EDUCATION THE RESEARCH CONTEXT

Question 1

Researching Pupils (Hill, Three Differences Between Studying the Youth and Adults)-

Answer 1

• Hill identified three main differences between studying adults and the youth: power and status, ability and understanding, and vulnerability.
• Children often have less power and status than adults and so it may be more difficult for them to state their attitudes and views openly, or challenge adults, especially in educational institutions as these are hierarchal.
• This hierarchy also means that teachers can influence selected pupils which makes them look good.
• Sociologists need to be careful not to reinforce power differences, especially with questionnaires or structured interviews, and attempt to overcome these differences through things like group interviews.
• Pupil-teacher relationships may also affect research as pupils who resent teachers or school may be less willing to cooperate.
• Pupils also have more limited vocabulary and thinking-skills, and so may be unable to express abstract ideas.
• Informed consent may be hard to contain due to this limited understanding too, and sometimes ethics come into question as the choice of consent is given to parents and teacher, and differences in languages also means that a sociologist needs to be careful with how they word questions. Class, gender, and ethnic differences may also affect a pupils ability to cooperate.
• Lastly, the young are more vulnerable to psychological and physical harm than adults and so whether an experiment could harm a child should be considered.
• Child protection issues are vital, personal data should not be kept unless vital for research, and a researcher should avoid causing stress to the children they’re researching.
• There are also laws like the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (2006) which operate a vetting and barring scheme on adults working in schools that requires researchers to have a DBS (disclosure and barring service) check, which adds time.

Question 2

Researching Teachers (Goffman, Impression Management)-

Answer 2

• Teachers are used to being observed and scrutinised, like in Ofsted inspections, and so may be more willing to be observed as they’re used to it.
• However, this has led to teachers ‘putting on an act’- they’ve become good at what Goffman calls ‘impressions management’, which involves manipulating the impression that other people have them.
• This means that a researcher must try and find ways to get behind their public face.
• Some researchers opt for studying teachers in their ‘backstage setting’ (staffroom), as Goffman observed that, as social actors, we behave different when we are acting out a ‘front stage’ role (e.g. teaching a class).
• This can be tricky though as due to staff rooms being a small social space, an outsider/ newcomer may be met with suspicion, making it hard to be covert.
• Other covert methods like disguising as a supply teacher introduces the issue of power and status as due to having a lower status these teachers may not be seen or treated as equal.
• Teachers are also aware that any critical comments they make about their school could affect their career prospects, causing them to be reluctant to answer questions honestly, and although this can be counteracted by observational methods validity is not guaranteed as a researcher could be met with suspicion or teachers may still hold back.
• There is also a chance that head teachers may choose staff that specifically put the school in a favourable light, diminishing representativeness.
  Researching

Question 3

Classrooms (Influence of Classrooms on Behaviour)-

Answer 3

• The classroom is an unusual social setting as there is clear physical and social boundaries- there is a lot of control whereby the teacher controls classroom layout and access, as well as pupil’s activities and time, resulting in a lot of surveillance.
• The small size of the classroom means that there are only two social roles, and although this makes analysing interactions easier, this also means that the classroom behaviour which is observed by a researcher may not accurately reflect what those involved think and feel.
• Teachers and pupils both conceal their real thoughts and feelings in this setting, which they then naturally would conceal from a researcher too.
• Young people could also be insecure about their identity and status, and so when in school-based groups they may be more sensitive to peer pressure/ a need to conform, affecting the way they respond to researchers.
• This may mean supervision is needed for questionnaires to prevent pupils from influencing each other, but then in the cases of activities like group interviews, this can’t necessarily be helped.

Question 4

Researching Schools (Access to Schools)- There is often a great

Answer 4

• deal of access to schools data as, due to the education system being heavily marketized, a great deal of secondary data is available to the public. This includes exam results, league tables, Ofsted reports and exam results. This makes schools ‘data-rich’.
• However, access to some school data can be tricky as schools with problems such as truancy may falsify their attendance figures in order to present a good image and not deter applicants.
• Even if all schools are required to record all racist incidents, this too may be downplayed.
• The fact that it’s a legal requirement to go to school means that it has a ‘captive population’ as the researcher is aware of where everyone is, but this still may make access hard as the fact a schools primary role is to educate pupils may mean that teachers are less willing to allow researchers to interfere with school tim
• there is also the problem in regard to access when it comes to the headteacher (‘gatekeeper’). They have the power to refuse the researcher access to the school, which they may do if they believe the research will undermine the teachers authority or interfere with teaching.
• Meighan and Harber noted that heads sometimes view research negatively.
• When Meighan tried to consult pupils about teaching, he was met with the view that it was dangerous to involve pupils in this as it would hinder classroom relations, and that it would adversely affect discipline.

Question 5

Researching Parents (Access to Parents)-

Answer 5

• Parents are not a single homogeneous group, and their class, ethnicity and gender may all affect how willing they are to participate in research.
• For example, middle-class parents may be more willing to participate and therefore easier to access as they tend to have a better relationship with schools.
• This also means that when parental permission is required, middle-class parents, or white, are more likely to give permission for their child to engage in research activities. Parents are also less likely to give permission for topics regarding sensitive issues.
• There is also differences between accessing parent-child interactions and teacher-child interactions.
• Parent-child interactions take place in the home, which is a private setting, and therefore there is less room to observe things like if/ how a parent helps their child with their homework.
• It is possible to find a list of parents’ names and addresses, but schools may keep this confidential, and whilst this can be helped by having the school send parents questionnaires, it is not guaranteed that these are received, completed, and returned.