sociological methods :: essays research papers

MethodsAs we were interested in attitudes and experiences of our subjects we decided to use a qualitative approach to conduct our study. We wished our responsives to desex their attitudes and experiences using their own words and meanings therefore it was considered that quantitative data was not appropriate for such a study. Qualitative study is more in- skill and oft less structured than a quantitative approach, generating a greater depth of information (Mason 1996) A semi-structured interview technique to gather our data. This was chosen because of the benefits that this regularity entails and because of the disadvantages of the standardised and non-standardised methods (Gilbert, 2001).The standardised model was discarded because although all respondents received the aforementioned(prenominal) questions in the selfsame(prenominal) order the system lacked credibility due a number of facts. Firstly, not every respondent may live with the same interpretation of a question thu s answers could not be compared to whatsoever degree of certainty. Secondly, the interviewer was unable to clarify some(prenominal) questions that the respondent did not fully comprehend. Most importantly, though, was the fact that the interviewer was unable to explore any area that our respondent unexpectedly enlightened us to, this also hindered us from asking any supplementary questions that may have furthered our findings (Punch, 1998).A non-structured approach was instantly govern out as we wished to gage specific attitudes and experiences of drugs from our respondents. A non-standardised interview could have left us with an abundance of irrelevant material and little of any actual use.The semi-structured method has many benefits. Not only does this technique pass around the interviewer room for scope to probe, clarify and alter his or her interview scroll on the spot but it is also relatively easy to edict and analyse the information that is procured (Seidman, 1998). Th e SampleOur exemplification were four third yr schoolchilds, two males and two females. Third year was chosen as our sample year-group as this allowed the respondents time to have become fully integrated into the Stirling student life-style. The sample was approached at random in the Stirling University union, The Studio. ergodic individuals were asked if they were 3rd year students and if so were they willing to take part in our survey. The sample were informed of the purpose of our research and confirmed the area of oppugn which we wished to pursue. The sample was told that the location for their interview was entirely at their own discretion.