RESEARCH METHODS

QUESTIONNAIRRES
Schofield (Lying Forgetting and Trying to Impress) – In the case of researching sexual behaviour he found that the validity of questionnaire depends on the willingness and ability to provide full and accurate answers. There is a strict problem with it if the participant lies, forgets or does not understand. This occurred when a question was asked “Are you a virgin?” and the answer was “No, not yet”. This clearly shows the participant does not even understand the subject asked. (Practical Issue)
Shipman (Imposing the Researcher’s Meanings) – Explains that answers which are only optional are meanings the researcher can put into categories to understand a particular subject. However, the participant doesn’t categorise information the same as a researcher so pruning and the bending of data is thus inevitable. This thus affects the theoretical aspect of validity or reliability of the study.
Walklate (Practical Issues) – The sociologist emphasized the practical effectives of time consumption whilst using it to conduct a victimisation survey. Her and her colleagues needed 6 months of intensive work to carry out 596 interviews, however in just a few weeks they released and received questionnaires from over 300 community groups.
Junger-Tas (Representativity) – In study of youth crime found out that how much contact respondents has had with the criminal justice system would effect their response. This means that response rates can be affected due to the lack of trust from authorities as that is what questionnaires represent towards them. This shows that questionnaires are dependent on the response towards authority as there is no element of a gained trust. 80% Response Rate during a probation service report.
Shere Hite (Violence in Relationships) – In a study of love passion and violence in relationships Hite sent out a 100000 questionnaires but got a low response rate of 4.5%. This clearly shows the practical disadvantage of using the method especially when they are aimed to tackle subjects such as crime in which case domestic violence.
Connor and Dewson (Practical Advantages) – In a study of factors effecting working class from going to university, the method benefited them for being quick and cheap as 4000 were posted to educational institutions and returned back quickly. No need to train or recruit interviewees.


STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
Young and Willmott (Families in East London) – In the case of researching families in East London, they found it was a fairly quick and cheap method to complete. They interviewed 933 people in a structured manner and only 54 respondents refused. This shows the face to face nature of the method helps to gather data from a large and representative sample also having a high response rate. (Practical Adv) (Estimate 94% Response Rate)
Ann Oakley (Malestream Research) – Argued that the approach is a “positivist masculine” one. It places high value on objectivity, detachment and hierarchy regarding science as more important than furthering the interests of the people it researches. (Ethical and Practical Disadv)
BRITISH CRIME SURVEY – Argued that it’s useful for obtaining reliable data as questions are standardised making responses standardised. Piloting in advance and giving interviewers training prior contribute to reliability and theoretically gaining a representative sample. This is why the British Crime Survey uses it as a strong method of portraying data.


UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
Glaser and Strauss (Grounded Theory) – They reject beginning research with a fixed hypothesis done through a set of pre-determined questions. Rather, they favour an approach to research that enables the researcher to have an open mind rather than a fixed one. This means we will more likely unravel the truth of the research and their meanings. Unstructured interviews are beneficial because they are flexible and questions can change and be reinterpreted depending on the person interviewed.
Becker (Lack of Validity) – If the interviewer aims to establish a rapport, it could also danger the distortion of information. This is because we cannot completely understand what the subject’s meanings are.
In his studies Howard Becker used aggression, feigned disbelief and played dumb in order to get teachers to reveal how they classified students in stereotypical ways. Becker uses this method not to rely on a rapport and please the subject so that way they wouldn’t return feedback that pleased the interviewer or researcher.


PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
Downes and Rock (External Validity) – Explain that participant observation may provide a valid insight to a particular group being studied but these are internally valid not externally valid which means it is generalisable to the wider population. To be externally valid, there would have to be an element of representiveness. This is difficult as samples are often chosen by chance or opportunity. (Practical and Theoretical Disadv)
Cicourel (Practical Issues) – Showed participant observation can be used in situations where questioning would be ineffective. This is shown in his study of how the police categorise juveniles by making unconscious assumptions about whether they are criminal types. The only way to get at these assumptions about whether they are criminal types is to observe the police directly because they could be unaware of their assumptions. (Adv- Useful for getting trust) (Adv- It’s a useful method for studying deviant groups who may reject questions from authority.)
Punch (Going Native) – In studying the police service, Maurice Punch found himself over identifying with the police as he was observing so much at times he even acted as a policeman himself getting involved in chasing the criminals, holding suspects and shouting at people who abused police colleagues. This going native behaviour as it were can cause researcher bias and affect the data’s validity. Rather, the researcher becomes too subjective to study clouding their judgement and own thoughts affecting the data interpreted.
Humphrey’s (Covert Observation) – He explains it as there is only one way to watch behaviour that is stigmatized and that is by pretending to be in the same boat as those engaging in it. In his studies of gay man’s sexual encounters in public toilets, finding and maintaining a role permits the researcher to observe covertly and control agents; however there is risk of being found out. Humphrey’s would take the role of watch queen or lookout.
Hobbs (Covert Observation) – He was able to go drinking with a detective and his police friend who discussed their work in more relaxed circumstances. He did this by befriending him because the detective’s son played for the football team he coached. He would have to continue the role of friend to obtain more data observed from their discussions about the officers. This shows a practical disadvantage example of lack of opportunity.
Patrick (Covert Observation) – Study of Glasgow gangs, he found there is always an ethical risk of someone’s cover being blown by even a trivial mistake. Patrick was almost found out by the gang he joined when he bought his suit with cash instead of credit. This also occurred when he fastened the middle button of his jacket rather than the top one. This could have led to serious physical harm if he was discovered. (Adv- A way in knowing a gang member)
(Disadv- Ethical threat of Physical Harm)


OFFICIAL STATISTICS
Durkheim (Social Facts) - In his though experiment on studies of suicide rates he discovered that Catholics are less likely to commit suicide than Protestants due to the rates of social integration amongst members of the religion. He uses this to support the use of statistics as social facts so people could easily make generalisations that Catholics don’t commit suicide as much as Protestants.
Atkinson (Social Construction of Meaning) – Social reality is a construct by its members. He argues that statistics are social constructs or labels coroners give to deaths of people. We can never know the true rate of suicide as we would have to know the meaning the dead gave to their deaths which is impossible. All we can do is study how people make sense of the world.
Tombs (Practical Issues) – Explains that crime is largely miss-studied because of statistics. Official statistics reveal too much about only a specific crime such as violence and murder rather than pointing out corporate crime for instance when employers break health and safety regulations leading to injury or death. His studies indicate the bias towards notable offences or more serious crimes.


DOCUMENTS
Scott (Validity) – Explained that documents can only yield validity if the data is authentic. This means that if it claims what it seems to be as data could be forgery. The data can only be thus valid if it was written by the author that published it.
Robb (Practical, Historical Adv) – Found documents have the practical advantage of developing a historical perspective. He used reports of parliamentary committees and special admissions. This helped him develop a historical understanding of crime related issues from the eras studied.
Philippe Aries (Practical Historical Adv) – Found them to be practically useful whilst studying the Historical Notion of Childhood and it’s recent invention as a social construction.


CONTENT ANALYSIS
Gill(Formal Content Analysis) – In his studies, he described how easy the method can be used to measure particular aspects of media messages for example how many women are portrayed being paid in employment on women’s magazine stories. This can easily occur by dividing the study into categories in order to measure and quantify selected content by a chosen researcher. (Practical Adv)


LAB EXPERIMENTS
Keat and Urry (Practical Issues) – Found that Lab Experiments are only suitable for studying closed systems where the researcher can control and measure all the relevant variables and make precise predictions as in physics and chemistry. However, society is an open system where countless factors are at hand in any given situation. (Practical Disadv)
Milgram (Ethical Issues) – Experiment that performed electric shocks to a fake leaner in order to test obedience to authority when an authority is present giving the commands. The main disadvantage is that it ethically can cause distress and psychological harm to the subjects being researched.
Zimbardo (Ethical Issues) – Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment similarly had a strong sense of obedience to authority. It was an experiment where 21 college students would assume the role of prisoner and guard. It showed clear ethical problems in research because some of the guards were misusing their power acting aggressive towards the prisoners.


FIELD EXPERIMENTS
Rosenthal and Jacobsen- In their study of children’s achievement, they manipulated teacher explanations about pupils by giving them misleading information about the pupil’s ability to succeed when they performed IQ tests. It resorted to a self fulfilling prophecy of the success and lesser success of the pupils due to the image of feeling superior and the influence of teachers believing they are naturally smarter. (Disadv is clear example of deception to obtain data)


COMPARATIVE METHOD
Emile Durkheim- In Emile Durkheim’s thought experiment; he relied on analysing statistics in seeking to discover cause and effect. Found advantages of methods artificiality, good for studying past events and avoids ethical problems such as harming or deceiving. His thought experiment revealed Catholics are less likely to commit suicide than Protestants.


