Sociology AS Paper 2 - Research Methods
Validity - ANS-The research and findings give us a true picture of what is being studied.
Reliability - ANS-If people repeating the research get similar results.
Representativeness - ANS-The sample must be representative of the larger
population. Random sampling - ANS-selecting names randomly from a sampling
frame. Systematic sampling - ANS-Every nth person.
Stratified sampling - ANS-most common technique. Dividing the sampling frames into a
number of sampling categories, eg race, age, etc.
Snowball sampling - ANS-involves asking a member of the sampling frame to suggest
another person for an interview.
Volunteer sampling - ANS-People come forward.
Opportunity sampling - ANS-People available to you.
Purposive - ANS-Choosing specific people, eg single mothers
Quota - ANS-Used by market researchers to target types of people in the street, eg
asking 30 housewives which washing powder they use.
Positivism - ANS-Those sociologists believe social behaviour is the product of social
control.
Consensus - ANS-Refers to the sharing of agreement, for example that some belief is
worth pursuing.
Integration - ANS-Refers to a sense of belonging to a group or society.
Quantitative data - ANS-Numerical data that can be analysed and used to identify
patterns and trends.
Interpretivism - ANS-They do not believe that human behaviour is predictable or that it's
Validity - ANS-The research and findings give us a true picture of what is being studied.
Reliability - ANS-If people repeating the research get similar results.
Representativeness - ANS-The sample must be representative of the larger
population. Random sampling - ANS-selecting names randomly from a sampling
frame. Systematic sampling - ANS-Every nth person.
Stratified sampling - ANS-most common technique. Dividing the sampling frames into a
number of sampling categories, eg race, age, etc.
Snowball sampling - ANS-involves asking a member of the sampling frame to suggest
another person for an interview.
Volunteer sampling - ANS-People come forward.
Opportunity sampling - ANS-People available to you.
Purposive - ANS-Choosing specific people, eg single mothers
Quota - ANS-Used by market researchers to target types of people in the street, eg
asking 30 housewives which washing powder they use.
Positivism - ANS-Those sociologists believe social behaviour is the product of social
control.
Consensus - ANS-Refers to the sharing of agreement, for example that some belief is
worth pursuing.
Integration - ANS-Refers to a sense of belonging to a group or society.
Quantitative data - ANS-Numerical data that can be analysed and used to identify
patterns and trends.
Interpretivism - ANS-They do not believe that human behaviour is predictable or that it's
