Surveys
Sociology: AQA GCSE, topic 6.1.6
Surveys
Surveys
- A survey is a method that allows sociologists to take a snapshot of what is going on at a particular time and a particular place.
- A survey can be in the form of:
- Questionnaires.
- Structured interviews.
- They gather quantitative data as they are easier to analyse and draw patterns.
Advantages of surveys
- Relatively cheap in comparison to other methods that might need experienced and trained professionals e.g. interviews.
- Quantitative data in large-scale.
- Easily identified patterns and trends.
- Reliable as they can easily be replicated.
Advantages cont.
- Representative since they are done over a large scale, and also includes many variables that can usually affect the result.
- Being representative means that generalisations can easily be made.
Disadvantages of surveys
- May lack validity as they are not as in-depth as other research methods, such as unstructured interviews.
- Participants may lie because:
- They might feel embarrassed and want to be accepted by the researchers.
- They might not realise how a lie can distort the real image of the world around us.
Disadvantages cont.
- Time consuming.
- A low response rate might lead to a non-representative sample that doesn’t reflect reality.
Research Methods and Surveys
Postal and online questionnaires
- They are large-scale surveys.
- They are cheap.
- They have a low response rate (less than 50%). This is because:
- People are asked to give up some of their free time to help sociologists.
Telephone surveys
- They are large-scale surveys.
- They are cheap.
- They are quick.
- They might not be representative as people who work and people who are in school or university might not be at home during normal office hours.
- However, this problem seems to be solved nowadays since mobile phones mean that these people can be reached at any time.
Opinion polls
- Opinion polls are used to gauge the intentions of voters.
- They aren’t always reflective of the actual vote results.
Test yourself on Surveys
What kind of data does a survey collect?
What type of research method is typically used to gauge the intentions of voters?
What are the advantages of telephone surveys?