CASE STUDIES
Elizabeth Burn- Did a study on a person called Jenny. She was an inner city primary school teacher from a working class background. (Case Studies can’t be generalisations because they only study one individual.)


LONGITUDINAL STUDIES
CHILDREN OF THE 90’s- This was a cohort study of children born in the UK in the 1990’s.
National Child Development Study- This was a cohort study of all the children born in the 1958 in the UK.


TRIANGULATION STUDY
Howard Newby- Newby studied Suffolk Farm Workers using a variety of different methods such as participant observation and a survey. He found that the two methods complement each other. Good for getting best of both worlds, quantitative and qualitative.
(Divine and Heath- They define triangulation as a method of studying or researching from more than one method.)

SOCIOLOGY REVISION QUESTIONS

Functionalist Theory of Crime
Q1) Which sociologist talked about the crime and the function of punishment?
Q2) What was the term Kingsley Davis used to describe more minor crime being used as a way to prevent more serious crimes in society?
Q3) Which other sociologist elaborated on Kingsley Davis’s concept of Safety Valve and what did they discuss?
Q4) Which sociologist stated crime acts as a warning function that there is some defect in society?

Strain Theory of Crime
Q1) Who came up with the Strain Theory?
Q2) What does the strain theory say about normlessness?

Marxist Theory of Crime
Q1) What does the term criminogenic capitalism mean?
Q2) How did Chambliss explain the state and the law making contributing to the ideology of crime?
Q3) What was the title of Reiman’s Book?


Neo Marxist Theory of Crime
Q1) Which theorist/group of theorist’s expressed the voluntaristic approach to crime and deviance?
Q2) What other theories does critical criminology also combine itself with?
Q3) What does Radical Criminology reject as a base cause to crime?


Labelling Theory of Crime
Q1) Which sociologist did studies on the social construction of labels and primary deviance?
Q2) Which sociologist did studies on secondary deviance in a study of the Hippy culture and drugs?
Q3) How did Stan Cohen illustrate the concept of deviance amplification in his studies of Mods and Rockers at a concert?



Subcultural Theory of Crime
Q1) Which theory was the subcultural theory adapted from?
Q2) Who stated that Merton’s Strain Theory ignores crimes committed by groups?
Q3) Criminal Subcultures, Conflict Subcultures and Retreatist Subcultures related to crime and deviance was classified by which 2 sociologists?
Q4) What was Gordon’s argument about subcultural crime and capitalism?


Crime Prevention and Punishment
Q1)What did Durkheim argue about crime prevention?
Q2) Marxists argue that the function of punishment is for?
Q3) There are two kinds of power Foucault describes as being used to prevent crime in society, there are?
Q4)Who argued about situational crime prevention using the physical reformation of a Bus Terminal to remove the opportunity of crime?
Q5) Wilson and Kelling used a 3 word term to refer to the prevention of crime being more prone to an area if the environment wasn’t kept clean and stable, what was it?
Q6) The SCCP was a school enrichment program to prevent crime. What was it and how did it benefit those that had undergone it and society itself?
Q7) What was the name of the positivist that described positivist Victimology which meant victims contributed to their crimes?
Q8) Which critical criminologists argued that the state have the ability to label and give the status to a victim?


ETHNICITY AND CRIME
Q1)Black People Make Up 2.8 of the population in UK, what is the percentage they make up in the prison population?
Q2) Asians make up 6% of the prison population. What’s the percentage according to the general population?
Q3)Which organisation states that white people are under-represented in all aspects of the criminal justice system in society?
Q4) Black People are 7x more likely to be stopped and searched by the Police, is this true?
Q5) The British Crime Survey on victims found that most crime is?
Q6) Graham and Bowlings 2500 Self Report Survey revealed black and white crime rates as being insanely different or similar?
Q7) The McPherson Report was a study of?
Q8) What was the name of the victim who was murdered in the McPherson Report?
Q9) Gilroy states that black criminality is a…?
Q10) Hall et all describe the myth of the black mugger as an illusion, this was to?
Globalisation and Crime
Q1) Manual Castells argues that there is now a Global Criminal Economy. What 2 sides does it have?
Q2) Which Sociologist did studies on Globalised Capitalism?
Q3) According to Whyte’s concept of Transgressive Criminology, there are 2 views about the justification of harms to the environment. What are they?
Q4) Carabine et al distinguishes between 2 types of Green Crime, they are?
Q5) We should define crime as the breaking of human rights rather than the breaking of legal rules. Which theorist made this statement?
Q6) Stan Cohen argues that states use a variety of factors to justify human right violations. What was the name of their theory called?
Q7) Authorisation, Routinisation and Dehumanisation are 3 factors stated by which 2 Sociologists who argue it allows states to commit crime?


