THE IMPORTANCE OF

ANALYSING AND
EVALUATING RESEARCH
Types of research issues
 Research issues
• There are 3 types of issues that should be considered
when evaluating a research method:
1. Practical issues
2. Ethical issues
3. Theoretical issues
 Practical issues
• Resources
• Time
• Money
• Response rate
• Difficulties of transcribing long interviews
• Difficulties in finding respondents
• Difficulties in getting access to potential respondents
• Skills and characteristics of the researcher
 Ethical issues
• Anonymity
• Confidentiality
• Informed consent
• Potential risks and harm (physical/emotional)
• Invasion of privacy
• Deception
 Theoretical issues
• Positivist approach
• Interpretivist approach
• Validity
• Reliability
• Representativeness
• Research bias
 Validity
• Validity refers to the extent to which the research findings
accurately reflect reality.
• Research methods like participant observation and
unstructured interviews are said to produce valid data
because the researcher is able to understand the
participants’ feelings, emotions and state of mind. As the
researcher is physically there and even participating in the
activities, it is difficult for the respondents to mislead the
researcher or give false information.
• Interpretivists favour research methods that are high in
validity rather than in reliability.
• The higher the validity of the research findings, the lower
the reliability.
 Reliability
• Reliability refers to the extent to which the research
findings can be counterchecked and repeated using the
same research method on the population by another
researcher and get more or less the same results.
• Laboratory experiments have a high degree of reliability
as they can be carried out again in exactly the same way
and in similar conditions and obtain the same results.
• However, in sociological research, it is difficult to
reproduce exact findings.
• Surveys (questionnaires and structured interviews) are
said to be more reliable but are less valid.
 Representativeness
• Research involving samples normally use a representative
sample.
• A representative sample is a subset of the population with the
same proportions of people of different characteristics (gender,
age, …).
• When the characteristics of the people used in a sample
accurately reflect those of the target population they represent,
it is possible to apply the findings to the whole target
population. Generalisation is possible.
• However, sampling error (the difference between the findings of
the sample and those for the whole population) can occur.
• Sampling error can be reduced by having a large random or
stratified random sample.
 Research bias
• The researcher’s values, e.g., political views can affect
the research findings.
• Positivists argue that researchers should be neutral,
objective and value-free when conducting and analysing
the research.
• Interpretivists argue that it is impossible to stay
completely unbiased in a sociological research because
the subjects of the research are human beings.
• The researcher can influence the findings through the
imposition problem (the problem of the researcher
imposing themselves or their values on the research).