Education as a research context

Question 1

Roles within school

Answer 1

• two main roles in school is teacher and pupil
• its difficult to research if they’re a vulnerable group due to their age and there must be informed consent
• sociologists may encounter an issue with validity if the student is a member of anti-school subculture and may view researcher as teacher and reject their research
• some students may be difficult to sample because some are truant from school
• the language used when carrying out primary research must suit the pupil so they understand which may difficult to gauge as pupil understanding varies
• teachers are regularly observed for their teaching by ofstead and may feel under pressure with high workload
• teachers are used to manage the impressions that others have of them. Overt methods may cause the teacher to manipulate the research by behaving to impress

Question 2

EVALUATION (ROLES WITHIN EDUCATION)

Answer 2

• positives of studying pupils ad they attend school and can be conveniently studied in the same place and time
• teachers are used to being studied the experience is not alien to them and as a result they may be more willing to take part
• teachers will be wary ‘outsiders’ and may not be honest with responses

Question 3

Educational research settings:

Answer 3

• classrooms are highly controlled environments
• samples obvserved within the class are small and lack representiveness of the sampling frame as a whole because of class sizes and pupil numbers
• to gain access to the classroom sociologists must obtain permission from a range of gatekeepers including headteachers, teaching unions and laws protecting teachers
• There’s a wide range of schools for sociologists so research should be large scale to be representative of each establishment
• because of outsiders, schools might be weary of what data they publish

Question 4

EVALUATION (EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH SETTINGS)

Answer 4

• due to classroom routines, pupils will be used to following the structure of lessons within the classroom
• most pupils will passively accept a researcher in the room watching their routine classroom interactions
• despite this, its easier to spot an outsider in the classroom and pupils may be keen to influence the researcher’s perception of their teacher

Question 5

researching parents

Answer 5

• they are often keen to show their parenting abilities and actions in a positive way
• parents who are middle class and pro-school are more likely to respond than those who are w/c and anti-school