SOC 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Grounded Theory, Participant Observation, Ethnography

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1101
• Professor: William Flynn

Document Summary

Survey = a research method in which a number of respondents (people who provide data for analysis through interviews or questionnaires) are asked identical questions through a systematic questionnaire or interview. Pros: able to describe the characteristics of a large population, enables the researcher to assess the relative importance of a number of variables. Cons: people might not be truthful or may be unwilling to provide information on sensitive issues, low response rates. Types: questionnaire - simple and inexpensive and anonymous, but have low response rates, interviews -face 2 face communication, effective in dealing with complicated issues, costly and time-consuming. Population = those persons about whom we want to be able to draw conclusions. Representative sample = sample that has essential characteristics of the population. Random sample: persons are selected by chance or randomly. Everyone in the target population has an equal chance of being selected.