Key term
Eduqas A-Level Sociology A200QS
Culture and the Social Construction of Culture
Topic overviewCulture as a way of lifeNorms, values and beliefsRoles, status and role conflictDress, appearance and cultural identityLanguage and cultural transmissionFood, diet and cultural rulesMusic, the arts and high and popular cultureThe social construction of cultureFeral children and extreme isolationThe nature and nurture debateCulture and social changeCultural diversity, multiculturalism and hybriditySubcultures and countercultures
Socialisation and Its Agencies
Topic overviewPrimary socialisationSecondary socialisationRole models and imitationSanctions and the enforcement of normsThe family and cultural transmissionPeer groups and peer socialisationEducation as an agency of socialisationReligion as an agency of socialisationThe media as an agency of socialisationWork and occupational socialisationInformal social controlFormal social controlCultural reproduction and the limits of socialisation
Socialisation and Identity
Topic overviewPersonal identity and the selfSocial identity and collective belongingSociological theories of identityConsumption, globalisation and identityGender socialisation and gender identityChanging femininitiesChanging masculinitiesClass identity and the working classMiddle-class, upper-class and underclass identitiesThe decline of class identityEthnicity and ethnic identityHybrid identities and cultural changeNational identity and Britishness
Option: Families and HouseholdsFamilies
Topic overviewDefining families and householdsFamily forms and family diversityEthnic, religious and cultural diversity in family lifeMarriage, cohabitation and singlehoodDivorce and separationFertility, life expectancy and the ageing populationConjugal roles and the domestic division of labourPower, decision-making and domestic violenceChildhood and relationships between the generationsFunctionalist perspectives on the familyThe New Right and social policy on the familyMarxist and feminist perspectives on the familyPostmodernist perspectives, the life course and personal life
Option: Youth CulturesYouth cultures
Topic overviewYouth and the social construction of adolescenceThe media and the formation of youth cultureEconomic change, affluence and the youth marketGlobalisation and youth cultureSocial class and youth subculturesGender and youth cultureEthnicity and youth cultureNeo-tribes and the changing nature of youth cultureDelinquency, crime and youth offendingAnti-school subcultures and youth in educationMoral panics and media representations of youthFunctionalist and Marxist perspectives on youth cultureFeminist, interactionist and postmodernist perspectives on youth culture
Option: EducationEducation
Topic overviewThe role and function of education in societyFunctionalist perspectives on educationMarxist perspectives on educationInteractionist perspectives and labelling in educationFeminist perspectives on educationThe New Right and educationPostmodernist perspectives on educationPatterns and trends in attainment and participationMaterial factors and educational achievementCultural factors: deprivation, language and cultural capitalExplaining the gender and ethnicity gapsStreaming, setting and pupil subculturesEducation policy and marketisation
Option: MediaMedia
Topic overviewThe role and function of the media in societyOwnership and control of the mediaMarxist and neo-Marxist perspectives on the mediaPluralist perspectives on the mediaFeminist perspectives on the mediaPostmodernist perspectives on the mediaNews values, newsworthiness and agenda settingModels of media effects and the active audienceMoral panics and folk devilsNew media, globalisation and the digital divideRepresentations of social class and age in the mediaRepresentations of gender, ethnicity and disability in the mediaMedia regulation and social policy
Option: ReligionReligion
Topic overviewDefining religion and its role in societyFunctionalist perspectives on religionMarxist and neo-Marxist perspectives on religionFeminist perspectives on religionWeberian perspectives on religionPostmodernist perspectives on religionSecularisation: the evidence for declineSecularisation: the case againstChurches, denominations, sects and cultsNew religious movements and the new ageFundamentalism and religion in a globalising worldReligiosity by class, gender, ethnicity and ageReligion and social policy in contemporary society
Research Methods: Primary and Secondary
Topic overviewQuestionnaires: writing them and delivering themStructured interviewsUnstructured and semi-structured interviewsFocus groups and group interviewsParticipant observation, overt and covertNon-participant and structured observationSocial surveysEthnographic methodsLongitudinal studiesMethodological pluralism and triangulationExisting sociological research as secondary dataOfficial statisticsPersonal documents, public documents and newspaper reports
Sampling, Ethics and Practical Issues
