Research Context Flashcards
1
Q
What are the 5 research characteristics?
A
- Pupils
- Teachers
- Classrooms
- Schools
- Parents
2
Q
What does Hill (2005) say about researching pupils?
A
There are 3 major differences between studying young people and studying adults
1. power and status
2. Ability and understanding
3. vulnerability
3
Q
What is power and status when researching pupils?
A
- children have less power and status so it may be more difficult to express their view openly
- Structured interviews, questionnaires reinforce power as the researcher determines what questions are asked/how answers are formulated
- group interviews rather than one to one might overcome some of this but will not eliminate it
- Pupils who resent teachers might be less likely to cooperate with a researcher
4
Q
How does ability and understanding affect researching pupils?
A
- more limited in children compared to adults
- questions for children must be carefully worded
- more difficult to secure informed consent
- children are not a homogenous group (they are not all the same)
5
Q
How does vulnerability and ethical issues effect researching pupils?
A
- it must be considered whether the participation of young people is necessary and whether they stand to benefit from it
- It is not enough to obtain informed consent from parents and teachers
- Research must adhere to rules on child protection
- Researchers must avoid involving stress, e.g. questioning for a long period of time
- ‘gatekeepers’ control access to pupils making research difficult
6
Q
What are the laws and guidelines in researching pupils?
A
- researchers must be vetted to work with children
- The British sociological association has even more guidelines on conducting research with children
7
Q
What is power and status when researching teachers?
A
- teachers have more power and status but they are not fully independent
researchers might use covert observation in order to gain access, e.g. pretend to be a supply teacher
8
Q
What is impression management when researching teachers?
A
- teachers are use to being observed e.g. Ofsted
- GOFFMAN (1996) says that teachers are skilled in ‘impression management’ manipulating the impression that other people have of us, behaving differently ‘front stage’ compared to ‘backstage’
- researchers sometimes therefore study teachers in the staffroom but teachers might be reluctant to answer certain questions if it affects their job security
- some head teachers might influence which members of staff take part in the research to ensure the school is portrayed in a favourable light- not a theoretical representative sample
9
Q
researching classrooms
A
- a classroom is a closed setting and highly controlled
- what the researcher observes might not be the same as what people are thinking- impression management
- Classrooms are a simple social setting , e.g. two social roles, teacher and pupils
- access to a classroom is very controlled, so more difficult for a researcher to obtain and maintain access due to gatekeepers
- ## Children may be more sensitive to peer pressure and need to conform, influencing ones another’s answers
10
Q
How do researchers research schools?
A
- researchers cannot study all the different schools in the UK but risk being unrepresentative as a result
- Large scale surveys or official statistics overcome this problem but lose the insight an observation brings
11
Q
What is the schools own data when researching schools?
A
- lots of secondary data is publicly available, schools are data rich, but some records are however confidentially
- some data may be falsified or downplayed to present a positive image e.g. truancy rates
12
Q
How does the law affect researching schools?
A
- Schools have a ‘captive population’ as children are legally bound to attend school
- Some data is readily available e.g. pupil attendance, whilst other data is restricted
13
Q
What are gatekeepers when researching schools?
A
- Beynon and Atkinson (1984)
heads often steer researchers away from sensitive issues
14
Q
What is school organisation when researching schools?
A
- researchers risk becoming part of the schools hierarchy e.g. a teacher for a pupil
- in a single sex school, a person of the opposite sex might become an unwanted focus of attention
- School holidays or exam periods might limit research activities
15
Q
What is researching parents?
A
- parents play an important role in the education process
parents are not a homogenous group and this may affect how willing they were to take part in the research - the more sensitive an issue appears to be, the less likely parents will consent to their child taking part in the research
- parents are also capable of impression management rendering invalid data
