Practical Ethical and Theoretical Issues in Research

Practical, Ethical, and Theoretical Issues in Research

Every research method involves trade-offs between practical feasibility, ethical responsibility, and theoretical considerations. The AQA exam frequently asks you to evaluate methods using these three categories.

Practical Issues

Practical issues are the real-world constraints that affect a sociologist's choice of method.

Funding and Resources

• Research costs money: large-scale surveys require funding for printing, postage, data entry, and analysis
• Participant observation can take months or years — the researcher needs financial support throughout
• Funded research may be shaped by the funder's agenda — Gouldner (1968) warned of "sociology for hire"
• Government-funded research may focus on policy-relevant questions rather than theoretically important ones

Time

• Longitudinal studies (e.g., the National Child Development Study, tracking all children born in one week in 1958) can last decades — most researchers cannot commit this time
• Questionnaires and structured interviews are quick to administer to large samples
• Ethnographic research (participant observation) typically requires 12–24 months of immersion
• Some research has tight deadlines (e.g., policy evaluations), ruling out time-intensive methods

Access and Gatekeepers

• Gaining access to research subjects can be extremely difficult, particularly for:
• Deviant groups: criminals, drug users, gangs — trust must be built
• Powerful elites: corporate boardrooms, politicians — access is often refused
• Institutions: schools (head teachers as gatekeepers), prisons, hospitals
• Gatekeepers can control who the researcher meets and what they see — biasing findings
• Patrick (1973): gained access to a Glasgow gang only by pretending to be a gang member (covert participant observation) — practical access required deception

Characteristics of the Researcher

• The researcher's age, gender, class, and ethnicity can affect access and rapport
• Oakley (1981): argued that traditional "objective" interviewing is a masculine model — women interviewing women should develop rapport and reciprocity
• Labov (1973): showed that Black children appeared linguistically "deficient" when interviewed by a White adult in a formal setting, but spoke fluently and articulately when interviewed by a Black interviewer in an informal setting — demonstrating the interviewer effect
• Miliband (1969): studying elites is harder because powerful people control access and can refuse to participate

Sample Size and Representativeness

• Large samples allow generalisations to the wider population — surveys and questionnaires achieve this
• Small samples provide depth but cannot be generalised — ethnography and unstructured interviews
• Response rates vary: postal questionnaires may achieve only 20–40%; face-to-face interviews achieve much higher rates
• Sampling frame: a list of the target population from which a sample is drawn — not always available (e.g., no sampling frame for illegal drug users)

Ethical Issues

Ethical issues concern the moral principles that should guide research. The British Sociological Association (BSA) publishes ethical guidelines.

Informed Consent

• Participants should be told the purpose of the research, what participation involves, and any risks — and should agree to participate freely
• Milgram (1963): famous psychology experiment where participants were not told the true purpose — they believed they were administering real electric shocks
• Humphreys (1970) — Tearoom Trade: studied gay men in public toilets without their knowledge or consent — widely condemned as unethical

Tension: informed consent can alter behaviour (the Hawthorne effect) — if people know they are being studied, they may act differently, reducing validity. This creates a dilemma between ethics and validity.

Covert Research and Deception

• Covert participant observation involves the researcher concealing their identity and purpose
• Patrick (1973): posed as a gang member — gained rich, valid data but deceived participants
• Rosenhan (1973): researchers faked symptoms to gain admission to psychiatric hospitals — deception was essential to the study's purpose
• The BSA allows deception only when the research could not be carried out otherwise and when no harm results
• Evaluation: covert methods can be justified when studying powerful or deviant groups who would otherwise refuse access or alter their behaviour

Protection from Harm

• Participants should not suffer physical or psychological harm as a result of the research
• This includes harm from the publication of findings — identities should be anonymised
• Venkatesh (2008) — Gang Leader for a Day: embedded with a Chicago gang — his presence may have influenced events and put people at risk
• Milgram (1963): participants showed signs of extreme distress — ethical guidelines now require the right to withdraw at any point

