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| A highly detailed study of one or two social situations for groups. |
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| Questions that require a very specific reply, such as 'yes' or 'no'. |
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| In surveys it is too difficult/expensive to spread out the sample across the country, so sampling is done in geographical 'clusters' - for example in a few streets. |
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| A method that involves comparing societies to find out key differences that might explain different social pehenomena. |
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| Exploring the contents of the various media in order to find out how a particular issue is presented. |
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| A relationship between two or more things, where one characteristic is directly affected by another. It does not necessarily mean that one causes the other. For example, over 70 per cent of burglars drink coffee, but this does not mean that drinking coffee causes someone to commit burglary. |
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| Where the sociologist does not admit to being a researcher. |
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| Covert participant observation |
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| When the researcher joins a group as a full member, and studies them, but does not tell them that he or she is a researcher. |
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| A social phenomenon that changes in response to changes in another phenomenon. |
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| Refers to the ability to measure physical and social phenomena. |
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| Ethical issues (research methods) |
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| Refers to moral concerns about the benefits and potential harm of research - to the people being researched, to the researcher him/herself and to society. |
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| A form of observational research, in which the researcher lives amongst, and describes the activities of, a particular group of being studied. i.e. the study of a way of life. |
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| A highly controlled situation where the researchers try to isolate the influence of each variable. Rarely used in sociology. |
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| Unreliability of data arising as a result of people responding to what they perceive to be the expectations of the researchers. |
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| A detailed record of events, conversations and thoughts kept by participant observers, written up as often as possible. |
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| Refers to experiments that take place in real life. Usually involves the manipulation or disruption of normal routines to see the effects. |
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| The extent to which general statements can be made from highly localised and specific studies. |
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| An initial plausible guess concerning the causal relationship between events. |
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| The phenomenon that causes the dependent variable to change. |
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| The influence of the interviewer (e.g. their age, 'race', sex) on the way the respondent replies. |
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| Sociological research method involving studying a group over a long period of time. |
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| A method of gathering statistics from different societies and comparing the patterns to help explain social differences between the societies. |
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| Non-participant observational studies |
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Definition
| Where the sociologist simply observes the group but does not seek to join in their activities. |
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| Statistics released by government agencies. |
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| Questions that allow the respondent to express themselves fully. |
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| Refers to how sociologists go about finding a way to measure a concept (e.g. poverty). |
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| Where the sociologist is open about the research role. |
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| Participant observational studies |
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| Where the sociologist joins a group of people and studies their behaviour. |
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| A small, exploratory study to throw up any problems on issues, before the main study takes place. |
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| An approach to sociological research which aims to use the rigour and methods of the physical sciences. |
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| Sets out to uncover the meaning of social action rather than measuring it through statistics (quantitative research). |
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| Where a representative sample of the population is chosen using known characteristics of the population. |
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| Allocated by chance. Each member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen. |
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| Where a representative sample of the population is chosen by entirely random methods. |
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| The need to show that each repeated questionnaire or interview is truly identical. |
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| The cross-section of people chosen in research to represent the views of the majority. |
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| The source or list from which the people to be questioned are selected. |
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| Data already collected by someone else for their own purposes. |
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| Where a sample is obtained using a series of personal contacts. Usually used for the study of deviant behaviour. |
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| Where the questions are delivered in a particular order and no explanation or elaboration of the questions is allowed by the interviewer. |
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| A large-scale piece of quantitative research aiming to make general statements about a particular population. |
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| Where more than one method of research is used in order to provide a balanced picture. |
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| Where the interviewer is allowed to explain and elaborate on questions. |
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| Refers to the problem of ensuring that the questions actually measure what the researcher intends them to. |
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| Value freedom or objectivity |
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| The exclusion of values from research. |
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| A social phenomenon that changes in response to another phenomenon. |
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| The proportion of the questionnaires that are returned (could also refer to the number of people who agree to be interviewed). |
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| Hypothetico-deductive method |
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| The research process associated with the physical sciences and used by positivists in sociology. |
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| Key member of group being studied that the participant observer befriends. |
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| A relationship between two factors in which one causes the other. |
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| Take a pattern or idea and apply it to wider or future situations. |
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| Sociologists who believe that the methods used by the physical sciences can be transferred to the social sciences. |
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