Which Research Method?

Which research method should I choose if I want to research the effects of play pedagogy on children's sociability?

• Natural Observation

• Participant observation

Answer explanation

Children's socialising can be really affected when they know they are being observed, so natural observation might be better.

Which research method should I use if I want to know how long women take to get ready for a night out?

• Participant observation

• Non-participant observation

• Natural observation

Answer explanation

All of these would be acceptable methods. Ethically, you would have to be careful with regards to whether you are observing overtly or covertly!

Why is covert observation ethically questionable?

• The participants cannot give their consent

• It is difficult to replicate this kind of research

• A possible lack of objectivity leaves results in question

• The participants have no guarantee of confidentiality

Answer explanation

Answer 2 and 3 are not ethical concerns, although they are questions of integrity. Researchers must be careful to uphold both ethics and integrity in their research. 

Which research method should I choose if I want to measure how different people react physically to different pieces of music?

• Independent measures

• Matched Pairs

• Repeated measures

Answer explanation

Depending on how the research was designed, and the exact question to be asked, it would be possible to use independent measures or repeated measures. 

Which research method should I choose if I want to look at different shopping behaviour among people while they are in the High Street?

• Overt, participant observation

• Covert, non-participant observation

• Covert, natural observation

• Overt, natural observation

Answer explanation

Covert, distant methods might be better in this case. If people know they are being observed they might change their behaviour and could result in inaccurate findings. 

Observations tend to give us....

• quantitative data

• qualitative data

• both

Experimental Research designs tend to give...

• quantitative data

• qualitative data

• both

Answer explanation

Since the social sciences concern people, we can both measure phenomena (numerical values), and assess the value of their lived experiences (which cannot be counted).

Which research method should I choose if I want to measure how exposure to certain colours changes a person's behaviour?

• Independent measure

• Repeated Measure

• Matched Pairs