methods in context Flashcards
research pupils
- teachers influence what child is selected, to promote good image
- power status - pupils see the sociologists as an adult, afraid to state opinions or views that challenge adults, see researchers as the same as adults
- vulnerability - more likely to be suffer physical or pychological harm than adults
- ability to understand - understanding the questions, memory is less developed
- laws - e.g vulnerable groups ct 2006 - vetting and barring scheme on aults working in school - requires sociologists to go through checks
resarching teachers
goffman - impression management , front stage persona, back stage persona
- power and status - dont see the researchers a equals if they pose as assistant teachers for example, also heads, pupils, parents constrain what they do.
researching the classroom
- classroom setting - not honest to how thjey act becuase teachers and pupils conceal their real thoughts and feeling
- peer groups
laws - lack access to classrooms - tens of thousands of schools - easier to use statistics
- school data - mad eto look good and therefore not honest - e.g; falsify attendance percentage
researching parents
parents arent homogenous - pro middle class parents maye more likely to send back uestionnaires
- impression management - e.g: exaggerate involvement in childs educaation
-immigrant parents who may struggle with english may not take part
researcher’s own experiences
laboratory studies
- harvey and slatin - showed teachers photographs of pupils, control variables, seperating phottos based on race and ethnicity
charkin - sample of 48 university students taught lesson to a 10 year old boy
hih expectancy group shoed more eye contact and body language. - rosenthal and jacobson - told eachers one group spurters based one iq test but really chose by random - tested again 8 months later and expectations did effect children - validity - didnt observe classrooms
laboratory experiments - ethical
can not involve actual students - harvey and slatin
whereas were used - charkin
laboratory experiments - practical issues
other variables that cannt be conrolled that can effect teacher’s expectations scuhas lass size, streaming, type of school.
laboratory experiments - advantages
reliability
participants arent effected - harvin and slater
laboratory experiemtns - the hawhorne effect
not in a natural environment
if people know they are being studied - they may act differently n
interpretivists - people arent plant and rocks
field experiments - studies
rosenthal and jacobson - 20% spurters - positive body language, eye contact
field experiemnts advantages
natural enviorment
more likely to be tuthful
no hawthorne effect
broader focus
field experiements disadvtantages
- no reliability
- more valid - e.g observations - claiborn - found no evidence of teacher expectations passed int he classroom
questionnaires advantages
- reliability
- hypothesis testing - cause and effect relationships
- detachment, objective
- quick cheap - dewson - 4,000 questionnaires, london 14 high schools, working class influences to go uni
representative
questionnaires disadvantages
- unethical - intrusive questions
- low response rate - hite - 100,000 questionnaires - love passion and emotional violence - 4.5% were returned
- inflexibility - cannot explore any new areas
- detatchment
- imposing th researcher’ meaning - researchers choose questions, haas decided what is important.
interviews structured - advantages
- cheap, quick to administer
- relaibility
- ## response rate - have higher rsponses than questionnaires - willmott and young - 54/987 refused to be interviewed - hard to turn down a face to face request