Privacy and Confidentiality

• Participants have a right to privacy — their personal information should not be disclosed
• Researchers must ensure data is stored securely and individuals cannot be identified from published findings
• The Data Protection Act (2018) imposes legal requirements on data handling
• Tension: in some cases, maintaining confidentiality may mean covering up illegal or harmful behaviour the researcher has witnessed

Right to Withdraw

• Participants must be free to leave the research at any time without consequences
• This is particularly important in research involving vulnerable groups (children, the elderly, those in institutions)

Vulnerable Groups

• Research with children requires parental consent AND the child's assent
• Power imbalances (teacher/student, doctor/patient) can make genuine consent difficult
• Alderson and Morrow (2011): argue that children's competence to consent has been underestimated — ethical practice should involve children in decision-making about research that affects them

Theoretical Issues

Theoretical issues concern the purpose and philosophy of research — what type of knowledge is being sought and why.

Validity

• Validity means the data provides a true, accurate picture of what is being studied
• High validity = the data reflects the reality of participants' lives and experiences
• Qualitative methods (unstructured interviews, participant observation) generally achieve higher validity because they allow participants to express themselves in their own words
• Quantitative methods may lack validity because they impose the researcher's categories on respondents (e.g., pre-set questionnaire answers may not capture how people really think)
• Face validity: does the method appear to measure what it claims to?
• Internal validity: does the research design rule out alternative explanations?

Reliability

• Reliability means the research can be replicated by another researcher and produce the same results
• Quantitative methods (questionnaires, structured interviews) are generally more reliable because they use standardised procedures
• Qualitative methods are harder to replicate — another researcher conducting participant observation would have a different experience
• Inter-rater reliability: would two researchers code the same data in the same way?

Representativeness and Generalisability

• Representativeness: does the sample reflect the characteristics of the wider population?
• If the sample is representative, findings can be generalised to the population
• Large, random samples (surveys) are more representative than small, purposive samples (case studies)
• Positivists prioritise generalisability; interpretivists argue that deep understanding of a specific case is more valuable than superficial generalisations

The Theoretical Perspective of the Researcher

The researcher's theoretical orientation shapes their method choice:

Perspective	Preferred Method	Rationale
Positivism	Quantitative (surveys, experiments, statistics)	Seeks objective, reliable, generalisable data
Interpretivism	Qualitative (observation, unstructured interviews)	Seeks valid, meaningful, in-depth data
Feminism	Qualitative, collaborative	Rejects "malestream" objectivity; values women's voices
Marxism	Either, but critical	Seeks to expose power structures and ideology

Objectivity and Value Freedom

Weber: sociology should strive for value freedom — research findings should not be influenced by the researcher's personal values:

• Values will inevitably influence the choice of topic, but the conduct of research should be objective
• Findings should be reported honestly even if they contradict the researcher's beliefs

Gouldner (1968): true value freedom is impossible — all research reflects political and ideological commitments:

• Even "objective" research serves someone's interests
• Sociologists should be honest about their values rather than pretending to be neutral

Becker (1967) — "Whose Side Are We On?":

• It is impossible not to take sides — researchers inevitably sympathise more with one group
• Most research has been from the perspective of the powerful ("hierarchy of credibility"); sociologists should study issues from the standpoint of the underdog
• Evaluation: studying from the underdog's perspective is itself a value position, not neutral

Linking PET to Methods

In the exam, you should be able to evaluate any method using all three categories:

Issue	Questionnaires	Participant Observation
Practical	Quick, cheap, large samples	Time-consuming, access difficult
Ethical	Informed consent easy	Covert research = deception
Theoretical	Reliable but low validity	High validity but unreliable

Exam Tip

For the 20-mark Methods in Context question, you MUST discuss practical, ethical, AND theoretical issues. The best answers interweave these rather than treating them as separate lists. For example: "A practical problem with using covert observation in schools is that access requires the permission of gatekeepers (head teachers), which creates an ethical tension because fully informed consent from all pupils and parents may be impossible, which in turn raises the theoretical question of whether data gathered without consent can be considered valid."