Environmental Theory of Crime
Q1)Shaw and McKay used what model to identify crime occurances in specific sectors of society?
Q2) What was the name of the theorist that criticized Shaw and McKay’s studies for being too deterministic and not fitting in with British society?
Q3) Hobbs and Lister argued that growth of Pubs and Clubs gathered a large amount of young people in search for pleasure during the weekend. What was the fraction of all violent incidents occurring between 9pm to 3am on weekends?
Q4) Baldwin and Bottoms did studies in Sheffield on the Stonewall and Gardenia Estates. One of them had tipped with 300% higher rates of offenders and 350% higher level of crime. Which one was it?
Q5) Which 2 Sociologists argue than an area is more prone to crime when the environment isn’t kept stable, clean and free from litter?


Suicide and Crime
Q1) Who created the ideology that statistics can be viewed as social facts, especially when researching studies such as suicide?
Q2) Can you name 2 interpretivist sociologists that criticize statistics as social facts?
Q3) Realists like Taylor tend to look for and identify real patterns in suicide. What were the 4 types of suicide Taylor distinguished between?


Gender and Crime
Q1) By the age of 30, what is the percentage of criminal convictions for males in the UK?
Q2) By the age of 30, what is the percentage of criminal convictions for females in the UK?
Q3) Which gender is 4/5 times a convicted offender?
Q4) The Chilverly Thesis was a concept by which sociologist?
Q5) Farrington and Buckle did studies on Shoplifting being committed more than males even though it is deemed as a more feminine crime. What was their findings?
Q6) The functionalist sex role approach was argued by which sociologist?
Q7) Which sociologist criticizes the failure to biologically organise the family as the course of crime rates for males?
Q8) Carlen argues that which gender is more rational when it comes to crime and deviance?
Q9) What were Frieda Alder’s findings to support the Liberation Thesis?
Q10) Which Sociologist believed Patriarchal Control keeps women from preventing crime?
Q11) Sometimes crime can be viewed as an accomplishment according to which theorist?
Q12) Body Capital, Hyper Realities and Bouncer’s was a study taken by which sociologist?


Biology of Crime
Q1) What was the name of the Italian Doctor that discovered biological features about the criminal man and woman?
Q2) The generations of Stephen Mobley’s family revealed they were violent, aggressive and criminal. What was the name of the sociologist who did a case study on Stephen Mobley?
Q3) Who did studies on Psychopaths?
Q4) Which theorist argued that personalities and anti-social behaviour are correlated?


Objectivity and Value Freedom in Sociology
Q1) What did Durkheim say about value freedom?
Q2) Which theorist argues that there is nothing about a fact that compels us to accept a value?
Q3) Sociology is made up of a meaningless infinity of facts that make it impossible to study in totality, this is related to a statement by whom?
Q4) What was the name of the sociologist who argued that sociologist attach their values to committed theories effecting how they conduct their studies?
Q5) Becker argues that sociologists take?


Social Policy and Sociology
Q1) Which functionalist influenced the idea that young people’s relationships with their mothers was a prime importance and policies should support this?
Q2) The Social Democratic Perspective to Social Policy was emphasized by which Sociologist?
Q3) Marxist believe social policies benefit the rich and exploit the?
Q4) There are 3 factors Marxists elaborate on social policies preventing equality which are?
Q5) The Neo Conventional Family is assumed to be nuclear is by which theory?
Q6) What is the name of the Right Wing theorist who believes state policies are too lenient and should focus on making people self reliant?


Sociology as a Science
Q1) Who were the early sociologists who believed their methods took a more scientific approach?
Q2) Can you name the positivist who outlined statistics can be used as social facts?
Q3) What was the philosophical term Karl Popper used to describe science as following the principle of facts being able to be disproved.
Q4) Name the interpretivist that argued we need to attach meanings behind things as individuals have free will to determine their own behaviour?
Q5) Scientific Paradigms was a concept studied by whom?
Q7) Which 2 Realist Sociologists argued that society is an open system. That when open systems are studied, variables are impossible to control?

METHODS IN CONTEXT

It’s important that research methods are understood in particular to specific categories, institutions and areas of society to understand crime and deviance. This is because different research methods have their own specific and fundamental advantages to certain issues.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Advantages

· There is greater need for confidentiality. Why because the victims may be afraid they will get abused even worse if information gets out that they told authorities.

