Week 1:Blog on Expectations of the Research Module

This is my first ever Blog!  Having never blogged before I was a little nervous at first as I was unsure of how to get started and how easy or difficult blogging would actually be.  Although, in reality, setting up this blog has been quite simple and straightforward, and I now feel a lot more confident to start using my blog space more effectively!

Currently my interests are varied and liable to change!, yet I have been interested throughout my studies in:

• The pro-life / pro-choice debate
• Compulsory heterosexuality
• The sociology of cults and / or sects
• Class conflict and hegemonic rule
• The sociology of health and illness
• Homelessness and Bourdieu's concept of capital
• The sociology of war and or conflict in relation to human rights
• The media effects debate

My expectations of the module are to help me gain a better understanding of sociological research methods including gaining a greater appreciation of various ethical considerations when collecting and undertaking research.  I hope to gain a better insight into the ways in which different methods are employed when conducting research projects, such as surveys, focus groups and one-to-one interviews.  I hope that this module will help me to better appreciate the tools that researchers have and the ways in which tools can be utilised to gain specified data sets.

I am not very comfortable with analysing numeric data sets so I am am hoping that this module will help increase my confidence and abilities, as I currently prefer using texts as research data.  I am also hoping to gain a better understanding of how to use quantitative and qualitative data when undertaking academic research.