📊 Positivist researcher
Prefers topics that can be counted and measured, such as how many students have a part-time job. Chooses methods such as questionnaires and structured interviews that give quantitative data and are easy to repeat.
Investigating Society » Theoretical and Practical Issues in Research
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Cambridge spec: 1.3.5
- The difference between theoretical and practical issues in research
- How a researcher's perspective (positivist or interpretivist) affects the topic and method they choose
- How access to a sample, response rate, funding/cost and time shape a research project
- How to use these issues to explain a researcher's choices in the exam
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Unlock This CourseWhy researchers cannot just do what they like
Real research has limits: time, money and access all shape which topic and method a sociologist can choose
In an ideal world a researcher would pick the perfect method, study the perfect sample and take as long as they needed. In real life, things get in the way. These problems are called issues, and they affect which topic a researcher studies and which method they use.
There are two kinds of issue. A theoretical issue is about the researcher's ideas and beliefs about how society should be studied. A practical issue is about the real-world problems of getting the research done, such as finding people, getting money and having enough time.
Key terms:
- Theoretical issue: a problem or choice that comes from the researcher's perspective on how society should be studied.
- Practical issue: a real-world problem, such as access, cost or time, that affects how research can be carried out.
- Access: being able to reach the people the researcher wants to study.
- Response rate: the percentage of the people asked to take part who actually do.
- Funding: the money available to pay for the research.
Theoretical issue: the researcher's perspective
The main theoretical issue is whether the researcher is a positivist or an interpretivist. Remember that positivists want numbers and patterns, and interpretivists want meanings and understanding. This perspective affects the topic and the method.
💬 Interpretivist researcher
Prefers topics about feelings and meanings, such as what a part-time job means to a student. Chooses methods such as unstructured interviews and participant observation that give rich qualitative data.
This means two researchers can study the same subject and choose completely different topics and methods, just because of their perspective.
Practical issue: access to the sample
A researcher can only study people they can reach. Some groups are easy to reach, such as students in a school where the head teacher agrees to help. Others are hard to reach. A researcher might struggle to get access to a private members' club, to people with very little spare time, or to a group that does not trust outsiders.
Access affects the choice of topic and method. If a group is hard to reach, a researcher might change the topic, use a snowball sample, or use a different method, such as secondary data. A gatekeeper is a person who controls access to a group, such as a head teacher or club manager, and can refuse to allow the research at all.
Practical issue: response rate
Send out 500 questionnaires, get 100 back: that's a response rate of just 20%, which can make the sample unrepresentative
The response rate is the percentage of people who take part out of those who were asked. For example, if 500 questionnaires are sent out and 100 are returned, the response rate is 100 ÷ 500 × 100 = 20%.
A low response rate is a problem because the people who reply may be different from those who do not, so the results may not be representative. Response rates are often low for postal and online questionnaires, because people can easily ignore them. Interviews usually get a higher response rate than postal or online questionnaires, because the researcher asks in person. A researcher who expects a low response rate might send reminders, offer a small reward, or pick a different method. If a sensitive topic is unlikely to get replies, they may even change the topic or the group they study.
Practical issue: funding and cost
Research costs money. A large survey needs printing, postage, software and paid staff. Interviews need travel and many hours of interviewers' time. Researchers who work for a university, a government or a charity are given a budget. The amount they have affects the study.
💰 Big budget
The researcher can afford a large sample, several researchers, travel and several methods, such as a big survey and follow-up interviews.
💲 Small budget
The researcher may use a small sample, an online questionnaire, which is cheap, or free secondary data, such as official statistics.
Funding can also affect the topic. People who pay for research may want it to answer their own questions, so some topics are studied more than others.
Practical issue: time
Time matters both for the researcher and for the people who take part. A researcher with only a few weeks may choose a narrower topic, and cannot carry out a long observation or a longitudinal study. A questionnaire can collect lots of data quickly, but writing, piloting, analysing and checking it still takes time. Methods such as unstructured interviews and participant observation take a very long time, so only a small number of people can be studied.
Time is also a problem for respondents. A long questionnaire may be left unfinished, and busy people may refuse an interview, which lowers the response rate.
How the issues work together
The issues are linked. A small budget may mean fewer researchers and a smaller sample. A positivist who wants a large sample needs funding. An interpretivist who wants to join a group needs access and plenty of time. In an exam, always tie the issue to the study in the source.
Worked example
A researcher wants to find out what it is like to be a night-shift worker in a hospital. As an interpretivist, she would like to use unstructured interviews. But she only has funding for two months, and the hospital manager (a gatekeeper) will only allow her to speak to ten staff. So she uses a small sample of semi-structured interviews and adds secondary data. Her perspective, access, funding and time have all shaped her research.
Common mistakes
Saying "practical issues" without naming one. Always name the issue (access, response rate, funding or time) and then say how it changes the research. Another mistake is mixing up a practical issue with an ethical issue. Ethical issues, such as consent, are about right and wrong and are taught in a later lesson. Do not write that a low response rate means the study is "wrong". It means the sample may be unrepresentative.
Exam-style question
Source A
A researcher wanted to find out why many 16-year-olds in a large city give up sport. She had a budget of only a few hundred pounds and three months to finish. She posted a questionnaire to 400 teenagers whose names she found on a list from a sports centre. Only 60 questionnaires were returned. The sports centre manager did not allow her to carry out observations at the centre.
(a) Identify two practical issues that affected the research in Source A. [2]
(b) Using information in Source A, explain two reasons why the researcher might have chosen a questionnaire rather than interviews. [4]
Model answer
(a) Response rate (1), because only 60 out of 400 were returned. Access (1), because the manager did not allow her to observe at the centre. (Funding or time are also accepted.)
(b) She had only a few hundred pounds (1), and a postal questionnaire is cheaper than paying for travel and many hours of interviews (1). She only had three months (1), and a questionnaire could reach 400 people quickly, while interviews would take far longer and reach far fewer (1).
Exam tip
In (b), quote a detail from the source ("a few hundred pounds", "three months") and then explain what it means for the choice of method. Naming the issue alone will not get the second mark.