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2. education with methods in context Flashcards

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1
Q

Who prefers structured interviews and why?

A
  • positivists because the data is quantifiable
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2
Q

What are some practical strengths of structured interviews?

A
  • typically faster + cheaper than conducting unstructured interviews as the interviewer doesn’t need to be highly trained
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3
Q

What are some practical weaknesses of structured interviews?

A
  • more time consuming and costly than postal and other self-completion questionnaires
  • interviewer cannot change the questions, making it inflexible
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4
Q

What are some ethical strengths of structured interviews?

A
  • less interviewer bias as all the interviewer has to do is read out the questions and record the answers and therefore is less likely to influence the participants’ answers
  • there is informed consent
  • right to withdraw
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5
Q

What are some ethical weaknesses of structured interviews?

A
  • the tone, body language and facial expressions of the interviewer could influence the participants’ responses
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6
Q

What are some theoretical strengths of structured interviews?

A
  • more likely to produce data which can be directly compared, and different researchers are likely to get the same results from the same participants as they are asking the same questions - producing highly reliable data
  • data is easy to quantify
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7
Q

What are some theoretical weaknesses of structured interviews?

A
  • participants have little to no opportunity to discuss/qualify their answers and researchers cannot ask further questions to extract meaning, suggesting a lack of validity
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8
Q

What educational studies used structured interviews?

A
  • David Hargreaves = Social Relations in a Secondary School looked at the emergence of subcultures in different streams in the school
  • Maria Papapolydorou = investigated the significance of social class to students’ friendships in school, using focus groups as well as semi-structured individual interviews
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9
Q

Who prefers unstructured interviews?

A
  • interpretivists
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10
Q

What are some practical strengths of unstructured interviews?

A
  • researcher can help and encourage participants to spell out complexities and can ask for clarification
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11
Q

What are some practical weaknesses of unstructured interviews?

A
  • much more time consuming than structured interviews as the questions are not set
  • expensive = takes a skilled researcher to help draw out complexities in participants’ responses
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12
Q

What are some ethical strengths of unstructured interviews?

A
  • researcher can build a rapport with the participant making it easier to discuss sensitive topics
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13
Q

What are some ethical weaknesses of unstructured interviews?

A
  • the relationship between the interviewer and the participant can affect the development of the interviewer
  • social desirability effect = participants may emphasise socially desirable aspects of their behaviour and attitudes in the presence of interviewers which potentially reduces the validity of the data
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14
Q

What are some theoretical strengths of unstructured interviews?

A
  • participants have the opportunity to take control and direct the interview and have a greater chance to express their own viewpoints, increasing the validity of the data
  • participants are more likely to open up and say what they actually mean
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15
Q

What are some theoretical weaknesses of unstructured interviews?

A
  • low reliability as you cannot guarantee the same responses with a different interviewer
  • social desirability effect can cause less valid data
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16
Q

What educational studies have used unstructured interviews?

A
  • Diane Reay = Spice Girls, Nice Girls, Girlies and Tomboys interviewed schoolgirls finding they believed that boys were better even though they underachieved
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17
Q

What kind of approach do longitudinal studies take?

A

a mixed methods one

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18
Q

What are some practical strengths of longitudinal studies?

A
  • can study change over time and provide detail on the changes that occur
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19
Q

What are some practical weaknesses of longitudinal studies?

A
  • very time consuming and costly
  • funding agencies who pay for research may be unwilling to commit to an expensive project whose results will be unknown for many years
  • maintaining the sample size may be difficult as people may drop out of the research by choice/lose contact with the researcher
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20
Q

What are some ethical strengths of longitudinal studies?

A
  • the right to withdraw at any time
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21
Q

What are some theoretical strengths of longitudinal studies?

A
  • highly comparable data which can identify social trends
  • researcher builds a rapport with participants
  • correlations can be identified which positivists prefer
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22
Q

What are some theoretical weaknesses of longitudinal studies?

A
  • low representativeness if people drop out of the study
  • Hawthorne effect = people are aware that they are being studied over the years and may change their behaviour accordingly
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23
Q

What educational study is a longitudinal study?

A
  • Stephen Ball = a sample from a mixed comprehensive school and a pupil referral unit, the same students were interviewed over several years
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24
Q

Who prefers to use questionnaires?

A
  • closed question questionnaires are preferred by positivists because it produces quantitative data
  • open question questionnaires are preferred by interpretivists because it produces qualitative data
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25
Q

What are some practical strengths of questionnaires?

A
  • relatively cheap + quick to conduct compared to interviews
  • can have a large sample size with online, self-completion questionnaires
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26
Q

What are some practical weaknesses of questionnaires?

A
  • questions can be misunderstood, especially for people with EAL and younger participants
  • extra questions cannot be be asked to get participants to explain themselves more fully
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27
Q

What are some ethical strengths of questionnaires?

A
  • self-completion questionnaires allow for anonymity when dealing with difficult topics
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28
Q

What are some ethical weaknesses of questionnaires?

