Research Methods - Snowball Sampling

Snowball sampling is when you choose one participant and ask them to ask their friends to take part too. This can be used when you're researching a group that's quite hard to get
access to, for example, criminals.

30 Marker Practice

As an A Level student, you have been asked to design a research project to collect qualitative data on the way of life of young homeless people in your area. (30 marks)

Before beginning my research, I would do some secondary research into young homeless people in the Poole and Bournemouth area. Due to people under 18 often being able to go into social care or hostels, it is difficult to find homeless people under the age of 18. Therefore my research would class young people as those aged 18 to 25. My secondary research would help me to gain a better understanding of the topic which would benefit my project.

Operationalisation is key, so I will operationalise 'way of life' by looking into the norms, values, beliefs and daily routines of my participants. This would be more valid because I would be gaining an in-depth look at how young homeless people go about their daily lives. My participants may also show the Hawthorne Effect, so this would have to be considered and taken into account when my results are collected. The results also may not be reliable due to issues with consistency, so I would not be able to generalise my data. Each participant would be different so representativeness would also be an issue. All of this would be taken into account when looking at the results of my project.

My target population will be young homeless people in Poole and Bournemouth. I won't be able to create a sampling frame, which is a drawback of being an A Level student. Due to this, the best sampling method would be Snowball sampling. This is when you find one participant and ask them to ask people they know to be part of your research. This way, you can find more people from the same sort of population, in this case, homeless people. A drawback of this is that my sample is likely not to be representative because all my participants know each other, however due to this research being qualitative, it is more important to gain in-depth research than representative research.

I would be using unstructured interviews to gain qualitative data. This is when I have a rough ida of what my interview aims to find out, but my questions aren't planned which allows me to ask questions relevant to the information the participant gives me. This method is good because it would allow me to get lots of information in a way that allows the participant to be understood clearly and allows me to collect relevant data. This method also means that my participants are able to fully explain their way of life and their experiences, and I’m able to fully understand them. However, a drawback of this method is that it's unlikely any of my interviews will ave the same sort of outcome, making it difficult to compare my results and to categorise them. This makes the research less reliable and inconsistent.

I would carry out a pilot study in order to make sure my interviews are easy to understand and to complete, and to make sure I am able to collect relevant data for my aim. I would use opportunity sampling due to being a student and having little money. I would ask a homeless person a series of questions to check if they are easy to understand and answer.

I would need to consider ethical issues such as consent, privacy, confidentiality and withdrawal. I would make sure all my participants are happy to take part and also that they are aware of their options when it comes to privacy and confidentiality. They would be given the option to remain anonymous. I also need to consider sensitivity, due to some areas of my research potentially being upsetting for my participants. Therefore I would make sure all my questions are worded in a way which stops them from being upsetting, and that my participants are given the option to say that they don't want to answer a question if they feel its too personal or invasive. Due to the sensitivity of the research, the results may not be valid.

A practical issue I may face is time. Due to my use of unstructured interviews, my research is likely to be time consuming which means I can spend less time interviewing extra participants. This will impact the representativeness of my results. However, due to Bournemouth and Poole being busy areas, there is a higher concentration of homeless people, who may be willing to take part in my research. This will save me time as I won't have to be looking for more participants.

Once I have completed my research, I will look at my notes from each interview in order to see any similarities or trends in the way of life of my participants. This would be seen through their answers regarding their norms, values, beliefs and routines.

My research would be interpretivist, due to the fact that way of life can't be measured. The fact that this data must be interpreted means it will be more valid.

Positivists would state that this research would be unreliable due to being subjective and inconsistent. Also, because the sample would be small, it lacks generalisability.

After all of this, I would draw a conclusion from my research which would outline the way of life of young homeless people in the Poole and Bournemouth area.

Research Methods - Stratified Sampling

Stratified sampling is a method used in order to get a completely representative sample. This is done by giving everyone an equal chance of being picked, but within categories. For example, if you were trying to research a class's attitude towards sociology, but the class consisted of 12 girls and 6 boys, there's more of a chance that if everyone's names were put into a hat that more girls would be picked, and therefore the boys would be under-represented. To solve this, researchers use stratified sampling, which involves controlling the factors and picking a sample which represents the target population fairly, whilst the target population is split into groups.

Research Methods - Systematic Sampling

Systematic sampling is when you choose every nth person. This is used in order to achieve a random sample with a variety of different people. This also manages to cover larger areas without having to ask everyone. For example, if you wanted to know the general attitude towards youth crime in a specific town, you could choose every 5th person off a council register of residents, which would help to get a wider opinion without having to ask as many people.

Research Methods - Opportunity Sampling

Opportunity sampling is when the researcher uses people who just happen to be there at the time that the sample is being made. For example, if you wanted to look at students lunch habits, you could go to the college café and observe people who happened to be there eating at the time.

Research Methods - Random Sampling

A random sample is one where everyone has an equal chance of being picked. For example, putting everyone's name into a hat would be a random sample as they all have an equal chance of being picked. This method is regarded as representative because it assumes that everyone has an equal chance to be picked,however, it can sometimes be considered as not being representative due to the possibility of picking people who have similar characteristics, when you are, in fact, looking for a random sample.

Research Methods - Sampling Methods

There are 8 main sampling methods covered in the WJEC Sociology syllabus. They are listed below.

Random Sampling
Opportunity Sampling
Systematic Sampling
Quota Sampling
Cluster Sampling
Volunteer Sampling
Snowball Sampling

Stratified Sampling

Functionalist Crime Theorists

• Durkheim (Anomie, Crime is Inevitable & Functional)
• Merton (Strain Theory)
• Hirschi (Social Bonds Theory)
• Erikson (The Publicity Function)
• Albert Cohen (Safety Valves)
• Matza (Drifting)
• Miller (The Structural Origins of Crime, and the Cultural Causes)

Durkheim - Crime

Durkheim - Functionalist

Durkheim believes that society is held together by shared values. However, not everyone in society adheres to these collective sentiments. An example of this would be someone who chooses a job that earns little money purely because they'll enjoy it - they are breaking social norms because in western culture, it is seen as important to have material wealth, which is harder to have if you have a low paying job.

If there is a period where several people seem to lose their norms and values, this can be referred to as 'anomie'. An example of anomie would be the London Riots in 2011. People who were normally law abiding citizens were suddenly seen looting shops and vandalising property, purely because society had completely lost it's norms and no one knew how to react to this.

Durkheim also spoke about how crime is inevitable and functional. He argues that crime is inevitable due to something which he called the 'Society of Saints'. This is when even in a society where everyone is a 'saint' something will still be considered deviant. For example, in a classroom where everyone is shouting, someone whispering wouldn't be seen as deviant, whereas in a classroom which was silent, someone whispering would be seen as the deviant individual in that situation. He also argues that crime is functional because it helps to create social change. For example, homosexuality used to be illegal, but because so many people committed he 'crime' it became normal and as a result, society accepted it.

He also states that crime creates social cohesion, for example, crimes against children are widely seen as unacceptable, and people unite over their opinions.