Researching society
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| research question | 研究问题 | yán jiū wèn tí |
| quantitative | 定量 | dìng liàng |
| qualitative | 定性 | dìng xìng |
| sample | 样本 | yàng běn |
| convenience sample | 便利样本 | biàn lì yàng běn |
A question you can actually answer
- "Is society fair?" cannot be researched. "Do students at this school spend more on transport than on food?" can.
- A research question 研究问题 must be answerable with evidence you can obtain in the time you have.
- Narrowing is the skill, and it is worth more marks than any amount of reading.
Which is a researchable question?
It names who, what is measured, and what would count as an answer.
Narrow "students and social media" into one researchable question.
Example: "Does keeping a phone in another room during homework change how long Year 11 students work before their first break?"
Two kinds of data
- Quantitative 定量 data are numbers: how many, how much, how often.
- Qualitative 定性 data are words and meanings: why, how it felt, what it meant to them.
- Neither is better. They answer different questions, and saying which question you are asking is what selects the method.
Match each method to the question it answers.
The survey cannot tell you why; the interviews cannot tell you how many.
Sampling
- A sample 样本 must be described honestly: who, how many, how chosen.
- A convenience sample 便利样本 describes the people who were convenient, which is usually your own class.
- That is acceptable at this level if you say so. Claiming it represents the school is what loses the marks, not the sample itself.
You surveyed your own class. What should the report say?
The sample is acceptable at this level; claiming more than it supports is what loses marks.
Two studies of why students skip breakfast.
Quantitative: a survey of 200 students gives how many, and how it differs by year group.
Qualitative: eight interviews give why — the bus time, the queue, not being hungry at six.
The survey cannot tell you why and the interviews cannot tell you how many. A project that needs both is a mixed-methods project, and saying that is a stronger answer than either method alone.
Write the method section so a stranger could repeat your study. Vagueness there is not a style problem — it means nobody can check the result, which is what makes it evidence rather than an assertion.
What must a student research project include? Choose all that apply.
Ethics apply exactly as to professional research. The result is a finding, not a requirement.
Ethics apply to a student survey exactly as to a professional one: informed consent, anonymity, the right to withdraw, and no questions that could harm or embarrass. A project without an ethics section is incomplete, whatever it found.