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Yr12 Research Project
S O C I O L O G I C A L R E S E A R C H M E T H O D S
So far you have studied Culture, Family, and Education in Year 12. In Year 13, the topics studied are
Crime and Deviance, and Social Inequalities. For SY4, in the compulsory Methods section, you are
presented with a research project idea, which you then have to design a hypothetical investigation.
Due to the lack of time prior to the end of term, the practicalities and logistics of doing such actual
research is limited. Therefore, you are going to attempt an idea on a mini scale and work in pairs.
Perceptions of youth crime
In 2004, Hough and Roberts conducted research on the attitude of the public to youth offending and
the punishment of young people. They decided to use a structured interview approach and compiled
30 questions. Government-trained interviewers conducted interviews with 1692 people aged over 16.
Each interview took approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Hough and Roberts found that people have negative perceptions of youth and the youth justice
system. They believe that offending rates are higher than they appear and also that offenders are
unlikely to be punished.
Source: Oxford Blackwell
As an A Level Sociology student you have been asked to design a research project to collect qualitative
data on experiences of crime amongst a sample of young people in your area.
• Outline each stage of your research design explaining the reasons for your choices at each stage.
• Identify some of the problems that may occur and their impact on the quality of the data collected.
[30]
Type of data/ approach: Qualitative
Content information: Experiences of crime
Sample: Young people](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
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Year 12 research project
- 1. Yr12 Research Project AS SOCIOLOGY SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH METHODS This unit is a bridging section between Yr12 and Yr13. Now you have acquired knowledge and understanding of Sociology as a Social Science and recognise Methodologies as ways of finding and testing information, it is important you apply these skills to your own research project. You will be expected to consider various different aspects of research methods and carry out both primary and secondary research before ultimately making qualitative judgements on this design using theoretical understanding introduced at AS level.
- 2. Page 1 Yr12 Research Project S O C I O L O G I C A L R E S E A R C H M E T H O D S So far you have studied Culture, Family, and Education in Year 12. In Year 13, the topics studied are Crime and Deviance, and Social Inequalities. For SY4, in the compulsory Methods section, you are presented with a research project idea, which you then have to design a hypothetical investigation. Due to the lack of time prior to the end of term, the practicalities and logistics of doing such actual research is limited. Therefore, you are going to attempt an idea on a mini scale and work in pairs. Perceptions of youth crime In 2004, Hough and Roberts conducted research on the attitude of the public to youth offending and the punishment of young people. They decided to use a structured interview approach and compiled 30 questions. Government-trained interviewers conducted interviews with 1692 people aged over 16. Each interview took approximately 15 minutes to complete. Hough and Roberts found that people have negative perceptions of youth and the youth justice system. They believe that offending rates are higher than they appear and also that offenders are unlikely to be punished. Source: Oxford Blackwell As an A Level Sociology student you have been asked to design a research project to collect qualitative data on experiences of crime amongst a sample of young people in your area. • Outline each stage of your research design explaining the reasons for your choices at each stage. • Identify some of the problems that may occur and their impact on the quality of the data collected. [30] Type of data/ approach: Qualitative Content information: Experiences of crime Sample: Young people
- 3. Page 2 Task 1 a) Construct two lists of methods that are qualitative: Primary Secondary b) What primary and secondary methods could be used for quantitative data? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. c) What possible ideas or areas may be considered for ‘experiences of crime’? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… d) Who would the sample be? The question suggests ‘young people in your area’, so where would you get your sample frame from and then what sampling techniques could be used and why? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
- 4. Page 3 My aims are; _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ GOSSEPT Task 2 GENERALISABILITY When designing a research project of any kind you need to ask yourself a number of questions. These should be framed in the technical language of sociology. a) What are your aims? (What are you going to do? What information are you going to collect? What do you want to find out about?) Realistically, this is rephrasing the question, interpreting it into your own words. Generalisability Operationalise Secondary sources Sample (Representativeness) Ethics Primary, Pilot, Practicalities, Problems Theory (Approach, Validity, Reliability, Triangulation)
- 5. Page 4 _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ OPERATIONALISE b) How will you operationalise your key concepts? Basically how do you interpret what you have to do, from the information given to you in order to be able to measure it? For example: It is important to operationalise the key terms in the research brief before I begin my design because some words may be ambiguous and so cause confusion. I need to make sure that I can term such terms into something measurable. So the term young boys, I would operationalise to mean anyone between the ages of 11 – 16. This is the compulsory schooling age and so should enable me to identify a sample population. I will operationalise ‘attitudes to education’ to mean what the boys think about education and what choices they are making. I will operationalise ‘my area’ to mean the area covered by my local doctor’s surgery which for ethical reasons will be known as Cherrytown surgery. I will use this as my sample frame because it should include all boys in the age range that I have chosen regardless of the school that they attend. As you can read, ‘operationalise’ is a matter of interpreting the details you have been presented with in a practical sense. You have already ‘operationalised’ the project in clarifying what is meant by ‘experiences of crime’ and ‘sample of young people’. Write below, though, a summary paragraph of how you would operationalise the key concepts of this project.
- 6. Page 5 SECONDARY SOURCES As with all investigative work, you need to do some background research into the area you’re investigating. This is part of secondary data. c) Conduct some research into experiences of crime and young people. Try to find out patterns and trends of crime (and deviance), victim and perpetrator, and what is said, and reported about it.
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- 8. Page 7 _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ SAMPLE d) Where will you get your sample frame from? How will you select your ultimate sample? Why use this method? What problems may you encounter in selecting type and size? How REPRESENTATIVE IS IT? ETHICAL ISSUES e) What ethical problems might you experience with your topic?
- 9. Page 8 METHOD(S) _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ REASON(S) WHY _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ PRIMARY METHODS For primary research, consider the positivist or interpretative approach. Is your piece of research qualitative or quantitative? Or should it be both? Why? f) You now need to decide what methods you should use to collect your data; whether you use more than one method (methodological pluralism); and whether or not to use both qualitative and quantitative (triangulation).
- 10. Page 9 _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Presumably you have chosen questionnaires and interviews – at least hopefully!!! Now think about what you are going to include in these; what questions are you going to ask? And how will they be phrased? Use the space below to jot down some ideas, before constructing your final design. Some things to consider: How will you collect, display and check your results? Will you use diagrams, graphs, tally charts, etc.? How could you avoid biasing your results and ensure that you have maintained objectivity? What PRACTICAL issues you do need to think about, in terms of time and cost?
- 12. Page 11 This research uses a predominantly quantitative / qualitative / approach because; _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ THEORY (Positivism/ Interpretivism; Qualitative/ Quantitative; Validity; Reliability) As always, you need to be able to support your ideas with theory and key concepts. In the exam response, you can include references to these anywhere in your answer, but I have included a specific reference to THEORY, so you don’t forget it’s necessary! h) How VALID is your investigation?
- 13. Page 12 _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ i) How RELIABLE is it? Task 3 Collecting the data can be time consuming, so you need to devise your method and carry it out quickly, whether this is observations, questionnaires, content analysis, etc. Then you need to analyse the information – make sense of the results. Briefly explain what have you found out? Include graphs, transcripts or summaries of interviews. What do your results suggest or prove? LET’S DO SOME RESEARCH!!!!
- 15. Page 14 _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ Task 4 When evaluating, you are not just restating the analysis, you are discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the entire study. Look back at your aims, which ones have you answered and which ones have you failed to answer? How might your project be improved? What have you learnt from your investigation?