Some researchers may have a lot of time and money to invest in a study; this is another practical factor which may lead them to choose qualitative methods such as unstructured interviews because they allow participants to talk at length about a certain subject e.g. Oakley carried out unstructured interviews with women about their experiences of childbirth.
In comparison, if there was limited time and money, a researcher might choose to use quantitative methods such as postal questionnaires as they are quicker and cheaper and can also reach more people geographically than unstructured interviews.
Finally, the source of finance will impact on the method chosen. For example the government might fund research which favours quantitative methods such as questionnaires as they have more scientific credibility for governments. E.g. the BCS carries out structured interviews that consist mainly of closed questions. A private company on the other hand may fund for more qualitative methods to gain insightful information e.g. how customers feel about a certain product or service.
Other sociologists argue that ethical factors are the most important factor when choosing a research method. They believe that it is vital to follow the major ethical guidelines such as no deception of participants, meaning that you tell them the true aim of your research. No harm or distress for the participant and especially vulnerable groups and ensure confidentiality and privacy of the information on participants. This means that it can potentially make some methods such as laboratory experiments and covert participant observation questionable as they do break guidelines. For example, Milgram’s laboratory experiment into whether the presence of an authority figure affects obedience broke nearly all of the ethical guidelines and so must be questioned. Patrick’s study on the Glasgow gangs was also questionable as he used covert participant observation to disguise himself as a member of the gang. This deceived the participants into thinking he was a 16 year old boy when he wasn’t an also put his own and the participants’ safety at risk.
Finally, lots of sociologists argue that the most important factor affecting choice of method is not the practical or ethical factors but the theoretical perspective of the researcher. Positivists believe that society can and should be measured scientifically with quantitative research methods (such as official statistics and social surveys) as they search for casual relationships by following the logic of the experimental method. They like data that is reliable, objective and representative and data that allows the researcher to establish social facts, casual laws and predictions. An example is the through using official statistics, Durkheim was able to develop a ‘scientific’ theory of suicide and how suicide rates are connected to the levels of control in society. Positivists like laboratory experiments as they can show clear cause and effect relationships between two variables e.g. Zimbardo’s experiment on the effects of prison on the behaviour or guards and prisoners.
Interpretivists however believe the opposite; that society cannot be studied scientifically and shouldn’t because it is far too complex to show clear cause and effect relationships and cannot explain individual motives and emotions. They favour qualitative data e.g. through informal interviews, observation and personal documents as it produces valid, in-depth and insightful which is also not predefined and can allow the researcher to establish verstehen. An example would be that Dobash and Dobash were able to discover the patriarchal nature of domestic violence by using informal interviews. Another type of research method that interpretivists would use is a case study e.g. the case study of Genie. This is because they can research sensitive matters and gain very detailed and rich information.
In conclusion, sociologists tend to choose methods which are fit for their purpose. This means that the most important factor in the choice of research method is the topic or group being studied because sometimes you can’t get much information using some research methods and it may not be practical. For example, using questionnaires to gain information about what grades students got in their exams won’t be very effective as many students would be sensitive about that topic. Using informal interviews would be better than questionnaires as the researcher builds up a rapport with the participants.
In order to increase both reliability and validity sociologists often triangulate and use quantitative and qualitative methods to gain validity and reliability. For example, Barker’s study of the Moonies used both overt participant observation and questionnaires, and Mac an Ghaill used observation, questionnaires and secondary quantitative methods to get high validity and reliability in their research.
