quantitative and qualitative methods of research; research design

sources of data, including questionnaires, interviews, participant and non-participant observation, experiments, documents and official statistics

the distinction between primary and secondary data, and between quantitative and qualitative data

the relationship between positivism, interpretivism and sociological methods; the nature of ‘social facts’

the theoretical, practical and ethical considerations influencing choice of topic, choice of method(s) and the conduct of research