· Better to take a more flexible approach to research. Why? Because the traumatic nature of domestic violence could cause unpredictable reactions to the victims. Thus it’s better to use an approach that isn’t structures or standardised.

Disadvantages-

· Official Statistic under represent the true rate of crime. For example victims are likely to suffering without reporting crime. (Yearn shire- Found women suffer an estimate of 35 assaults before making reports to the Police.) (Unreliable, invalid)

· This is an issue that takes place in private so it’s difficult to practically study through observations and opportunities.

· Difficult to gather a large sampling frame as not many like to confess about their abuse with the news going public. This theoretically means that hard to gather a representative sample so general statements can’t be made.

· There is greater need for confidentiality. Why? Because the victims may be afraid they will get physically abused even worse if information gets out that they told authorities. (Thus suffering from physical harm.)

RESEARCHING VIOLENT CRIMES

Disadvantages

· Opportunity to study the context because violent acts are swift and unexpected in society. The researcher may have to wait a long time to obtain data.

· Researcher may have to physically go to a high crime area to do studies related to violent crime. This can put them in danger to physical harm. (Gangs)

· Privacy of the act makes this hard to verify the truth of such as crime. This truly applies to domestic violence in households.

ETHICAL DIFFICULTIES FOR METHODS IN CONTEXT

Disadvantages

· There are ethical issues to face for researcher when studying crime done by minors, the young or even children.

· Covert Observation methods often don’t allow researcher to gather any consent from the person being studied.

· Criminals often lie about the context in study to maintain the network of criminality and because they don’t trust or respect authority. Researchers are seen as authority figures and this was proved in Zimbardo’s and Milgram’s experiment of obedience.

· Participant is physically endangered when experimenting with criminals. This applies to observational methods and interviews. Criminals can snap and attack them.

Many people are incorrectly put in prison that is innocent because of the corrupt justice system. Thus, believing they are criminals due to being put in that institution is not fair or just.

RESEARCHING YOUNG OFFENDERS

Advantages

· Opportunity is much higher to find because the young are more violent due to vulnerability and immaturity.

· Unstructured and flexible approaches are better to adapt to youths during communication.

Disadvantages

· Practical concerns in research for age of youths could sympathetically cloud researcher’s judgement. (Parker withdrew info to stop publication of youth crime.)

· Practically researcher can be viewed as officer in disguise. Many rebellious youths tend to low respect for authority.

· It’s practically difficult for youths to communicate with a researcher who is more likely going to be educated. Researcher’s speaking in a different speech code so communication between them is difficult. (Elaborated and Restricted)

· Difficult for researcher to get involved in participant observation as they won’t fit into the youth subculture of criminality. They won’t understand their lifestyle and way of behaving which can get them sussed out and even in physical harm.

METHODS IN CONTEXT IN GENERAL

Advantages

· Particular methods have their own beneficial contributing to the context studied. (E.g Unstructured Approaches good for allowing Victims to express themselves without a fixed answer so validity and rapport benefits)

Disadvantages

· The time consumption faced in researching. You will need to gain the trust of the subject being studied whether they are a victim or criminal in order to establish a rapport and get valid data from them.

· Practical failure to visually be at the scene when a crime occurs.

· Practically some areas in research may go under-investigated due to the dangers of using the method. For example a researcher is not likely to commit a crime to understand how it feels to achieve masculinity as an accomplishment from it due to ethics.

· Practically theoretically impossible for sociologists not to help triangulate the data as bits of knowledge are obtained from here and there.

· Practically some areas remain not studied or ignored because it goes beyond the sociologist’s resources or frame of study.

· The lack of Education or English skills can make it difficult for the researcher to communicate with a victim or criminal. This is because they have separate lifestyles and researcher likely to use an elaborated code of speech rather than restricted. (Basil Bernstein)

· Theoretically Researchers choose geographical areas to study so their values affect the research in hand. For example, certain geographical locations are often studied for opportunity and due to crime rates in that location. (Thus generalizability is disregarded.)

CORPORATE CRIME

Disadvantages

· Practically a low visibility of knowledge about it. Official Statistics even fail to represent it to the public.

· Ethically/Practically not reported as businesses don’t want a damaged reputation.

· Practically it’s a very complex crime that is difficult to study and goes across borders. Many businesses are transnational. Could go over sociologist’s resources to identify crime and find victims or criminals.

· Those committing such crimes are more likely the wealthy and powerful in society. Thus it’s underestimated in official statistics from a positivist POV.