SOCA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Semi-Structured Interview, Participant Observation, Sample Size Determination
Document Summary
Concrete experience obtained by seeing, touching, tasting, smelling or hearing: composed of percepts which form patterns when aggregated. Percepts - the smallest bits of concrete experience. Abstract experience the imaginary world of the mind: composed of concepts which form propositions. Concepts abstract terms used to organize concrete experience. Propositions ideas that result from finding the relationship between concepts. Illogical reasoning superstitions: ego-defence no one and no study is about critique, premature closure of inquiry theories are temporary, mystification belief in supernatural forces. Sample the part of the population of research interest that is selected for analysis. Population the entire group about which the researcher wants to generalize. Research approaches: reality construction & confirmation, the importance of viewpoints. Insiders and outsiders: positivist and interpretive traditions, quantitative and qualitative research traditions. Objectivity assessed by the degree of consistency between the observations of independent observers. Positivists assume that social realities are objective and are best studied through quantitative research methods.
