research context Flashcards
malcom hill
there are 3 between studying young people and adults:
- power and status
- ability and understanding
- vulnerability
researching pupils:
power and status
children and young people have less power than teachers / researcher - makes it more difficult for them to state their attitudes and views openly, especially if they challenge those of adults
schools are hierarchical, teachers have a higher status than pupils - influence which pupils are chosen for research
teachers choose the students to participate in research
qualitative methods may help reduce the power and status but it may always remain - pupils who resent power of teachers may be less likely to cooperate with the researcher
researching pupils:
ability and understanding
less able to express abstract ideas - vocabulary, thinking skills and confidence are more limited than adults
sociologists need to take particular care with wording of questions
gaining informed consent is tricky due to student’s lack of understanding
young people use language differently - slang
a young person’s memory is less developed
pupils are not all the same (homogenous) there are age, class, gender and ethnicity variations - match the gender/ ethnicity of child and researcher
researching pupils:
vulnerability and ethical issues
due to their limited power and understanding they are more vulnerable to physical and psychological harm.
will the young people benefit from it?
informed consent must be given by the child not just the parent/carer - making this trickier to obtain
child protection issues must be considered and handling of personal data.
consider the type of participation and potential stress caused from participating in the research
there are more ‘gatekeepers’ controlling access to children making access and sustained contact difficult.
researching pupils:
laws and guidelines
all researchers must have a dbs check - as outlined in child protection laws such as safeguarding vulnerable groups act 2006
there are special codes of practice for researching young people due to the ethical concerns.
these have been developed by charities such as unicef, barnardos, national children’s bureau
these take the british sociological ethical guidelines further in terms of protecting the rights of the children involved
researching teachers:
power and status
power relationships in the school are not equal
teachers tend to have more power and status due to age, experience and responsibility
they also have a duty of care to their pupils
the teacher’s classroom gives them more power - researcher may be viewed as a trespasser
teachers are constrained by heads, governors, pupils and parents - don’t have total control over what happens
researchers undercover may be a supply teacher or learning assistant, they will have a lower status than the teacher and so may not be treated as equal
researching teachers:
impression management
teachers are used to being observed and so will be accepting of a researcher in the classroom
teachers are used to putting on an act for pupils and others and so are skilled at manipulating the impression others have of them
goffman - 1969 - coined this ‘impression management’
studying teachers outside of the classroom such as in the staff room can be tricky as newcomers stand out in settings such as the staff room
teachers will be reluctant to be critical as they may fear their career prospects/ may be relcutant to answer to answer certain questions honestly
headteachers may only put forward teachers they can trust to convey a positive image of the school
researching classrooms
it is a closed, highly controlled social setting.
young people rarely experience this level of surveillance in other
parts of their lives
students and teachers are experienced at concealing their true thoughts and opinions to one another - impression management
therefore observations may not reflect what the participants are really thinking and feeling.
as classrooms are quite small spaces and simple social settings - two social roles in the classroom - teacher and pupil - interactions are quite straightforward to observe and analyse.
unlike other social environments, access to classrooms are highly controlled, with many gatekeepers, making it difficult to obtain and maintain access.
young people may be influenced by peer groups in this setting and the pressure to conform to peer pressure - this may affect the true attitudes of individual students
researching schools
tens of thousands of different types of school in the uk - using
observational methods makes it unlikely a researcher will be able
to investigate a large enough sample to make it representative.
large scale surveys or official statistics may help to overcome this
but then detailed insight that observations can provide will be
lost.
identifying the research population would be quick and easy due
to the easy access to data about all the schools in the UK, their
location and type
researching schools:
school’s own data
schools have to produce large quantities of their own data which is
readily available.
school records are confidential so a researcher may not be able to
gain access to them.
schools may manipulate their data to downplay more negative
aspects such as truancy, racist incidents or to improve their
performance data.
researching schools:
the law
as the law requires all young people to attend education, researchers have a captive population
but teachers may not wish researcher to interfere with their duty to
educate students
researching schools:
gatekeepers
many gatekeepers can refuse the sociologist access to the school
or steer researchers away from sensitive situations such as
meetings with parents or under-performing teachers -
beynon and atkinson
meighan and harber - heads sometimes view research negatively
researching schools:
school organisation
schools are formal institutions with rules and hierarchies researchers may be seen as part of the hierarchy
students may see them as teachers and teachers may see them as inspectors - affecting the relationship between the researcher and subject as well as the quality of information obtained.
many schools are single-sex schools or single faith schools. This may pose problems where the researcher is of a different gender or faith to the students at the school.
the researcher risks becoming the focus of attention rather than being able to keep a low profile.
schools are high-profile, complex, highly organized social institutions - with yearly timetables, management structures, meeting schedules all of which will affect when and how a study can be carried out.
the size and complexity of the school can cause difficulties for researchers such as working out where everything is and who does what.
researching parents
in order to understand education we must recognize the role parents play in the educational process.
parents can influence what goes on in education by the way they raise their children, their involvement or lack of in the school, marketisation policies have encouraged parents to consider themselves as consumers.
parents are not a single homogenous group - their class, ethnicity and gender will affect their willingness or ability to participate.
parental permission is required to conduct research, depending on the sensitivities of the research they may or may not give consent.
parents may engage in impression management
researching parents:
access
access to parents can be tricky - parents are external to the school.
interactions with their children take place in the family home, making it almost impossible to observe.
schools are unlikely to give the researcher parent’s contact details.
questionnaires could be sent home with the pupils but this raises
questions around parents receiving them or responding to them.
