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What is Triangulation/Methodological Pluralism?
A combination of several different research methods to gain validity and reliability.
What are examples of studies that use Triangulation?
Humphrey - homosexual relations, used questionnaires, unstructured interviews, participant observation.
Hobson - research on teacher training, used questionnaires, participant observations, informal interviews.
What is positivism?
Believes that society is measurable and objective, social factors dictate how we behave, looks for patterns and trends in quantitative data - reliable.
What are examples of theories that are positivist?
Marxist
Feminist
Functionalist
What is interpretivism?
Believe society is subjective, filled with meaning, analyse qualitative data - valid.
What are examples of theories that are interpretivist?
Interactionalism
Post
What studies are examples of primary data experiments?
Harvey and Slatin (1976)
Charkin et al (1975) - lab
Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1963) - field
Durkheim (1897)
What are strengths of using laboratory experiments?
Quantitative data - positivist
Reliable
Can find trends in statistical data
What are limitations of laboratory experiments?
Participants not acting naturally - demand characteristics
Hard to control all variables
Unethical - hard to get access, consent, etc in educational research
What are strengths of field experiments?
Natural setting rather than artificial lab
High validity
What are limitations of field experiments?
Low reliability - difficult to replicate the same conditions
More difficult to control all variables
What are strengths of natural experiments?
No risk of Hawthorne effect - demand characteristics
What are limitations of natural experiments?
Have to get consent after the event
Hard to identify which variable is impacting the dependent variable
Low reliability
What studies are examples of primary data interviews?
Sharpe (1976)
Hart and Risley
Willis (1977)
Oakley (1981)
What are strengths of structured interviews?
Interviewers can clarify what questions mean
Better for people with low literacy skills
Reliable
What are limitations of structured interviews?
Not practical - expensive, time consuming, requires training
Building rapport is hard
Cannot ask follow up questions for context to answers
What are strengths of unstructured interviews?
Can build rapport / verstehen
Valid
Qualitative - interpretivist
What are limitations of unstructured interviews?
More time consuming
Less reliable
Harder to quantify data and find trends
What studies are examples of primary data questionnaires?
Bowles and Gintis
Ireson and Hallam
Wilkinson
What are strengths of close-ended questionnaires?
Practical
Reliable - positivist
Quantitative data - find trends
What are limitations of close-ended questionnaires?
Language barriers / low literacy skills
Limited choice of answer - low validity
What are strengths of open-ended questionnaires?
Can gain verstehen / deeper understanding
Qualitative - valid
What are limitations of close-ended questionnaires?
Time-consuming - some people may not want to fill it in
Hard to analyse and find trends / to quantify data
What are strengths of self-completion questionnaires?
Ethical / confidential
Can have open / closed questions
Anonymity may make people more truthful
What are limitations of self-completion questionnaires?
Person may lie - not representative
Time consuming to fill out so people get bored and don’t answer properly / at all
What are examples of secondary data official statistics?
Exam results
School exclusions rates
Crime rates
Unemployment rates
Birth / death rates
What are strengths of official statistics?
Reliable
Representative / generalisable
Can be used to make comparisons over time
Researcher can identify trends
Saves time and money - as it is secondary data
Positivist
Participants have to reply to things like the census
What are limitations of official statistics?
Could be biased
Don’t provide context to individual experiences
Interpretivist wouldn’t like
Time consuming to analyse all the data e.g. the census takes 8 years
What are studies that are examples of primary data observations?
Wright
Patrick (1973)
Lacey
Griffin (1961)
Maurice Punch (1971)
Humphrey’s (1970)
What are strengths of covert / participant observations?
No risk of Hawthorne effect
Valid - qualitative data
May discover unexpected behaviours
What are limitations of covert / participant observations?
Difficult to keep up an act for long periods of time
Cannot take notes - must rely on memory
Might be reluctant to reveal everything if they form relationships
Unethical - dangerous, deception, lack of consent, etc
Lacks reliability
Usually on a smaller scale - cannot generalise from a specific group
What are strengths of overt / non-participant observations?
Can take notes openly
Avoids ethical problems - can get consent, etc
Can find trends
What are limitations of overt / non-participant observations?
Hawthorne effect - demand characteristics
What studies are examples of secondary data documents?
Oakley (1974)
Gewirtz
What are strengths of documents as secondary data?
High validity
Cheap resource
What are limitations of documents as secondary data?
Difficult to get consent to use sources such as letters or diaries
Questionable creditability
Content may lack validity
What study is an example of a primary data ethnography?
Malihowski (1927)
What are strengths of ethnographies?
High validity
Can gain verstehen / deeper understanding
Build rapport
What are limitations of ethnographies?
Hawthorne effects
Impractical - time consuming, costly, etc
What study is an example of a longitudinal study?
Millenium Cohort Survey
What are strengths of longitudinal studies?
Allow researchers to see trends over time
Strong rapport
Valdi
What are limitations of longitudinal studies?
People may drop out of the study then their data cannot be used
Impractical - time consuming, costly, etc
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