Methods In context

Question 1

Educational research tends to focus on the following groups and settings:

Answer 1

•Schools (marketing and discipline)
•Students (conformity, subcultures and identity)
•Teachers (attitudes)
•Parents (attitudes and support)
•Classrooms (teacher student interaction)

Question 2

Access Issues in education

Answer 2

-Permission and informed consent need to be obtained from:
-Teachers, Heads
-Parents
-Students
-DBS checked

Question 3

Sampling in Educational Research

Answer 3

Schools have ready made sampling frames:
-Past and present students (year groups,subjects and exam entry)

Question 4

1.Issues in researching schools (1 good 2 bad)

Answer 4

• (BAD) Sociologists may be excluded from some school settings

-Finding similar schools to compare may be difficult.

-(GOOD) Data rich environments and produce statistics which sociologist are interested in

Question 5

2.Issues researching Parents (PET)

Answer 5

Practical: access to parents may be more difficult because they are not concentrated in one place

Ethical: Some parents may only give informed consent for themselves if they understand benefits of research

Theoretical: Some parents may attempt to manage the impression of researcher by exaggerating support and interest

Question 6

3. Issues researching teachers

Answer 6

Practical: Teachers are constrained by timetables and lack time to take part

Ethical: essential to assure teachers confidentiality as they may be anxious data will be used against them

Theoretical: Teachers may engage in impression management and be unable to admit to negative behaviour like labelling etc

Question 7

4.Issues researching classrooms:

Answer 7

Practical: The teachers awareness of observation may mean their interaction with students become less natural

Practical/Ethical: There may scope for covert PO if the sociologist takes on the role of a supply teacher (ethical issues)

Theoretical: Student behaviour may be unrepresentative as some may be less likely to open up or use the Hawthorne effect and play up

Question 8

5. Issues researching students:

Answer 8

Practical: Children who are apart of an anti school subculture may be less likely to cooperate with researchers
-Researching children can be time-consuming

Ethical issues: Children are regarded as a vulnerable group and need to be treated very sensitively

Theoretical: Interpretivists have suggest the power differences between children and adults can undermine validity of data

Question 9

Laboratory Experiments (MIC) (Education) (study and issues)

Answer 9

MASON studied the impact of positive and negative expectations.

-They observed pupils taking a test, and predicted pupils scores
- After one year, he found negative reports had much greater impacts than positive ones

Concerns about using lab experiments in school:
Ethical: concerns with working with children and their mental health

-The artificiality tells us little about the real world

Question 10

Field Experiments (mic) (education )

Answer 10

ROSENTHAL & JACOBSON (test labelling and SFP) (fake iq test and randomly chose people who done the ‘best’)

Ethical issues: Such an experiment would unlikely be given permission too (however they work the best undercover)

Reality: easy to repeat and within 5 years it was repeated over 200 times

Question 11

What would you consider using in a method in context question

Answer 11

Practical: (Pros & Cons)
Ethical: (Pros & Cons)
Validity: (Pros & Cons)
Reliability: (Pros & Cons)
Representativeness: (Pros & Cons)
Theoretical: (Pros & Cons)
& Examples

Question 12

Strengths and Weaknesses of using Field experiments to investigate the effect of teachers labelling of pupils (PET)

Answer 12

Practical:
-(S) Wont cost a lot as schools are easily accessible
-(W) Schools may not accept research

Ethical:
(S)Deception may be necessary, to avoid Hawthorne effect
(W)Deception is unethical

Theoretical:
(S) Interpretivists would like this as it’s a detailed micro level of analysis
(W) Positivists would disagree as they prefer detached experiments that gain a macro level of analysis

However, it could be argued that labelling cannot be studied on a macro level, therefore the more VALID way of studying is the classroom

Question 13

Using Questionnaires in Education (practical issues)

Answer 13

Questionnaires are very useful for gathering large quantities of basic info quick and cheap from large sample of students/teachers etc

Question 14

Using questionnaires in education (sampling frames)

Answer 14

-Schools are a good source of ready-made sampling frames. They keep lists of staff and pupils that can provide accurate sampling = representative sampling

Question 15

Using Questionaries in Education (Response rate)

Answer 15

-Questionnaire response rates are usually low. However, when conducted in schools they are usually higher, because a teacher may put their authority behind it.

Question 16

Using Questionnaires in Education (Researching Pupils)

Answer 16

Children have a often attention span than adults and so short questionaries can be more effective

Question 17

Using Questionaries in Education (Samples)

Answer 17

-Schools may not keep lists that reflect the researchers interest e.g researcher may wish to research ethnicity or social class, schools may not keep lists like this

Question 18

Using Questionaries in Education (Validity)

Answer 18

-The life experiences of children (especially in primary school) are narrower; so they may not know the answers to the questions

Question 19

Structured interviews in education (reliability)

Answer 19

> SI’s are easy to replicate and therefore large-scale patterns in educational behaviour can be identified (gender and subject choice)

Question 20

Using structured interviews in education (Validity) + disadv

Answer 20

As young people tend to have better verbal than literacy skills, interviews may be more successful than questionnaires to gather valid data.

