Read the following extract which describes some research on the London riots of 2011 and then write an extended paragraph explaining how the key concepts can be used in relation to the research.
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The researchers interviewed 270 people directly involved in the riots in the cities of London, Manchester, Salford, Birmingham, Liverpool and Nottingham. Of these, four fifths were male and the other fifth were female.

The unstructured interviews were ‘in-depth and free flowing’ with the aim of collecting qualitative data about the meanings and motives the rioters attached to their actions. They were confidential interviews, conducted within three months of the riots taking place.

Almost one third of the interviewees were between 10 and 17 years of age and of the remaining two thirds, half were between 18 and 25. They were contacted via gatekeepers who lived and/or worked in the communities and some were known personally to the researchers. These gatekeepers were able to give the researchers access to the interviewees.

Approximately half of the rioters were students, just over a quarter were unemployed and half were black. The researchers said that the interviewees came from a cross-section of the local communities involved, although only seven came from Salford and three from Nottingham. Prior to the interviews, 2.5 million tweets were analysed. An analysis of the rioters appearing in court revealed that 59% came from the poorest 20% of areas.

Interviews were conducted in places convenient to the interviewees – their homes, fast food restaurants, cafés and youth clubs. A few took place in prison, with confidentiality guaranteed to prisoners.

The second phase of the research involved unstructured interviews with 300 people who were affected by the rioters. These included 130 police officers, who were either selected by the police forces, concerned or volunteered. They were guaranteed anonymity and in the case of the Metropolitan police, a press officer from the police force was present at all of the interviews.

  1. Did you consider ways in which the various samples were obtained and how they might affect representativeness?
  2. The initial interviews were carried out in the first three months after the riots – to what extent would the same or other researchers be able to repeat those interviews and obtain the same or similar results?
  3. What type of data is obtained from ‘in-depth and free flowing’ interviews? Which concept describes this type of data?
  4. What difference might the guarantee of anonymity make in relation to validity?
  5. What difference might the presence of a press officer make to the interviews with the officers from the metropolitan police?
  6. How reliable are tweets?
  7. Finally, have you ensured that you have discussed the key concepts separately and not grouped them together?