Education and Methods In Context Flashcards
What is positivism?
An approach in sociology that believes society can be studied using similar scientific techniques to those used in the natural sciences, such as physics, chemistry and biology.
What are the preferred methods by positivists?
Quantitative (statistical) data, following a macro approach on large numbers of people. Examples of these categories of methods would be:
- comparative method
- social surveys
- structured questionnaires
- formal/unstructured interviews
- non-participant observation
What is interpretivism?
An approach emphasizing that people have consciousness involving personal beliefs, values and interpretations, and these influence the way they act.
What are the preferred methods by interpretivists?
Qualitative (descriptive, emotional) data, following a micro approach focusing on small groups or individuals rather than society as a whole. This process is called verstehen. Examples of these categories of methods would be:
- participant and (sometimes) non-participant observation
- informal (unstructured/in-depth/open-ended) interviews
- open-ended questionnaires
- personal accounts, using personal documents like diaries and letters
What are some practical issues when carrying out research?
- how easy it is to access those being studied (open/closed settings)
- time and funding available (will influence the scale and types of method used)
- availability of existing data on the topic
- personal skills and characteristics of the researcher
What are some ethical issues when carrying out research?
- the consequences of the research
- researching students or the physically/mentally ill requires their informed consent
- personal safety of the researcher and whether the research topic or method chosen puts the researcher at risk in some way
- whether confidentiality and the anonymity of those cooperating in research can be guaranteed
What are some theoretical issues when carrying out research?
Positivism and Interpretivism, Validity, Reliability and Representativeness
What structure should you follow in a methods in context 20 marker?
Practical - Time, money, difficulty, training
Ethical - Informed consent, effects, privacy
Reliable - Can it be replicated?
Validity - Are the results accurate?
Evidence - Illustrate with studies that have used method.
Representativeness - Does it reflect the whole of society?
Theoretical - Positivist or Interpretevist?
What did Liberal Feminist Michelle Stanworth argue?
(1983) noted that there will still higher expectations of boys and teachers would be more likely to recommend boys apply for higher education than girls at the same academic level.
What do Marxists Bowles and Gintis argue is the main function of education in Capitalist societies?
the reproduction of labour power
How did Sue Sharp find girls’ attitudes to work and marriage had changed between the 70s and 80s?
Sue Sharpe compared the attitudes of working-class girls in London schools in the early 1970s and 1990s. 1990s girls were more confident, more assertive, more ambitious and more committed to gender equality. 1970s girls' main priorities were ‘love, marriage, husbands and children’. By 1990s this had changed to ‘job, career and being able to support themselves’ with education being the main route to a good job.
What is the Correspondence Principle? (Bowles and Gintis)
The correspondence theory is the idea that the norms and values pupils learn in school correspond to the norms and values which will make it easy for future capitalist employers to exploit them at work.
What is Social Solidarity?
The integration of people into society through shared values, a common culture, shared understandings and social ties that bring them together and build social cohesion.
What did Mac and Ghaill believe a crisis of masculinity led to?
(1994) argued that there has been a crisis of masculinity, because of the decline in traditional manual jobs. This has led, he argues, to an identity crisis, and made it easier for some males to question the need for qualifications when the jobs they would have traditionally gone into no longer exist.
What did Ball find out about banding and streaming?
Ball spent three years in Beachside Comprehensive, carrying out a participant observation. He found that pupils who started school with similar attitudes to study began to diverge when they were banded/streamed. That is when they were put in classes supposedly based on their ability.
What was Gillborn and Youdell’s theory on education?
Educational Triage - Gilborn and Youdell argue that schools perform a triage, categorising pupils into those who will achieve anyway (and therefore don’t require too much input), hopeless cases (who would be a waste of effort) and borderline cases who require attention and input to get their 5 Cs at GCSE.
What did Chubb and Moe say about the marketisation of education?
Chubb and Moe argued that the reason private schools (in the USA) performed better than schools in the public sector was because the schools were answerable to paying parents. The more the education system could follow this model, the better they would become.
What are the impacts of globalisation on educational policy?
Changes to curriculum Influence on classroom teaching Increased privatisation Broader range of schools International tests such as PISA and TIMMS
What is the idea of Habitus?
In sociology, habitus is a concept developed by Pierre Bourdieu and refers to the norms, values, attitudes, and behaviours of a particular social group (or social class).
What is the achievement gap between those eligible for free school meals and those not?
25-30%
What does Sewell argue is one of the main factors for black boys underachievement?
In this 1997 study Sewell argues that a culture of hyper-masculinity ascribed to by some (but not all) black boys is one of the main factors explaining the educational underachievement of black boys.
