The nature and process of social research
Which of the following is not a data-collection method?
Research questions
Unstructured interviewing
An emergency source of finance
Participant observation
Research questions
Later chapters go into the precise details of many data-collection methods, including those shown in answers (b), (c) and (d). Interviewing implies asking questions to get answers – data – , whether structured or unstructured. Clearly, questionnaires are designed with the same intention in mind. Participant observation means, usually, that a group of people is studied by a ‘member’ of that group, again with the intention of gathering data. The problem with answer (a), although correct, is, as Bryman says “ย
that we use the same word – question – for both research questions and the kind of questions that are posed in questionnaires and interviews”.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 10
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 10
Research questions Later chapters go into the precise details of many data-collection methods, including those shown in answers (b), (c) and (d). Interviewing implies asking questions to get answers – data – , whether structured or unstructured. Clearly, questionnaires are designed with the same intention in mind. Participant observation means, usually, that a group of people is studied by a ‘member’ of that group, again with the intention of gathering data. The problem with answer (a), although correct, is, as Bryman says “ย
that we use the same word – question – for both research questions and the kind of questions that are posed in questionnaires and interviews”.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 10
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 10
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The core ingredients of a dissertation are:A. Introduction; Data collection; Data analysis; Conclusions and recommendations.
B. Executive summary; Literature review; Data gathered; Conclusions; Bibliography.
C. An emergency source of finance
D. Introduction; Literature review; Research methods; Results; Discussion; Conclusion.
What does ‘sampling cases’ mean?
A. Sampling using a sampling frame
B. Identifying people who are suitable for research
C. An emergency source of finance
D. Sampling people, newspapers, television programmes etc.
Because of the number of things that can go wrong in research there is a need for:
A. Flexibility and perseverance
B. Sympathetic supervisors
C. An emergency source of finance
D. Wisdom to know the right time to quit
Which of the following is not a type of research question?
A. Predicting an outcome
B. Evaluating a phenomenon
C. An emergency source of finance
D. A hypothesis
Which comes first, theory or research?
A. Theory, because otherwise you are working in the dark
B. Research, because that’s the only way you can develop a theory
C. An emergency source of finance
D. The question is meaningless, because you can’t have one without the other
When planning to do social research, it is better to:
A. Approach the topic with an open mind
B. Do a pilot study before getting stuck into it
C. An emergency source of finance
D. Forget about theory because this is a very practical undertaking
Why is data analysis concerned with data reduction?
A. Because far too much data is collected than is required
B. Because we need to make sense of the data
C. An emergency source of finance
D. Because the sample size has been exceeded
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