Question

Factors determining the choice of survey methods information

Answer 1

There are several factors that can influence what type of research method a sociologist chooses to use, these factors include:

Time and money available – large surveys or observations can be time consuming and expensive to complete and take a long time to analyseAims of the researcher – researchers could sometimes try and twist the data so it confirms hypothesis, so they might choose a method they think will give them the results they wantWhat is known about the field you are investigating – if someone has already carried out a survey in one field a sociologist might choose to interview participants instead, for example.Whether the researcher is interested in the subject or not – if the researcher is not interested in the subject area they might choose a quicker and less time consuming method than if they were very interested by itWhether the research is ethical or not – it could be that in one scenario using a certain method could be unethical. For example, interviewing a recently bereaved family could be unethical, so they would choose a different method.Whether the method is suitable – for example using a written questionnaire could be difficult for investigating criminals, many of whom could be illiterate.Theoretical beliefs of the researcher –different researchers will have different views on what research type to use. For example positivists are more likely to choose something that will yield quantitative results such as a closed survey.
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