Quick Quiz 3 Answers

Answers to Quick Quiz 3 The answers to Quick Quiz 3 are below.

1. Representativeness means that research results should enable us to generalise from a sample to the whole
population. But NB, population could mean the population of one school, all schools in the UK, or it could mean the
population of the UK. ‘Population’ in sociology has a more specific meaning that in everyday life.

2. Does the research give a true picture of reality. Does it measure what it is supposed to measure.

3. Can the same results be achieved if the research is repeated. This is important because it is assumed that if they
can, the results must be valid. However, this is not necessarily the case; results can be reliable, but lack validity, e.g.
Durkheim’s findings on suicide.

4. Positivists.

5. Response rate is usually low.

6. Use a victim survey or self-report study.

7. They are liable to distort reality since the researcher selects the questions and the way in which they can be
answered.

8. They may lack reliability and validity, due to interviewer-effects and there may be a lack of rigour in recording
responses.

9. Advocates of PO argue that it gives the researcher a deeper insight into real behaviour and minimises the threat of
interviewer-effect or the distortions arising from positivist approaches. However, critics might point out that PO may
induce the hawthorne effect. Advocates of PO would argue this can be avoided by using covert PO. You can develop
this answer by further distinguishing between overt and covert PO.

10. They can triangulate – use multiple methods. Also called ‘methodological pluralism’.