School of Social Sciences and Philosophy
Department of Sociology
Essay Questions
Introduction to Social Research 2
Please write an essay (1800 words, excluding bibliography) on one of the following topics.
Q1) Qualitative research differs in significant ways in its philosophical origins, aims and ambitions from quantitative research. Discuss these differences, illustrating your answer with relevant examples.
Q2) How do qualitative social scientists formulate research questions and what different types of research questions do they come up with? Support your answer with relevant examples.
Q3) Describe how a qualitative research project is designed and an appropriate sample put together for that project. Illustrate you answer with relevant examples from the sociological literature.
Q4) Describe the main ethical considerations to keep in mind when conducting qualitative social research. Illustrate you answer with relevant examples of ethical shortcomings in past research.
Q5) Participant observation is the best approach to take to data collection in some research situations. In others the best approach is in-depth interviewing. Describe different research scenarios where each approach offers the best way of answering the research question, and illustrate your answer with relevant examples.
Q6) What are the main approaches to analysing the qualitative data a researcher gathers? Provide examples to support your answer.
