How Do Sociologists Plan Their Research?

According to the hand-out, the first step in planning a piece of sociological research is to establish:

• Clear research aims that spell out the questions to be answered

• A pilot study with a small group

• A hypothesis after data collection

• The total number of bibliography references

Having specific research aims mainly helps a sociologist to:

• Guarantee statistical validity automatically

• Avoid being too ambitious by narrowing the study focus

• Increase the sample size without extra cost

• Eliminate ethical issues entirely

Trying to examine teaching quality, subjects, social life and bullying for every year group is used to illustrate:

• An effective multimethod design

• A thorough pilot-study approach

• How over-ambitious research aims can be

• Ethical considerations in school settings

In the notes, a hypothesis is described as:

• A random guess made after analysis

• A list of interview questions

• The population from which the sample is drawn

• A statement predicting what the researcher expects to discover

Which of the following would count as a hypothesis in the hand-out’s terms?

• “Year 11 students generally do not enjoy completing homework.”

• “Year 11 students watch television.”

• “Some students carry mobile phones.”

• “Teachers assign homework.”

The suggested method for testing that homework hypothesis is to:

• Observe lessons for a month

• Give Year 11 students a questionnaire about their views

• Interview teachers only

• Analyse national exam scores

A pilot study is:

• The full data-collection stage

• The process of writing conclusions

• A small-scale trial of the chosen method to check it works

• The ethics-approval form

Conducting a pilot study chiefly allows the sociologist to:

• Reduce sample size for economy

• Collect secondary data instead of primary

In the friends-survey example, skipping a pilot study led to which problem?

• Respondents interpreted “friends” differently (real-life vs online), producing inconsistent answers

• The survey software crashed

• Teachers added extra questions

• Too many identical responses were received

A hypothesis is useful mainly because it:

• Secures new government funding

• Gives readers a clear idea of what new knowledge the study seeks to uncover

• Guarantees high reliability

• Doubles the sample size automatically