Methods In Context - Usuing Expereiments To Investigate Education Flashcards
1
Q
Lab experiments and teacher expectations
A
- several researchers have used lab experiments to investigate teacher expectations. E.g, Harvey and slatin examined whether teachers had preconceived ideas about pupils from different social classes
- they used a sample of 96 teachers. Each teacher was shown 18 photographs of children from different social class backgrounds. To control other variables, the photographs were equally divided in terms of gender and ethnicity. The teachers were asked to rate the children on their performance, parental attitudes to education, aspirations and so on
- Harvey and slatin found that lower class children were rated less favourably, especially by more experienced teachers. Teachers based their ratings on the similarities they perceived between the children in the photographs and pupils they had taught. This study indicates that teachers label pupils from different social classes and use these labels to pre judge pupils potential
- such expectations may be passed onto pupils through non verbal communication.
2
Q
Lab experiments and teacher expectations - Charkin et al (1975)
A
- used a sample of 48 uni students who each taught a lesson to a ten year old boy
- one third were told that the boy was highly motivated and intelligent (high expectancy group)
- one third were told that he was poorly motivated with a low IQ (low expectancy group)
- one third were given no information
- Charkin et al videoed the lessons and found that those in the high expectancy group made more eye contact and gave out more encouraging body language than those low expectancy group
3
Q
Lab experiments and teacher expectations - mason (1973)
A
- looked at whether negative or positive expectations had the greater effect. Teachers were given positive, or negative or neutral reports on a pupil. The teachers then observed video recordings of the pupils taking a test, watching to see if any errors were made. Finally, they were asked to predict the pupils end of year attainment. Mason found that the negative reports had much a greater impact than the positive ones on the teachers expectations
4
Q
Ethical issues of lab experiments
A
- lab experiments that do not invlove real pupils have fewer ethnical problems than those that do. Neither mason nor Harvey and slatin used real pupils, so no child suffered any negative effects
- however, others such as charkin et al, have used real pupils and this raises ethical concerns. Young people’s vulnerability and their limited ability to understand what is happening mean that there are greater problems of deception, lack of informed consent and psychological damage. These ethnical concerns are major reason why lab experiments play only a limited role on educational research
5
Q
Narrow focus - lab experiments
A
- lab experiments usually only examine one specific aspect of teacher expectations, such as body language e.g, this can be useful because it allows the researcher to isolate and examine this variable more thoroughly
- however, this means that teacher expectations are not seen within the wider process of labelling and the self flulfilling prophecy. E.g, although charkin et al identified the existence of positive and negative body language, they did not examine how it might then affect pupils performance
6
Q
Practical problems - lab experiments
A
- there are practical problems in conducting experiments on teachers expectations in schools. Schools are large complex institutions in which many variables may affect teacher expectations e.g, their expectations may be influenced by a wide range of variables such as class size, streaming, type of school and so on. In practise, it is impossible even to identify let alone control, all the variables that might extent an influence on teachers expectations
- sociologist are often interested in the role of large scale social factors and processes such as the impact of government policies on educational achievement, which cannot be studied in small scale lab settings
7
Q
artificiality - lab experiments
A
- the artificiality of lab experiments may mean that they tell us about the real world of education. e.g,
- charkin used university students rather than teachers
- Harvey and satin used photographs of pupils rather than real pupils
- it is unlikely that uni students behave in the same way as experienced teachers, and teachers expectation are based on more than just pupils appearance. e.g, behaviour, accent and impressions of parents may all play a part
8
Q
field experiments and teacher expectations
A
- concerns about lab experiments have led some sociologists to use field experiments located in real education settings instead. however, these too have their limitations. rosenthal and Jacobsons (1968) ‘pygmalion in the classroom’ illustrates the difficulties of using field experiments
- they carried out their research in a California primary school they called ‘oak school’. pupils were given am IQ test and teachers were told that this enabled the researchers to identify the 20% of pupils who were likely to ‘spurt’ in the next year. in reality, the test did no such thing and the pupils were, in fact, selected at random
9
Q
rosenthal and Jacobson - two aims
A
- firstly, to plant in the minds of the teachers of a particular set of expectations about their pupils
- secondly, to see if this had any effect on pupils performance
- because the the ‘spurters’ were selected at random, there was no reason to expect their performance would be any different to others in the class unless teacher expectations had an influence. ‘teacher exceptions’ was therefore identified as the independent variable in their experiment
- all the pupils were re tested eight months later and then again after a further a year. over the first eight months, pupils gained on average eight IQ points, but the ‘spurters’ gained 12 points
- when this was broken down by age, the greatest improvement in performance was found in the youngest children, those aged 6-8. however, after a further year, this ‘expectancy advantaged’ only seem to have an effect among 10-11 years old
10
Q
ethical problems - field experiments
A
- field experiments in educational settings pose major ethical problems. the poetical potential impact of the oak school experiment on pupils is substantial. e.g, while the ‘spurters’ benefitted from the study, the remaining 80% of pupils did not. some may even have been held back educationally because they received less attention and encouragement from teachers
- children have more rights todays than in the 1960s and the legal duty of care that schools have today means that such an experiment is unlikely to be carried out now
- field experiments work best when those involved are unaware that they are in an experiment. yet this requires deception - in this case, rosenthal and Jacobson had to deceive the teachers. had they known the true nature of the IQ test and the purpose of the research, it would have been impossible to plan expectations in their minds and the experiment would have failed in is purpose
11
Q
reliability - field experiments
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- rosenthhal and Jacobsons research design was relatively simple and therefore easy to repeat. within five years of the original study, it had been repeated no less than 242 times. however, given all the many differences between school classes, e.g, in terms of the age of pupils, teaching styles and so on, it is unlikely that the original could be replicated exactly
12
Q
broader focus
A
- however, rosenthal and Jacobson did look at the whole labelling process from teachers expectations through to their effect on pupils, rather than just examining single elements in isolation. their study was also longitudinal, which allowed the, to identify trends over time