A
  • the questions may reflect what the researcher deems important or impose their own views onto the participant
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29
Q

What are some theoretical strengths of questionnaires?

A
  • closed questions produce reliable data as they are likely to produce similar results if carried out by a different researcher
  • open questions produce valid data as it allows for more clarification
  • with postal/online questionnaires there is no researcher present so there is no social desirability effect
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30
Q

What are some theoretical weaknesses of questionnaires?

A
  • the limited choice of answers in closed questions imposes strict and artificial limits on what can be given/collected which means that the respondent cannot develop their answers which reduces the validity of the responses
  • response rate for self-completion questionnaires can be low meaning it is low in representativeness
  • people may not give truthful responses
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31
Q

What educational studies used questionnaires?

A
  • Sullivan, A (2003) = Cultural Capital, Rational Choice and Educational Inequalities used a closed questionnaire to investigate the impact of parental cultural capital on their child’s achievement
  • Slack (2014) = explored the different sources of information that students from advantaged and less advantaged backgrounds use in relation to their higher education choices
  • Swann (2011) = a quantitative survey found that ‘very few of the gypsy and traveller Year 10 pupils on school rolls were in school’ so few were included in the survey
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32
Q

Who prefers to use lab experiments?

A
  • positivists because it provides quantitative data
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33
Q

What are some practical strengths of lab experiments?

A
  • they are easy to gain funding
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34
Q

What are some practical strengths of lab experiments?

A
  • they are easy to gain funding
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35
Q

What are some practical weaknesses of using lab experiments?

A
  • often only possible in small-scale settinbgs with very limited, specific aims, but sociologists are often interested in wider settings
36
Q

What are some ethical strengths of lab experiments?

A
  • informed consent
37
Q

What are some ethical weaknesses of lab experiments?

A
  • the possibility of deception
38
Q

What are some theoretical strengths of lab experiments?

A
  • there are precise steps that need to be taken making it highly reliable
  • they can be controlled in order to decrease extraneous variables, so cause and effect can be established
39
Q

What are some theoretical weaknesses of lab experiments?

A
  • the Hawthorne Effect = the subject will act accordingly because they know they are being researched
  • doesn’t explore meanings behind behaviours
40
Q

What education study used lab experiments?

A
  • Harvey and Slatin = 96 teachers to judge the potential of students from different socioeconomic backgrounds from 18 photos
  • they found that perceived socioeconomic class was more strongly associated with success among the white children and with failure among the black children
41
Q

Who prefers to use field experiments?

A
  • interpretivists as it produces qualitative data
  • natural environment
42
Q

What is a practical strength of field experiments?

A
  • can have a larger sample size than lab experiments as it occurs in a natural environment
43
Q

What are some practical weaknesses of field experiments?

A
  • more time consuming and costly in order to provide a realistic setting
  • access to participants may be difficult, especially in an educational context
44
Q

What are some ethical strengths of field experiments?

A
  • informed consent and lack of deception
45
Q

What are some ethical weaknesses of field experiments?

A
  • deception could be used to avoid the Hawthorne effect
46
Q

What are some theoretical strengths of field experiments?

A
  • more valid data as it is happening in a natural environment and the researcher is able to observe natural behaviour
47
Q

What are some theoretical weaknesses of field experiments?

A
  • less control of variables and can’t be used to establish a cause and effect relationship
  • the researcher can only make assumptions based upon correlations between one behaviour and another
  • low reliability as it’s difficult to replicate the same conditions
48
Q

What education study used field experiments?

A
  • Rosenthal and Jacobsen = Pygmalion in the Classroom, interested in whether the gains in IQ tests scores among the experimental group were reflected in their classroom behaviour
  • they relied on teachers’ accounts of this
49
Q

Who prefers overt participant observation?

A
  • interpretivists because it provides qualitative data
50
Q

What is are practical strengths of using overt participant observation?

A
  • certain topics are easier to study through observation rather than interviews or other surveys such as crime
51
Q

What are some practical weaknesses of overt participant observation?

A
  • access to participants may be difficult, such as with schools there can be many safeguarding issues with observations
  • time consuming to build relationships
52
Q

What are some ethical strengths of using overt participant observation?

A
  • there is informed consent as the observer is clearly seen and known whilst engaging with the group
53
Q

What are some ethical weaknesses of using overt participant observation?

A
  • going native = the researcher may become too involved with the group that all detachment is lost, and findings aren’t reported in an objective way
54
Q

What are some theoretical strengths of using overt participant observation?

A
  • more in-depth and valid data can be contained as the researcher is able to build a rapport with the students
55
Q

What are some theoretical weaknesses of using overt participant observation?

A
  • The Hawthorne Effect = the participants are aware that they are being studied and may change their behaviour which affects the validity of the data
  • data may not be representative if there is a small group being studied
56
Q

Which education studies use overt participant observation?

