Practical issues (OCR A-Level Sociology): Revision Notes

Practical Issues

Practical issues:

• Time and money: Different methods use up various amounts of resources e.g. the researcher might need to employ people to carry out surveys & input data which is expensive. Participant Observations are cheap but take up lots of time.
• Funding bodies: Governments, Businesses, Universities etc may require different types of data & therefore the researcher has limited choices e.g. Governments like to collect Statistical Data to inform Social policy.
• Personal skills and characteristics: Each researcher is different & therefore may be limited in their choices of methods e.g. if they need to blend into a group, / have good jobs. Skills / patience / Memory etc.
• Subject matter: If the topic requires opinions, feelings, thoughts or just plain facts and figures will impact on choice of method. Also whether or not the subject is sensitive or difficult to study needs considering.

• Research opportunity: In some cases research opportunities may occur unexpectedly & therefore affects the researchers time & planning.