Eduqas GCSE Sociology key terms

A sample selected by dividing the population into groups and randomly selecting people from each group in proportion to its size in the population.

Placing pupils into an overall ability group that they remain in across their subjects.

A sociological approach that explains behaviour through the organisation of society and its institutions.

An explanation that focuses on how the organisation of society, including education, employment and the distribution of wealth, shapes people's circumstances.

Conditions in society, such as the availability of secure jobs and affordable housing, that shape people's opportunities and choices.

Disadvantage arising from the organisation of society, including its labour market, institutions and distribution of resources.

An interview in which each respondent is asked the same pre-set questions in the same order.

A group within a wider society whose norms and values differ in some ways from those of the mainstream culture.

A family in which partners make more equal contributions to family life and share responsibilities and decision-making, although their tasks need not be identical.

A sample selected by taking every nth member of a sampling frame, normally after a randomly selected starting point.

A technique that selects every nth member of a sampling frame, normally after a randomly chosen starting point.

The whole group of people or institutions that a researcher wants to study.

A teacher’s belief about how a pupil is likely to behave or perform academically.

A recurring idea or issue identified in qualitative data.

A limit on the time available to plan, carry out, analyse and complete a research project.

Authority accepted because of established customs and long-standing traditions.

The general direction of change in data over time, such as an increase, decrease or fluctuation.

Using two or more research methods to cross-check the findings from one method against those from another.

The combination of paid employment, domestic work and emotional work.

A socially produced image of the kind of person thought likely to commit crime, commonly stereotyped as young, male and working-class, and often from an ethnic minority background.

A disputed category describing a group supposedly outside mainstream society. Murray associated it with long-term worklessness, welfare dependency, births outside marriage and crime, rather than simply low income.

A standard used to judge everyone by the same criteria rather than according to their particular family relationships or background.

Looking after or helping someone who needs support without receiving wages for doing so.

Beliefs about how family members or relationships should behave that overlook the difficulties and variation found in real family life.

A crime brought to police attention that does not enter police-recorded crime statistics.

A crime that is not brought to the attention of the police.

A sample that does not adequately reflect the relevant characteristics of its target population.

A flexible interview without a fixed, standardised question schedule, allowing the respondent's answers to shape the discussion.