A
  • Paul Willis - Learning to Labour
  • Ward - From Labouring to Learning, spent 2 and a half years following the educational and social lives of 32 young men in South Wales, Ward actively participated in lessons
  • David Hargreaves - had previously worked as a teacher before starting his participant observation at a boys’ secondary school
57
Q

Who prefers to use covert participant observation?

A
  • interpretivists because it provides qualitative data
58
Q

What are some practical strengths of using covert participant observation?

A
  • certain topics are easier to study through observation rather than interviews or other surveys such as crime
59
Q

What are some practical weaknesses of using covert participant observation?

A
  • the researcher has little choice but to become a full participant in the group
  • very time consuming
60
Q

What are some ethical weaknesses of covert participation observation?

A
  • no informed consent as the participants don’t know that they are being studied
  • in order to stay in the group, the researcher may have to participate in illegal activities
61
Q

What are some theoretical strengths of covert participant observation?

A
  • no Hawthorne effect, increasing the validity of the data as the participants are unaware that they are being watched
62
Q

What are some theoretical weaknesses of covert participant observation?

A
  • too subjective and may not be representative
63
Q

What are some practical strengths of using overt non-participant observation?

A
  • quicker than participant observation because the researcher does not need to build a rapport with the participants
64
Q

What are some practical weaknesses of overt non-participant observation?

A
  • more costly to get a researcher skilled enough to notice subtle behaviours
65
Q

What are some ethical strengths of overt non-participant observation?

A
  • informed consent and the right to withdraw
66
Q

What are some ethical weaknesses of overt non-participant observation?

A
  • can be decietful
67
Q

What are some theoretical strengths of overt non-participant observation?

A
  • higher reliability as the researcher isn’t taking part, so there is also less bias
68
Q

What are some theoretical weaknesses of using overt non-participant observation?

A
  • Hawthorne effect = the participants know that they are being observed which can effect the validity of the research
  • less insight into meaning
69
Q

Which education studies used overt non-participant observation?

A
  • Francis = Gendered Classroom Interaction and Pupil Behaviour (2001)
  • Gillian Evans (2006) = carried out fieldwork in Tenter Ground Primary School to understand how social relations are formed in the classroom, sometimes she sat at the tables with the pupils making notes without intervening
70
Q

What are some practical strengths of covert non-participant observation?

A
  • quicker than participant observation because the researcher does not need to build a rapport with the participants
71
Q

What are some practical weaknesses of covert non-participant observation?

A
  • more costly to get a researcher skilled enough to notice subtle behaviours
72
Q

What are some ethical weaknesses of covert non-participant observation?

A
  • lack of informed consent as they are unaware that they are being watched
73
Q

What are some theoretical strengths of covert non-participant observation?

A
  • higher reliability as the researcher isn’t taking part
  • also less bias
  • the researcher is like an outsider looking in so they can be more objective and less likely to produced bias data
74
Q

What are some theoretical weaknesses of covert non-participant observation?

A
  • no Hawthorne effect or observer bias
75
Q

Who prefers to use secondary data?

A
  • quantitative secondary data is preferred by positivists
  • qualitative secondary data is preferred by interpretivists
76
Q

What are some practical strengths of using secondary data?

A
  • relatively simple and easy to access as official stats are free to access online
  • time saving
  • there is minimal cost
77
Q

What are some practical weaknesses of using secondary data?

A
  • personal documents could be difficult to access and may need consent from others
78
Q

What are some ethical strengths of using secondary data?

A
  • public documents are available to all so there are no ethical issues with accessing them
79
Q

What are some ethical weaknesses of using secondary data?

A
  • with sensitive topics such as suicide, access to personal documents from the deceased would be difficult to obtain as they cannot give informed consent + may cause harm to relatives
80
Q

What are some theoretical strengths of using secondary data?

A
  • personal documents can provide valid data
81
Q

What are some theoretical weaknesses of using secondary data?

A
  • some data can be too subjective and have bias such as official statistics
82
Q

What are some educational studies that used secondary data?

A
  • Hey = The Company She Keeps: An Ethnography of Girls’ Friendship (1997) looked at the notes girls passed to each other in class, around 90% of what the girls wrote was concerned with their relationships with each other
  • Official Statistics = GCSEs can be a key source of quantitative secondary data for sociologists researching gender and education
83
Q

What are some theoretical strengths of using a mixed methods approach?

A
  • using multiple methods can assure both a high validity and high reliability in the data
84
Q

What is a practical weakness of using a mixed methods approach?

A
  • more time consuming than just using one method
85
Q

What is an ethical weakness of using a mixed method approach?

A
  • informed consent needs to be gained in all methods
86
Q

Which educational examples of mixed methods approach?

A
  • Francis - Boys, Girls and Achievement (2000) used a combination of research methods including observation of GCSE english and maths classes to record classroom interaction
  • Nicola Rollock = The Colour of Class (2015) a qualitative semi-structured interviews with 62 Black Caribbean parents and the researchers used snowballing

sociology (36 decks)

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