Topic overviewTarget populations and sampling framesSimple random and systematic random samplingStratified random and quota samplingSnowball and volunteer samplingPurposive and opportunity samplesGatekeepers and gaining accessInformed consent and vulnerabilityDeception and covert researchConfidentiality, anonymity and privacyThe right to withdraw and protection from harmSensitivity and researching difficult subjectsOperationalisation and the choice of research topicTime, cost and the practical limits on research
Key Concepts and Theories of Research
Topic overviewValidity and what threatens itReliability, standardisation and replicationRepresentativeness and the sampleGeneralisabilityObjectivity, value freedom and biasEthics as a criterion for judging researchPositivism and the scientific study of societyInterpretivism and verstehenInteractionism, phenomenology and interpretivist research in practiceRealism and the search for underlying causesThe suicide debate as a test of the three positionsChoosing a method: theory, practicality and ethics
Social Inequality: Evidence and Patterns
Topic overviewSocial inequality and stratificationMeasuring social class in the contemporary UKClass inequality in income and wealthClass inequality in health and life expectancyClass inequality in education and employmentGender inequality in work and payGender inequality beyond the workplaceEthnic inequality in employment and incomeEthnic inequality in health, education and criminal justiceAge and inequalityThe changing distribution of income and wealthSocial mobility in the contemporary UK
Theories and Explanations of Inequality and Stratification
Topic overviewFunctionalist theories of stratificationCriticisms of functionalist stratification theoryThe New RightMarxist theories of classNeo-Marxist theoriesWeberian theories of stratificationNeo-Weberian theoriesFeminist explanations of inequalityExplaining gender inequality beyond feminismTheories of racism and ethnic inequalityExplaining age inequalityPostmodernist accounts of inequalityComparing and evaluating the theories
Option: Crime and DevianceCrime
Topic overviewDefining crime and deviance as social constructsThe media, moral panics and the social construction of crimeMeasuring crime: official government statisticsVictim studies and self-report studiesThe social distribution of crime by class and ageThe social distribution of crime by genderThe social distribution of crime by ethnicityFunctionalist explanations of crime and devianceSub-cultural explanations of crime and devianceMarxist and neo-Marxist explanations of crimeInteractionist explanations and labelling theoryRight realism, left realism and crime control policyFeminist and postmodernist explanations of crime
Option: Health and DisabilityHealth
Topic overviewDefining health and illness as social constructsThe medical and social models of disabilityOfficial statistics, patterns and trends in healthHealth and social classHealth and genderHealth and ethnicityHealth and ageArtefact and self-selection explanationsCultural and material explanationsAccess to and provision of health care in the UKThe biomedical model, medicalisation and health professionalsFunctionalist and Marxist approaches to healthInteractionist, feminist and postmodernist approaches to health
Option: PoliticsPolitics
Topic overviewPower, authority and legitimacyPluralist theories of powerElite theories of powerMarxist and neo-Marxist theories of powerFunctionalist, Weberian and postmodernist theories of powerPatterns and trends in political participationPolitical participation and social classVoting behaviour and partisan de-alignmentPolitical participation and genderPolitical participation, ethnicity and agePolitical parties and the democratic processPressure groups and policy makingNew social movements and anti-capitalist movements
Option: World SociologyWorld sociology
Topic overviewDefining and measuring developmentGlobal inequality in healthGlobal inequality in educationEmployment and the global division of labourGlobal poverty, marginalisation and exclusionPopulation, urbanisation and demographic changeAid and its criticsDebt, structural adjustment and development policyGlobalisation, transnational corporations and world tradeNon-governmental organisations and international institutionsModernisation theoryMarxist, dependency and world systems theoriesFeminist and people-centred accounts of development
Research Methods: Primary and Secondary
- 13 subtopics
- 39 things to know
- Component 2
What Research Methods: Primary and Secondary covers
Research Methods: Primary and Secondary is examined in Component 2, Methods of Sociological Enquiry — compulsory. It covers questionnaires: writing them and delivering them, structured interviews, unstructured and semi-structured interviews, focus groups and group interviews, participant observation, overt and covert, non-participant and structured observation, social surveys, ethnographic methods, longitudinal studies, methodological pluralism and triangulation, existing sociological research as secondary data, official statistics and personal documents, public documents and newspaper reports.
