Methods In Context (Educational Research)

Question 1

What is most sociological research in education focused on?

Answer 1

• Causes of achievement/underachievement
• External/internal influences on success/failure
• Classroom relationships
• Student behaviour/misbehaviour
• Gendered subject choice
• Effect of educational policies

Question 2

What is most educational research on groups and settings focused on?

Answer 2

• Schools
• Students
• Teachers
• Parents
• Classrooms

Question 3

What are ‘Access Issues’ with educational research?

Answer 3

• LEAs
• Governors + Head teacher
• Parents
• Students themselves
• Researcher has to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to interact with pupils

Question 4

What are the ‘Ready-made sampling frames’ in schools?

Answer 4

• List/register
• Lists of past pupils + last-known addresses
• Student lists
• Names + addresses of parents
• List of staff + responsibilities
• List of PTA member

Question 5

What are the positives with researching schools?

Answer 5

• Variety of school types in UK E.g. Comprehensive, Academies, Free + Grammar schools
• Schools are data-rich environments
• Schools have legal obligation to produce statistics

Question 6

What are the negatives researching schools?

Answer 6

• Finding similar schools is difficult
• Confidentiality protects school data
• Private schools can deny access
• Sociologists are excluded from settings
• Governors may deny permission for research

Question 7

What are the ‘Practical Issues’ researching parents?

Answer 7

• Access to parents is more difficult

- Parental addresses don’t identify Social class/Ethnicity

Question 8

What are the ‘Ethical Issues’ researching parents?

Answer 8

Some parents may provide informed consent if they can see the research benefits

Question 9

What are the ‘Theoretical Issues’ researching parents?

Answer 9

• Parental response to a questionnaire may be dishonest

- Impression management to researcher

Question 10

What are the ‘Practical Issues’ researching teachers?

Answer 10

• Teachers are easily accessible

- Teachers are constrained by timetables + less enthusiastic

Question 11

What is the ‘Ethical Issue’ researching teachers?

Answer 11

Essential to assure teachers of confidentiality to ensure honesty

Question 12

What are the ‘Theoretical Issues’ researching teachers?

Answer 12

• Impression management

- Teachers who volunteer/selected may be unrepresentative

Question 13

What are the ‘Practical Issues’ researching classrooms?

Answer 13

• Closed setting allows for greater control

- Hawthorne effect

Question 14

What is the ‘Ethical Issue’ researching classrooms?

Answer 14

Covert PO requires deception

Question 15

What are the ‘Theoretical Issues’ researching classrooms?

Answer 15

• Impression management

- ‘Play’ up/down behaviours around researcher

Question 16

What are the ‘Practical Issues’ researching students?

Answer 16

• Students are easy to access
• Easy access to sampling frames
• Not all children are consistently in school
• Anti-school subcultures are less co-operative
• Questionnaire wording must be simple
• Children may be reluctant to admit behaviour
• Time-consuming + expensive

Question 17

What are the ‘Ethical Issues’ researching students?

Answer 17

• Children are a vulnerable group
• Researchers have to be vetted for suitability
• Informed consent isn’t a guarantee
• Research mustn’t damage child’s educational progress
• Researcher must report abuse

Question 18

What are the ‘Theoretical Issues’ researching students?

Answer 18

• Power differences between researcher + children undermine validity
• Impression management
• Peer pressure may undermine responses
• Children’s responses are limited
• Group interviews may respond over positively/negatively to researcher