EDUCATION CONTEXT QUESTIONARES

Question 1

Rutter (Practical Issues)-

Answer 1

• Used questionnaires to collect large quantities of data from 12 inner secondary schools.
• He managed to use this information to correlate achievement, attendance, and behaviour with variables like school size, class size, and number of staff.
• The problem however is that data generated by questionnaires are usually limited and superficial.
• The data in Rutter’s study provided correlations between variables such as class size and achievement, but no explanation for these correlations.
• There’s also the issue with written questionnaires too, as many children don’t have sufficient reading and writing skills and so leaves gaps in data, making it less valid.
• Children also usually have a shorter attention span and so these questionnaires need to be brief to guarantee completion, limiting data collection, which is only reinforced by the fact that these kids having little life experience could lead them to simply ‘not knowing the answers’.
• Teachers and pupils who also know the purpose of the research may also answer the questionnaires in ways that makes them look good too, producing invalid data.

Question 2

Eval (Response Rate, Advantages)-

Answer 2

• If a questionnaire is approved by the ‘gatekeeper’ (head teacher), then response rates are often high.
• This is because this puts both teachers and pupils under pressure to complete these questionnaires.
• Head teachers may also authorise time out of lesson so that these questionnaires can be completed, and the higher response rate may produce more representative data from which generalisations can be drawn.
• Response rates may also be higher if anonymity is guaranteed as it’ll allow students to freely complete questionnaires on sensitive topics without worrying about their safety.

Question 3

Samples and Sampling Frames (Advantages)-

Answer 3

• Schools often keep lists of pupils, staff, and parents, which can help to provide an accurate sampling frame from which the sociologist can draw a representative sample from.
• Schools also have ready-made opportunity samples of pupils and teachers, like classes or teaching departments.
• Also having the school as a distributer also means that access to all parents, teacher and pupils becomes much easier, increasing representativeness.

Question 4

Eval (Sampling Disadvantages)-

Answer 4

• Pre-made lists by the school may not reflect the sociologists interests.
• For example, the sociologist may want a representative sample of pupils of a specific ethnic group, but a school may not keep a list sorted by ethnicity, and even if they did there’s a chance the school would deny access to this type of information.