PLC - Theory and Methods.docx - A-Level Theory and Methods...

A-Level Theory and Methods
Specification and content Covered ü RAG RAG
1. Quantitative and qualitative methods of research; research design
Sources of data, including questionnaires, interviews, participant and non-participant observation,
experiments, documents and official statistics
The distinction between primary and secondary data, and between quantitative and qualitative data
The relationship between positivism, interpretivism and sociological methods; the nature of ‘social
facts’
The theoretical, practical and ethical considerations influencing choice of topic, choice of method(s) and the
conduct of research (AS and A Level)
Types of research method and data sources:
 the differences between quantitative and qualitative data,
 strengths and limitations of quantitative and qualitative data
 the differences between primary and secondary sources of data;
 strengths and limitations of primary and secondary sources of data;
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Primary methods of data collection and the main variants of each :
 Questionnaires
 Interviews (structured and unstructured)
 observation (participant and non-participant observation)
 experiments (laboratory and field experiments).