Research Methods - Key Terms

3. Sampling Refers to a sampling method that ensures key social characteristics are represented in proportion to the wider population.
4. Refers to an approach that focuses on understanding the meanings and experiences of individuals rather than identifying cause-and-effect laws
5. Refers to a smaller group selected from a population to represent the whole.
6. Social d___________ Bias Refers to the tendency of respondents to give answers they believe are socially acceptable rather than truthful.
7. Refers to a relationship of trust between researcher and participants that can improve the quality of qualitative data.
8. Refers to a testable statement that predicts a relationship between variables.
10. Refers to an interpretivist concept meaning empathetic understanding of the social actor’s point of view.
12. I____________ bias Refers to the influence of the interviewer's own values, beliefs or expectations being expressed to an interviewee
15. Refers to the extent to which research methods produce consistent and repeatable results.
16. Refers to how accurately a sample reflects the characteristics of the wider population.

1. Refers to the extent to which research is free from the researcher’s personal values, opinions or bias.
2. Refers to the ability to apply research findings from a sample to the wider population.
9. Refers to the process of turning abstract sociological concepts into measurable variables that can be researched in practice.
10. Refers to any factor that can change and be measured within sociological research.
11. The H________ effect Refers to the tendency of participants to change their behaviour because they know they are being observed.
13. Refers to a sociological approach that argues society should be studied using objective, scientific methods similar to those used in the natural sciences.
14. Refers to the extent to which a research method measures what it claims to measure.