The 13 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Questionnaires: writing them and delivering themQuestionnaire in sociological research, likert scale and leading question.Open →
- Structured interviewsStructured interview, interview schedule and interviewer bias.Open →
- Unstructured and semi-structured interviewsUnstructured interview and semi-structured interview.Open →
- Focus groups and group interviewsFocus group and natural group.Open →
- Participant observation, overt and covertParticipant observation, going native and hawthorne effect.Open →
- Non-participant and structured observationNon-participant observation, structured observation and observation schedule.Open →
- Social surveysSocial survey, cross-sectional survey and two large government surveys of British society.Open →
- Ethnographic methodsThick description, field diary and getting out problem in ethnography.Open →
- Longitudinal studiesLongitudinal study, cohort study and two British birth cohort studies.Open →
- Methodological pluralism and triangulationMethodological pluralism, investigator triangulation and data triangulation.Open →
- Existing sociological research as secondary dataSecondary data, literature review and replication study.Open →
- Official statisticsOfficial statistics and dark figure of crime.Open →
- Personal documents, public documents and newspaper reportsPersonal document, public document and mass Observation.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Numbers
What is interviewer bias, and what evidence shows it operating?
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What is an unstructured interview?
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What is a focus group?
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What is participant observation?
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Why are observational methods described as the most direct way of studying behaviour?
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What is a social survey?
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What is ethnography?
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What is a longitudinal study?
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What is methodological pluralism?
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What is meant by secondary data?
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What are official statistics?
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What is a personal document?
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What is a questionnaire in sociological research?
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What is a structured interview?
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What is a semi-structured interview?
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What is the moderator's job in a focus group?
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Distinguish overt from covert participant observation.
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What is non-participant observation?
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What is a cross-sectional survey?
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How does ethnography differ from a single period of observation?
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What is a cohort study?
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What is triangulation?
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Distinguish quantitative from qualitative data.
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Distinguish registration data from survey data within official statistics.
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What is a public document?
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Distinguish a closed question from an open question.
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How does a structured interview differ from a postal questionnaire?
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Why do interpretivists prefer unstructured interviews?
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Why is the interaction in a focus group treated as valuable data?
Process
Name the three stages every participant observation study passes through.
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What is structured observation?
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Name two large government surveys of British society.
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Who established long fieldwork as the ethnographic standard?
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Name two British birth cohort studies.
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How does triangulation differ from methodological pluralism?
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Why do researchers begin by reading existing sociological research?
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What is the census, and how often is it taken?
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Give two reasons interpretivists value personal documents.
Take Research Methods: Primary and Secondary further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Attrition vs Non-response
Attrition: the steady loss of people from a study that has already begun. Non-response: the refusal to take part at all.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is a questionnaire in sociological research?
Model answer
A questionnaire is a list of pre-set written questions put to every respondent in the same order. Answers are recorded by the respondent or by a fieldworker.
- 2
Distinguish a closed question from an open question.
Model answer
A closed question offers the respondent a fixed list of answers to choose from. An open question leaves a space for the respondent to reply in their own words.
- 3
Why do positivists prefer closed questions?
Model answer
Positivists prefer closed questions because the answers are pre-coded and can be counted. Positivists argue that patterns and correlations can then be established across a large sample.
- 4
What does a pilot study do for a questionnaire?
Model answer
A pilot study tests a draft questionnaire on a small group before the main run. Confusing wording, missing answer options and poor question order are corrected as a result.
- 5
What is a Likert scale, and why is it used?
Model answer
A Likert scale asks respondents to rate their agreement on a fixed range, usually of five points. Attitudes are turned into numbers that can be averaged and compared.
- 6
What is a leading question, and why is it a fault?
Model answer
A leading question suggests the answer the researcher wants, as in "Don't you agree that...". Responses then measure the wording rather than the respondent's view.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Research Methods: Primary and Secondary revision questions
- What does Research Methods: Primary and Secondary cover in Eduqas A-Level Sociology?
- 13 subtopics: questionnaires: writing them and delivering them, structured interviews, unstructured and semi-structured interviews, focus groups and group interviews, participant observation, overt and covert, non-participant and structured observation, social surveys, ethnographic methods, longitudinal studies, methodological pluralism and triangulation, existing sociological research as secondary data, official statistics and personal documents, public documents and newspaper reports. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Research Methods: Primary and Secondary organised?
- By the Eduqas A200QS specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Research Methods: Primary and Secondary, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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