about the nature of reality. Thus for instance, the experimental method is a qyuantittaive method which allows for a measurement of the variables in order to make generalisations about the possibility of a relationship sbetweenthe variables being studied.
Qualitative research on the other hand, is a type of research which focuses on doing a depth study of the specific small sample to explore and describe the different aspects of a phenomena. Thus, instead of generalising the causal relations the focus is on developing theoretical or analytical descriptions of the data. Qualitative researchers may also use statistical tests but the objective here is to focus on the why and how of the phenonmena. The case study method is a very popular qualitative ethos which involves an in-depth study of a few participants or ‘cases’ in order to understand a phenonmena in its totality.
2. Correlation is a statistical measure which indicates the direction and the propensity of two variables to be related to one another. Correlations can be measured using the correlation coefficient denoted by the sign r wherein both +1.00 and -1.00 correlation coefficients denote high correlation. However, a correlation between the two variabales does not necessarily mean that we can establish a causal relationship between the two variables such as intelligence and age. It only means that one variable can strongly affect the other. Thus, although we may find that age and intelligence are related such that increase in age also indicates an increase in intelligence, but in actuality, intelligence may be influenced or caused by other variables as well, such as a stimulating environment, level of educational exposure,etc.
3. A focus group interview is a special type of interview method where the researcher interviews several individuals with similar background or goals together in a group situation where each participant takes turn to answer, participate and discuss the issue at hand. In the process, The individuals identify themselves as a single unit or group work mutually towards formulating the end goals for the research. On the other hand, one- person interviews allow the researcher to interview only one participant at a time and the other participants generally do not have any knowledge about each other or the other’s responses. The participants in one person interviews may not have active role to play in determining the goal since of the study. Moreover, some of the questions may be modified from one participant to the other but in focus groups, every participant is asked the same question.
4. Open ended questions offer the advantage of keeping the questions broad enough which can invite ‘free associations’ from the participants and thus allow the participants to reflect and throw light on new and unknown dimensions on the phenonmena understudy which would otherwise not be possible if the questions are restrictive. Open ended questions also help to build greater rapport as the participants can feel relaxed and comfortable to answer the interviews questions according to their ease and not feel anxious about answering in limited words to time. However, a major disadvantage of open ended questions is that they produce rather long and time consuming data. Moreover, the elaborate answers provided by the Participants may be vague and it may be difficult to compare them with the responses of other participants.
Close-ended questions are useful in large-scale surveys and in construction of psychometric tests because they help to gather data from a large sample in relatively lesser time. moreover, the data gathered in terms of limited response continuum such as a ratings scale or multiple choice can ease the process of measurement of the individual responses. But a disadvantage of close ended questions that they can yield data which is vulnerable to response bias or the tendency of the participants to respond based on their estimates of what is expected from them and would be appropriate. Moreover, chances of faking responses are greater in close ended questions.
( please put the other questions as a separate post. There is limited time and space to answer them all)