Research Methods and Researching Social Inequalities | OCR A-Level Sociology (H580)

Research Methods and Researching Social Inequalities

103 questions
10 subtopics
Component 02: Researching and understanding social inequalities
Component 02

Research Methods and Researching Social Inequalities is examined on component 02 of OCR Sociology, Researching and understanding social inequalities.

103 recall questions across 10 subtopics.

Sample questions from Research Methods and Researching Social Inequalities

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

Positivism, quantitative data and interpretivism

How does a trend differ from a pattern?

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A trend is the direction in which a pattern moves over time, such as a steady narrowing of a gap, whereas a pattern is the relationship itself.
Verstehen, qualitative data and validity

Why do interpretivists treat subjectivity as acceptable rather than as a flaw?

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Because the social world is made up of people's subjective meanings, so research that excludes them cannot capture what is really going on.
Reliability, representativeness, generalisability and theory

Why are representativeness and generalisability not the same thing?

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Representativeness is a property of the sample itself, while generalisability is the claim the researcher can then make about the wider population; a sample must be representative before findings can be generalised.
Research topics, aims, hypotheses and primary and secondary data

Define a hypothesis.

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A hypothesis is a precise, testable statement predicting a relationship between variables, which the research then supports or rejects.
Operationalisation, pilot studies and respondent validation

Why do interpretivists distrust operationalisation?

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Because reducing a concept to fixed indicators strips out the varied meanings people attach to it and imposes the researcher's definition on them.
Longitudinal studies, interpreting data and social policy

What is sample attrition, and why does it threaten a longitudinal study?

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Attrition is participants dropping out over the years; those who leave may differ systematically from those who stay, so the remaining sample becomes less representative.
Sampling frames, sampling techniques and choosing a sample

What is a volunteer sample?

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A volunteer sample is made up of people who put themselves forward in response to an advertisement or appeal from the researcher.
Access, gatekeepers and research ethics

State two problems a researcher may face in gaining access to a group.

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The group may be closed, illegal or suspicious of outsiders, and the researcher's own age, gender, class or ethnicity may mark them out as an outsider who cannot be trusted.

The 10 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Positivism, quantitative data and interpretivism	Recall questions on positivism and its model of the natural sciences, patterns and trends, objectivity and value freedom, quantitative data and the methods positivists favour, and the central concern of interpretivism with meanings and experiences.	8
Verstehen, qualitative data and validity	Recall questions on verstehen, building rapport, why interpretivists accept subjectivity, researcher imposition, reflexivity, qualitative data and the methods interpretivists prefer, and the concept of validity.	8
Reliability, representativeness, generalisability and theory	Recall questions on reliability, representativeness and generalisability and the difference between them, telling reliability from validity, how theory guides research, which concepts positivism and interpretivism prioritise, and the criticisms each makes of the other's research.	10
Research topics, aims, hypotheses and primary and secondary data	Recall questions on the factors that influence the choice of research topic, including funding, research aims and hypotheses, why interpretivists prefer an open research question, and primary and secondary data with their advantages and drawbacks.	9
Operationalisation, pilot studies and respondent validation	Recall questions on operationalisation, including operationalising poverty and why interpretivists distrust it, pilot studies and their purposes, standardisation in data collection, and respondent validation and why interpretivists value it.	8
Longitudinal studies, interpreting data and social policy	Recall questions on longitudinal studies, their advantages and the threat of sample attrition, the interpretation stage of the research process and its risks, social policy, and how and why sociological research does or does not influence policy.	8
Sampling frames, sampling techniques and choosing a sample	Recall questions on sampling frames and the sampling process, random, systematic, stratified, snowball, volunteer, opportunity, purposive and quota sampling, the advantages and disadvantages of random and non-random techniques, and the practical, theoretical and ethical factors that shape the choice of sampling technique.	18
Access, gatekeepers and research ethics	Recall questions on gatekeepers and how they can distort findings, problems of gaining access to groups, informed consent, confidentiality and anonymity, harm to participants, the British Sociological Association's ethical guidance, and why ethics should be followed even when breaking them would give better data.	8
Questionnaires, structured interviews, statistics, content analysis and observation	Recall questions on questionnaires, structured interviews and the interviewer effect, official and non-official statistics and interpretivist criticism of crime statistics, content analysis, participant, non-participant, covert and overt observation, the Hawthorne effect, the ethics of covert observation, and going native.	16
Unstructured interviews, ethnography and methodological pluralism	Recall questions on unstructured and semi-structured interviews and why interpretivists favour them, ethnography and its drawbacks, which methods produce quantitative data, triangulation and methodological pluralism, and choosing methods to measure the class achievement gap or study the experience of poverty.	10

Research Methods and Researching Social Inequalities is 103 of the 859 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £8

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.