Sociology. Anthony Giddens
studied may be affected by their experimental situation.
Ethnographic studies do have limitations. Only fairly small groups or communities can be studied, and much depends on the skill of the individual researcher in gaining the confidence of the people involved. Without this skill the research is unlikely to get off the ground at all. The reverse is also possible. A researcher could begin to identify so closely with the group that he or she becomes too much of an ‘insider’ and loses the perspective of an outside observer. When so much rests on the skills of a particular individual, the study becomes hard to reproduce and thus the reliability of the findings may be called into question.
Sociologists also make use of focus groups, previously the preserve of marketing agencies and opinion pollsters. Focus groups are essentially facilitated ‘group discussions’ in which a small group of specifically selected individuals are gathered together to discuss a subject and exchange views. The researcher acts as moderator but also asks specific questions relating to the research study in order to direct the discussion. Because of their interactive and flexible nature, focus groups allow possible misunderstandings to be clarified, thereby increasing the validity of findings. However, critics point out that the researcher in a focus group is more participant than detached observer and may well influence the responses. There is therefore a danger that participants will perform according to the researcher’s expectations, though this issue is not unique to the focus group method and is something that all researchers have to consider.
Interpreting field studies usually involves problems of generalization. Since only a small number of people are studied, we cannot be sure that what is found in one context will apply in another, or even that two researchers would come to the same conclusions when studying the same group. This is less of a problem in large-scale survey research. In a survey, questionnaires may be sent out or administered directly in interviews to a selected group of people – sometimes several thousand. Sociologists refer to this group of people, whatever its size, as a sample.
While ethnographic work is well suited to in-depth studies of small slices of social life, survey research tends to produce information that is less detailed but can be applied over a broader area. Surveys are the most widely used type of quantitative research method, allowing social phenomena to be measured and then analysed using mathematical models and statistical techniques. Many government bodies and private polling agencies make extensive use of surveys to gain knowledge of people’s attitudes and creating an accurate picture of the shape, size and diversity of a society’s population would be quite impossible without such survey research.
Sampling
Often sociologists are interested in the characteristics of large numbers of individuals – for example, the political attitudes of the population of Australia. It would be impossible to involve all 25 million people directly, so in such situations researchers engage in sampling – concentrating on a small proportion – a sample – of this overall population. One can usually be confident that the results from a population sample, as long as it is properly chosen, can be generalized to the total population. Studies of only 2,000 to 3,000 voters, for instance, can give a very accurate indication of the attitudes and voting intentions of the entire population. But, to achieve such accuracy, a sample must be representative – that is, the group of individuals studied must be typical of the population as a whole. Representative sampling is more complex than it may appear, and statisticians have developed rules for working out the correct size and nature of samples.
A particularly important procedure used to ensure that a sample is representative is random sampling, in which a sample is chosen so that every member of the population has the same probability of being included. The most sophisticated way of obtaining a random sample is to give each member of the population a number and then use a computer to generate a random list from which the sample is derived – for instance, by picking every tenth number.
In fieldwork, researchers have to get close to the communities they are studying, but not so close that they lose their relatively detached sociological eye.
There are other types of sampling used by sociologists. In some types of research, it may be necessary to use convenience sampling. This means taking your sample from wherever you can! Because convenience sampling is less systematic and rigorous than other types, the results it generates have to be treated with caution. Nonetheless, in applied research or studies of hard-to-reach social groups who may be reluctant to come forward – for example, substance users or people who self-harm – it may be the only practical way of gathering an adequate sample. Without convenience sampling, the voices of some social groups may just not get heard. Similarly, snowball sampling, in which existing participants are used to recruit other participants via their own network of contacts and friends, is a tried and tested method of gaining access to a larger sample than would otherwise be possible.
Advantages and disadvantages of surveys
There are several reasons why surveys are used in sociology. Responses to questionnaires can more easily be quantified and analysed than material generated by most other research methods. Large numbers of people can be studied and, given sufficient funds, researchers can employ an agency specializing in survey work to collect the responses. This kind of research is a model of quantitative research, as surveys give researchers a statistical measure of the phenomenon they are studying.
Many sociologists today, however, are critical of the survey method. They argue that an appearance of precision can be given to findings whose accuracy may be dubious, given the relatively shallow nature of most survey responses. Levels of non-response can be high, especially when questionnaires are sent and returned through the mail, which can compromise the survey’s representativeness. It is not uncommon for studies to be published based on results derived from little over half of those in the sample, although efforts are usually made to re-contact non-respondents or to substitute them with other people. Little is known about those who choose not to respond to surveys or refuse to be interviewed, though survey research is often experienced as intrusive and timeconsuming. Despite these problems, the social survey remains one important method in the sociologist’s armoury.
The questionnaire – standardized or open-ended?
Three types of questionnaire are used in surveys. Some contain a standardized, or fixed-choice, set of questions, to which only a given range of responses is possible – for instance, ‘Yes/No/Don’t know’ or ‘Very likely/Likely/Unlikely/Very unlikely’. Standardized questionnaires have the advantage that responses are easy to count and compare, since only a small number of categories is involved. On the other hand, because they do not allow for subtleties of opinion or verbal expression, the information they yield is likely to be restricted in scope and can sometimes be misleading.