| A | B |
|---|
| Covert Observation | where the sociologist does not admit to being a researcher |
| Ethnography | is the term used to describe the work of anthropologists who study simple, small-scale societies by living with the people and observing their daily lives. The term has been used by sociologists to describe modern day observational studies. |
| Field Diary | a detailed record of events, conversations and thoughts kept by participant observers, written up as often as possible. |
| Non participant observational studies | where the sociologist simply observes the group but does not seek to join in their activities. |
| Overt Observation | Where the sociologist is open about the research role |
| Participant Observation Studies | Where the sociologists joins a group of people and studies their behaviour |
| Qualitative Rsearch | a general term for approaches to research that are less interested in collecting statistical data, and more interested in observing and interpreting the ways in which people behaviour. |
| Closed Questions | questions that require a very specific reply such as yes or no |
| Interviewer Bias | the influence of the interviewer (eg their age, race, sex) on the way the respondent replies |
| Open Questions | questions that allow the respondent to express themselves |
| Reliability | refers to the need for all interviews to be exactly the same so that they can be compared. Not a great problem with structured/closed question interviews, but a major problem with unstructured/open questions where interviewer bias may occur. |
| Response Rate | the proportion of the questionnaires that are returned. |
| Structured Interview | Where the questions are delivered in a particular order and no explanation or elaboration of the question is allowed by the interviewer. |
| Transcribing | The process of writing up interviews that have been recorded |
| Unstructured interview | Where the interviewer is allowed to explain and elaborate on questions. |
| Validity | refers to the problem of ensuring that the questions actually measure what the researcher intends them to. |