> However, the formal nature of SI’s for exams, lessons and other controlled situations means pupils are unlikely to feel at ease and straightforward

Question 21

Using unstructured interviews in education (Power and status inequalities)

Answer 21

UI’s may overcome barriers o power and status inequalities. Their informality can establish a rapport more easily.

Question 22

Why may UI’s overcome barriers of power and status inequalities?

Answer 22

LABOV’s research shows that UI’s can encourage interviewees to open up and respond more fully (produces more valid data)

Question 23

Using unstructured interviews in education (Practical issues) (ADV+DISADV)

Answer 23

Pupils may be to inarticulate or reluctant to talk, therefore UI’s give them space, time and encouragement to work out their responses

> However, young pupils have a shorter attention span so may find long UI’s to demanding

Question 24

Using unstructured interviews in education (validity) (ADV+DISADV)

Answer 24

-The difficulties in communicating with young people mean that UIs may be suitable, because the interviewer can clarify misunderstandings by explaining questions.

-However, children may also have more difficulty in keeping to the point and may present contradictory or irrelevant responses.

Question 25

Using structured observation in education (practical issues) (ADV+DISADV)

Answer 25

As a relatively closed physical and social environment, the classroom is well suited to SO. It is relatively easy for an observer to sit at the back of a classroom recording behaviour into set categories. The short duration of most lessons means that the observer does not get fatigued.

However, some school situations often involve too many different behaviours to be satisfactorily categorised.

Question 26

Using structured observation in education (Reliability)

Answer 26

The range of classroom behaviours is relatively limited and therefore a limited number of behaviour categories can be established for use in the observation, therefore it is easy to replicate.

Question 27

Using structured observation in education (Validity) (criticism)

Answer 27

Interpretivists criticise SO if classroom interaction for its lack of validity. Simply using quantitative data ignores meanings pupils and students attach to it

Question 28

Using structured observation in education (Observer Presence)

Answer 28

The presence of a stranger using a checklist is very off putting in a school. Therefore, it is likely to affect teachers and students behaviours

Question 29

Using Participant Observation In Education (Validity)

Answer 29

PO is more likely to overcome the problem of status differences between pupils and the researcher. Therefore, allowing researchers to gain acceptance by the pupils resulting in more valid data

Question 30

Using Participant Observation In Education (Practical issues)

Answer 30

-Schools are complex places and it may take the observe weeks or even months to understand how the school functions. However observation may be less disruptive than interviews.

-However, observation is restricted by school timetable, holidays, the head teachers control over access etc.

Question 31

Using Participant Observation In Education (Ethical)

Answer 31

Pupils are more vulnerable than adults and may not be able to give informed consent. This means that classroom observation normally has to be overt.

Question 32

Using Participant Observation In Education (Hawthorne Effect)

Answer 32

most observation has to be overt- There are a few ‘cover’ roles the researcher can adopt because he or she stands out as being much older than pupils. The Hawthorne effect is unavoidable to some degree and teachers may be suspicious

Question 33

Statistics in education (practical issues)

Answer 33

The government collects statistics from every school in the country. This saves sociologist time and money, as well as allowing them to make comparisons, e.g. between the achievement of different social classes, ethnic groups or genders. Statistics also allow us to examine trend over time, e.g. in achievement or attendance.

Question 34

Using statistics in education (Representativeness)

Answer 34

Some OS on education are highly representative, e.g. all state schools have to complete a school census three times a year. It would be impossible for researchers to collect this quantity and range of data themselves. These statistics cover virtually every pupil in the country, so they are highly representative.

Question 35

Using statistics in education (Reliability)

Answer 35

The government uses standard definitions and categories in the collection of educational statistics. The same collection process is replicated from year to year, allowing direct comparisons to be made, e.g. of exam performance. However, governments may change the definitions and categories, e.g. several definitions of value added’ have been used to measure school performance. This reduces reliability

Question 36

Using statistics in education (Validity) (Criticism)

Answer 36

Interpretivists challenge the validity of educational statistics, seeing them as socially constructed, e.g. pupil attendance statistics are the outcome of definitions and decisions made by parents, teachers and pupils. Schools may manipulate their statistical records because there is pressure on them to present themselves positively in order to maintain their funding and parental support. This undermines the validity of the statistics.

Question 37

Using documents in education: Practical issues

Answer 37

Because most education is run by the state and because schools and colleges compete with each other for ‘customers’, a large amount of info about education is publicly available

Question 38

Using documents in education: Ethical issues

Answer 38

There are a few ethical concerns with public documents used in schools, because they have been placed in the public domain.

Question 39

Using documents in education: Reliability

Answer 39

Many schools documents e.g attendance registers are in a systematic format and so researchers can draw direct comparisons.

Question 40

Using documents in education: Credibility

Answer 40

Public Docs. give the ‘official’ picture of what’s happening in a school/college. However, they are presenting themselves the best way for the education market with a parental audience

Question 41

Using documents in education: Representativeness

Answer 41

Not all behaviour is recorded (racists or sexist incidents) and this reduces representativeness